Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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  • Publication
    Proactive maintenance as success factor for use-oriented Product-Service Systems
    ( 2017)
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Schnürmacher, C.
    ;
    Adolphy, S.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    In use-oriented Product-Service Systems (PSS) the ownership of the product remains with the provider who is responsible for maintenance, repair and overhaul [1]. Thus the risk of machine unavailability is transferred from the customer towards the PSS provider. In order to minimize this risk the provider needs to reduce unscheduled downtimes to enhance machine availability. Hence proactive maintenance is an important success factor for providing this PSS type [2]. In practice, manufacturing equipment providers struggle to derive the required information for providing proactive maintenance from the existing data and thus potentials remain unused. One of the problems for many companies in this context is the missing knowhow for managing and analyzing this high amount of data. This issue is discussed in research and practice under the topic "Big Data" [3]. This paper focusses on discussing different approaches for data gathering, analysis and interpretation as well as associated challenges. Drivers and hindering factors are introduced and solution approaches are provided. These aspects are analyzed in a case study in collaboration with a material handling manufacturer which was conducted in one of the transfer projects of the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 29 which addressed the dynamic interdependencies of products and services in the production area.
  • Publication
    Maturity model and action recommendation: A PSS capability self-assessment tool for companies
    ( 2017)
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Zimpfer, R.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    The main idea in Product-Service Systems (PSS) research is to provide solutions instead of products or services. Nevertheless, PSS comprise a broad variety of characteristics from product-oriented services, to use-oriented services and result-oriented services [1]. In industrial practice all of these dimension as well as intermediate stages are evidently realized. Additionally, trending topics like smart services, which can be described as the exploitation strategy from Industrie 4.0 [2], also known as cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things, accelerate the interest in PSS. However, many companies' in particular small and medium-sized enterprises just started realizing the potential and necessity to establish service thinking in order to stay competitive. These companies face considerable challenges regarding the transformation from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) towards an Original Solution Provider (OSP) [3]. In a first step, companies need to assess their current situation and develop a strategy based on the desired target situation. For this reason, the authors developed a model combined with a self-assessment method which enables a basic analysis of the companies' situation including action recommendations. The research results as well as the evaluation with a company are presented in this paper.
  • Publication
    Virtual Prototyping and Validation of Cpps within a New Software Framework
    ( 2017)
    Neumeyer, S.
    ;
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Kind, S.
    ;
    Hayka, H.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    As a result of the growing demand for highly customized and individual products, companies need to enable flexible and intelligent manufacturing. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) will act autonomously in the future in an interlinked production and enable such flexibility. However, German mid-sized plant manufacturers rarely use virtual technologies for design and validation in order to design CPPS. The research project Virtual Commissioning with Smart Hybrid Prototyping (VIB-SHP) investigated the usage of virtual technologies for manufacturing systems and CPPS design. Aspects of asynchronous communicating, intelligent- and autonomous-acting production equipment in an immersive validation environment, have been investigated. To enable manufacturing system designers to validate CPPS, a software framework for virtual prototyping has been developed. A mechatronic construction kit for production system design integrates discipline-specific models and manages them in a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. With this construction kit manufacturing designers are able to apply virtual technologies and the validation of communication processes with the help of behavior models. The presented approach resolves the sequential design process for the development of mechanical, electrical, and software elements and ensures the consistency of these models. With the help of a bill of material (BOM)- and signal-based alignment of the discipline-specific models in an integrated mechatronic product model, the communication of the design status and changes are improved. The re-use of already-specified and -designed modules enable quick behavior modeling, code evaluation, as well as interaction with the virtualized assembly system in an immersive environment.
  • Publication
    Validation of product-service systems in virtual reality
    ( 2015)
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    Research in the area of the integrated development of products and services, designated as Product-Service Systems (PSS), is maturing and a transition in industrial practices is noticeable. Nevertheless, PSS development methodologies lack consistent approaches regarding the integrated validation of different PSS elements rather than a separate development and validation. To prevent an expensive roll-out and testing in late development stages new methodologies and techniques need to be developed and applied. The challenge is theenablement of experiencing and thus testing of PSS in early stages, like planning and concept phase.In order to address these challenges for an integrated validation of PSS a prototyping approach named SHP4PSS has been introduced on a conceptual level [1], integrating virtual and physical prototypes in a Virtual Reality (VR). To complete the methodology a matrix is presented to derive test cases out of early PSS concepts. Furthermore, the evaluation matrix regarding the test phase and the current version of the demonstrator is introduced.
  • Publication
    Validation of product-service systems - A prototyping approach
    ( 2014)
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Lindow, K.
    ;
    Buchholz, C.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    Product-Service Systems (PSS) combine tangible products and intangible services in an integrated system which is offered to the customer as an individual solution. Due to interdependencies between these different system elements the complexity of PSS is very high, thus preventing a simple transfer of validation methods of classical product development or service engineering. This leads to a lack of validation methods for the testing of PSS. Within the paper the processes, methods and tools of prototyping are analyzed and possibilities are determined how existing methods can be used for PSS-Prototyping, at which point they can be applied and which aspects of PSS can be validated. Afterwards, a new prototyping approach for PSS is presented in a use case.
  • Publication
    Operationalizing IPS2 development process
    ( 2014)
    Nguyen, H.-N.
    ;
    Exner, K.
    ;
    Schnürmacher, C.
    ;
    Stark, R.
    By offering Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS2) to their customers companies differentiate themselves from their competitors. However, companies are still facing the problem of a more complex and challenging development process which causes an increasing demand for new methods and tools for the integrated development of products and services. Although a generic PSS development process [4] has been developed within the scope of the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 29 (CRC TR29) to provide guidance for IPS2 development, a method for operationalizing this generic process and therefore supporting companies in planning integrated IPS2 development projects, is still missing. To overcome this shortcoming, a method for operationalizing the mentioned generic PSS development process was developed within the CRC TR29. This method describes a systematic approach for transferring the generic PSS development process into concrete project plans considering project specific boundary conditions within a project management software. Basis of the operationalization is the process-based PSS Development Project Management approach [3], which enables a straightforward, standardized and consequently a complete and high quality project plan. In this paper, the method for operationalizing IPS2 development process will be lilustrated by a test case of a crane manufacturer.