With the new white paper "Manufacturing-X", SmartFactory-KL wants to show nothing less than what the production of the future should look like in Germany. This is why SmartFactory-KL unashamedly calls "Manufacturing-X" (M-X) a "groundbreaking document". Interested parties can find out exactly what is behind "Manufacturing-X" on February 16, 2023 from 1 p.m. in the SmartFactory live talk entitled "With the data ecosystem to Industry 4.0". Hartmut Rauen, Deputy Managing Director of the VDMA, Michael Finkler, Managing Director of proALPHA, and Prof. Martin Ruskowski, CEO of SF-KL, will discuss the strategic importance of "Manufacturing-X".

SmartFactory-KL (SF-KL) sees the administration shell, which was recently developed into the Digital Product Pass, as a concrete result of Industry 4.0. The complete digital mapping of products makes it possible to realize what M-X means: building a resilient production that can withstand external influences, avoids CO2, is designed as a circular economy and works sustainably and energy-efficiently. Artificial intelligence can control, harmonize and coordinate secure trade via digital platforms with the aim of strengthening competition.

Key technology functional safety

SF-KL is also working on a key technology without which modular production could fail: Functional safety. "If we don't plan safety concepts from the outset, their absence becomes a showstopper," emphasizes Prof. Martin Ruskowski. "That's why Operational Safety Intelligence is one of our key areas of work. We combine AI methods with classic safety requirements." The intelligent safety concepts work with knowledge graphs and digital twins. "The aim is to protect people and machines from harm. However, this does not always require the entire production process to be stopped. It makes more sense to have flexible reaction patterns that adapt appropriately to situations."

It's about the production of the future

Shared Production in Kaiserslautern has been producing a model truck as an example product as a skills-based manufacturing network since 2021. "We already have key technologies that will come into play in the next 10 to 15 years: Multi-agent systems, operational safety intelligence, digital twins, 5G and much more," says Ruskowski. "But if we want it to work tomorrow, we need to develop and test it today. That's why we welcome the Manufacturing-X initiative."

Since 2021, the smartMA-X research project has been developing the secure networking of machines and companies via Gaia-X and testing its practical implementation in the Production Level 4 demonstrator ecosystem. In the TWIN4TRUCKS funding project, a consortium under the technical leadership of SF-KL and DFKI is working on the development of a digital foundation layer. "This is about data permeability between different systems at the truck manufacturer Daimler Truck," says Ruskowski. "We are no longer working with small model trucks, but with giants weighing several tons."