Intelligent Manufacturing - a New Understanding of Systems Integration

The term "intelligent manufacturing" refers to the integration of technologies and systems to optimise the efficiency, flexibility or quality of processes in the context of industrial production. It describes a fully networked production environment in which machines, systems and humans communicate and cooperate. Traditional production methods are being transformed into data-driven, intelligent systems that are able to optimise themselves and react to changes such as disruptions in the production process. This paper analyses the relevance of a new understanding of system integration in the scope of "intelligent manufacturing" and derives the requirements for a target-oriented implementation in production. It also discusses the crucial role of interoperability between different systems and the need for a holistic approach to integration that includes not only technical aspects, but also corporate culture and employee skills. The concept of Empathetic Technical Systems is introduced, which are to be understood as a further development of cognitive systems and enable resilient production through empathetic cooperation. Finally, example scenarios are used to show how "intelligent manufacturing" can be realised with this new understanding of system integration.