Our research
Research
Contribution to a sustainable circular economy
In our approach, we focus on the latest methods and technologies from the research areas of Industry 4.0, Machine Learning and Data Mining and want to bundle and transfer them to the context of regional production. The goal is to establish an end-to-end digitized value creation process that integrates product development by a global online community, manufacturing by local producers, and customization by the customer in a highly efficient way to minimize initiation and coordination costs along the value chain.
Dr.-Ing. Pascal Krenz is leading the research consortium of the various partners from Hamburg. Together with an interdisciplinary team at the Laboratory of Production Engineering (LaFT), he is investigating approaches to digitizing production in urban value creation networks. The focus is on research into self-learning systems for planning and controlling production processes in decentrally organized, dynamic production networks. The association HITeC (Hamburger Informatik Technologie Center) advises in the technological evaluation and in the development in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence. UNITY AG provides support for the strategy and business model development as well as the realization and implementation of the development and planning system in local networks
Dr.-Ing. Pascal Krenz is leading the research consortium of the various partners from Hamburg. Together with an interdisciplinary team at the Laboratory of Production Engineering (LaFT), he is investigating approaches to digitizing production in urban value creation networks. The focus is on research into self-learning systems for planning and controlling production processes in decentrally organized, dynamic production networks. The association HITeC (Hamburger Informatik Technologie Center) advises in the technological evaluation and in the development in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence. UNITY AG provides support for the strategy and business model development as well as the realization and implementation of the development and planning system in local networks
Timeline Publications
We focus on the following topics and make them usable.
CARV / MCPC 2021
With our contribution to the CARV 2021 we hope to improve the basic understanding for describing the phenomenon of local production. The basis was a literature search on the topic of local production. A comprehensive list of the literature used can also be downloaded (DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.17632/h74xrvc9z3.2 ). The contribution to the CARV was published as part of a conference volume by Springer International Publishing. A download of the publication is therefore only possible via the publisher.
About the CARV / MCPC 2021
The 10th World Mass Customization and Personalization Conference (MCPC2021) was held concurrently with the 8th Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production Conference (CARV2021) in Aalborg, Denmark.
The 10th World Mass Customization and Personalization Conference (MCPC2021) was held concurrently with the 8th Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production Conference (CARV2021) in Aalborg, Denmark.
„The phenomenon of local manufacturing: An attempt at a differentiation of Distributed, Re-Distributed and Urban Manufacturing“
Abstract. The unpredictable occurrences of a pandemic and trade conflicts have recently demonstrated the fragility of global, industrial value chains. Local value creation structures have the potential to mitigate these issues by increasing resilience and meeting present ecological, economic and social challenges. However, the idea of localizing manufacturing encompasses various concepts of value creation that are often used without clearly differentiating them. This paper presents a meta-synthesis which evaluates study results on the topic of local manufactur- ing aiming to outline Distributed Manufacturing (DM), Re-Distributed Manufacturing (RDM) and Urban Manufacturing (UM).
Authors:
Pascal
Krenz
Dominik
Saubke
Lisa
Stoltenberg
Julia
Markert
Tobias
Redlich
Key attributes are identified and used to characterize the concepts, also highlighting overlaps and differences be- tween them. This allows for a better understanding of local manufacturing and consolidates multiple descriptions of these concepts, thus enabling a more universal and unambiguous communication when referring to DM, RDM or UM.
Keywords: Local Manufacturing, Distributed Manufacturing, Re-Distributed Manufacturing, Urban Manufacturing, Urban Production, Sustainability
Keywords: Local Manufacturing, Distributed Manufacturing, Re-Distributed Manufacturing, Urban Manufacturing, Urban Production, Sustainability
CPSL 2022 - First Input
With this contribution to the CPSL 2022, we hope to contribute to the understanding and possibilities of the use of artificial intelligence in the context of decentralized planning and composition of value chains. With AI a leap in efficiency could already be achieved in many areas. What possibilities in particular “AI-Planning” could have in the design of local production structures is discussed in this article and concrete solution and implementation options are presented.
