Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
The Factory of the Future Project is a DLR-wide project, in which a total of ten institutes are involved. The main goal is to meet the challenges in the context of demographic change, globalisation and digitalisation. In order to continue to be successful in international economic competition, it is essential to combine strengths in automation, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and material and process engineering with new digital technologies. A central question in this context is that of the future of work against the background of demographic change. Can the digitalisation of production compensate for the shortage of skilled workers and how should machines be designed so that they are perceived as an optimal aid and not as a threat? In production, on the other hand, the trend today is increasingly towards individualised (customer-tailored) products, with exploding variant diversity and ever shorter product cycles. Overall, there are three main streams in this project:
The aim of the synergy topic Factory of the Future is to develop a wide range of digital production technologies, robot systems and applications for flexible and networked manufacturing processes and to demonstrate them in two to three lead scenarios. One focus is on the realization of robust robot-supported manufacturing processes using digitalisation approaches and Industry 4.0. The aim is to make aerospace applications in particular more efficient, cost-effective, safe and resource-saving, from the factory on the ground to operations in space and in the air. From pilot projects in these DLR-specific areas, the approaches should find broad industrial application through targeted technology transfer. DLR's robotics development, which is driven by space travel, and the use of cooperating robots in the production of aerospace components have a pioneering function throughout Europe and have a significant impact on other sectors of industry. Major trends and standards in modern robotics are set by DLR.
The following topics are currently being worked on:
All the techniques developed were presented to a broad specialist audience at the Augsburg Production Technology Colloquium in May 2019 as part of the ZLP's ten-year anniversary.
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