The trend for automated guided vehicles (AGV) is heading from a central control to decentralization. The term of agents is becoming more important in this context. Here, software agents are used that are not related to secret service or insurances. Software agents are autonomous units that independently decide on their own, with the use of predefined rules. Thus, a decentralized control is built. Current decentralized solutions are not continuously decentralized. Vehicles share a common topology or are controlled by a central station. Together with the "OFFIS - Institut für Informatik" researchers from the IPH develop an overall concept for a decentralized self-regulated AGV.
agv, decentralzied control, automated guided vehicles
Function based structures for cost estimating. The complexity and the unique character of tool and mould constructions are the reasons why the calculation during the offer phase of the moulds and tools are using customer requirements and insufficient product information as a basis. For this purpose an increasing number of commercial software packages are used. Nevertheless, the support for the calculation is still inadequate. The IPH develops a method which allows a precise, transparent and with little effort achievable estimation for an offer on the basis of tool functions and the knowledge about already produced tools in a company.
function-based method, tender preparation, injection molding
The planning and configuration of cyclically interlinked production systems, which are for example used for assembly of electric motors, is often carried out under great time pressure in the bidding phase. Data mining methods allow a high time saving approach in tender preparation. Based on this technology, the IPH developed a software to shorten the planning time and to improve the planning results.
interlinked production systems, planning, characteristic curves, data mining
This paper presents the application of radio frequency identification (RFID) as an electronic authenticity certificate for pharmaceutical packaging along the pharmaceutical supply chain. It focuses on the one hand on the assurance of the supply chain to protect against plagiarism and on the other hand on the production of an electronically secured packaging. In order to realize a secured packaging, a RFID-transponder is integrated in the folded box. The data saved on the RFID-chip is inseparably connected with the folded box.
product protection, rfid, identification technologies, folding boxes, antenna printing
Increasingly, purchasing decisions for equipment are determined by the offered service and suppliers are changed in order to dissatisfaction with the service. But service quality and efficiency can already be increased in the hotline of the manufacturer. Two research institutes in Hannover are currently developing a software system based on semantic similarity search of service cases.
semantic search, similarity search, service
During the utilization phase, sheet fabricating tools cause up to 70% of their own life cycle costs. In general, they may now be procured only on the basis of their purchase price. IPH - Institute of Integrated Production Hannover gGmbH has developed a method which can predict and consider the life cycle costs based on knowledge of these tools during the planning process.
calculation, life cycle costs, tool manufacturing
Condition-based maintenance of production equipment offers a better trade-off between availability and maintenance costs than other maintenance strategies. A novel approach for determining and predicting the plant condition is presented. The approach applies methods of artificial intelligence to a distributed database covering the entire life cycle of the equipment. The approach simplifies the introduction of condition-based maintenance by means of machine learning and is especially suited for equipment with unknown fault behaviour.
condition-based maintenance, condition forecast, artificial intelligence, distributed data managemen
The processing of complaints involving the 8D method is sometimes very costly and time consuming and often error-prone. Against this background, an automated metric system for measuring and evaluating the quality of processing of an 8D report is presented in the article. On the one hand text mining algorithms are used to determine the metrics. On the other hand manual reviews are used to realize the required bandwidth at reviews efficiently and reliably. The metric system was implemented in software and is designed to enable companies in various industries to reduce the expense of an effective fault management significantly, to shorten response times in the event of a complaint and to benefit from a long-term avoidance of errors.
quality management, complaint management, 8d report, data mining, text mining
The abrasive cutting with thin diamond tools is a common method for the production of plate-like components, such as tiles, made of hard stone. Hard rocks are suitable as construction materials due to their material properties. They are used for e. g. cladding buildings or interior design. In addition to mining granite rough blocks in quarries especially metal-cutting production lies at the heart of value creation. Alone for the abrasive cutting, which is often referred to in practice as a circular sawing, 67% of the production costs are bound. The reason for this very high cost portion is the ratio of removal volume to board volume of more than 60% leading to a loss of raw material and high tool and energy costs.
abrasive cutting, metal removal rate, metal removal volume
Cyclically interlinked production systems are commonly used production facilities. During the bidding phase manufacturers of these systems assure customers about the performance and operating efficiency despite numerous uncertainties. Up to now, there has been no planning approach that could hedge these results. Recently however, a method for configuring cyclically interlinked production systems during the bidding phase has been developed in order to resolve this deficit. Data mining models are built to predict performance figures of production systems, whereas, characteristic curves are used to predict the operating efficiency of a system configuration. This paper introduces the challenge of bid proposal management and explains the developed method.
planning, production, system
The guide describes an expert system that allows a person-independent representation and low-resource utilization of production system knowledge. The expert system is designed for the die and mold making industry. Central components of the system are a data model for knowledge representation, a tool shop specifically configured knowledge base and data mining algorithms for automated adaptation of the knowledge base on company-specific constraints.
production system, lean production, expert system, knowledge man-agement, data mining
Even the tool and mold making industry can not afford waste in operational procedures. Designing a lean company is now supported by an expert system of IPH.
production system, lean production, expert system, knowledge management, data mining
function-based method, tender preparation, injection molding
