Key technologies for sustainable production

Germany is a world-wide leader in machine and plant construction. In order to maintain this position in a sustainable manner, producers of machines and plants must find solutions to satisfy the rising customer requirements. These requirements include maximum process security, minimal machine down times, rapid fault repair, optimal use of wear components and the ability to plan maintenance procedures. In order to keep the competitiveness, innovative production engineering needs to be in a position to use human and material resources in an efficient manner in order to secure production centres. The continuously shortening life-cycles of products is in conflict with the need to increase the useful life of production systems. Flexible, adaptable, reconfigurable and self-organising equipment are the keys to solving this conflict. People, with their specific technological knowledge, must therefore be integrated into a newly defined role within the production process. The present gives an overview to the current developments in the research fields of production engineering (hybrid processes, simulation of machining operations, modular design and optimisation of machine tools) and related strategies for a ressource-efficient human-orientated automatisation.