About the CPSL 2022
CONFERENCE ON PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND LOGISTICS (CPSL) The goal of the Conference is to promote the exchange of current issues and insights on production systems and logistics and to create an innovative environment for the generation of scientific ideas. To this end, CPSL collaborates with renowned research institutions, publishers and scientific societies. Leading scientific experts are invited to present and discuss their research findings and studies with other participants following a comprehensive peer-review process. The subsequent dissemination of peer-reviewed papers provides a broad framework and support for future research. The CPSL in 2022 took place on the campus of the University of British Colombia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
CONFERENCE ON PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND LOGISTICS (CPSL) The goal of the Conference is to promote the exchange of current issues and insights on production systems and logistics and to create an innovative environment for the generation of scientific ideas. To this end, CPSL collaborates with renowned research institutions, publishers and scientific societies. Leading scientific experts are invited to present and discuss their research findings and studies with other participants following a comprehensive peer-review process. The subsequent dissemination of peer-reviewed papers provides a broad framework and support for future research. The CPSL in 2022 took place on the campus of the University of British Colombia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
„Cross-Company Routing Planning:
Determining Value Chains In A Dynamic Production Network Through A Decentralized Approach“
Abstract. Demand-based, local production will gain relevance in the context of sustainability and circular economy. One way to implement local value creation is through establishing highly dynamic networks that consolidate the competencies of regional manufacturers. Consequently, the structure of the value chains needs to be determined ad hoc dependent on demand. This is a rather challenging task due to the dynamics within such networks and the flat hierarchies. Traditionally, value chains are defined and controlled in a centralized form by a lead firm or a separate stakeholder (e.g. Intermediary, Broker). However, to accommodate the dynamics of demand and the increasing complexity of products, we propose a decentralized form of coordination. The basic idea is to upscale Routing Planning, used in Process Planning, to a network level. Meaning instead of a centralized instance within a company defining the production steps, the stakeholders will collaboratively determine the cross-company Routing Plan, effectively building the value chain. Thus, the accumulated experience and knowledge of all stakeholders can be utilized to efficiently fulfil current customer demand,
since the value chain will be executed by the same stakeholders that created it. But in order to coordinate the sequencing of operations by multiple stakeholders, suitable methods need to be implemented. We look at a strategy to facilitate such a collaboration between companies and demonstrate one possible technical implementation based on AI planning using Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL).
Authors:
Julia
Markert
Dominik
Saubke
Pascal
Krenz
Lothar
Hotz
Keywords: Production network; Process Planning; Collaborative planning; Value chain; AI planning
CPSL 2022 - Second Input
With this contribution to the CPSL 2022, we aim to improve the understanding of local value creation structures. A large literature review was conducted to uncover the key factors, and the sources were then coded and clustered. This allowed us to create an overview of the most important influences. These influencing factors were transferred into a comprehensive model and the cause-effect relationships were defined. This allowed the key factors for a local production system to be identified.
About CPSL 2022
CONFERENCE ON PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND LOGISTICS (CPSL) The aim of the conference is to exchange ideas in the thematic field of production systems and logistics. The CPSL in 2022 took place on the campus of the University of British Colombia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
CONFERENCE ON PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND LOGISTICS (CPSL) The aim of the conference is to exchange ideas in the thematic field of production systems and logistics. The CPSL in 2022 took place on the campus of the University of British Colombia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
„Towards Smaller Value Creation Cycles:
Key Factors And Their Interdependencies For Local Manufacturing“
Abstract. The unpredictable occurrence of a global pandemic and trade conflicts have currently shown us the fragility of global, industrial value chains. In contrast to this, local value creation structures have numerous potentials to meet present ecological, economic and social challenges (e.g. increasing the resilience of the manufacturing sector, reducing CO2 emissions through smaller loops of value creation, empowering regional stakeholders). This paper presents a study on local manufacturing designed to achieve a better understanding of the internal systematic of value creation in a local context using a sensitivity analysis. By modelling the causal effects, the direct and indirect influences of internal and environmental factors of local production as well as their independencies can be shown. This in turn will enable scenario analyses that show possible developments for local production systems arising due to changing social, political and technological factors. In the future these options may aid in decision-making processes aiming at a sustainable circular economy.
Authors:
Pascal
Krenz
Dominik
Saubke
Lisa
Stoltenberg
Julia
Markert
Tobias
Redlich
Keywords: Local Manufacturing; Distributed Manufacturing; Re-Distributed Manufacturing; Urban Manufacturing
