Industrial Advisory Board IAB 2020

14/02/2020

During this year’s annual meeting of the Industrial Advisory Board members of the Cluster of Excellence “Internet of Production” (IoP) met with Industrial Partners to discuss the visions of the new cluster and the development of digital strategies. On the 12th of February, the members of the Industrial Advisory Board met with the researchers of the cluster in Aachen to explore the future of the IoP and its industrial application in order to optimally exploit the potential of networking production and data science.

After Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. mult. Ulrich Rüdiger, rector of RWTH Aachen University, welcomed this year’s participants of the meeting, he positively emphasized the international position and presence of the cluster and the domain of mechanical engineering at the RWTH Aachen University. During his speech, he proudly addressed the idea of interdisciplinarity that unites both institutions, as well as the development of a highly interconnected research landscape. Prof. Dr. -Ing. Christian Brecher, spokesperson (CEO) of the cluster, also referred to the relevance of cross-domain research. The ongoing collaborations with research and industry partners, as is the case at IAB, enable the participants, as a joint task force, to explore transfer possibilities for cluster research and to set the networked production of the future in motion.

Thematic priorities were set by senior engineer Andreas Gützlaff (WZL) with his lecture on "Global Control Center - Digital shadow as enabler for faster and better decision making", in which he characterized the digital shadow as a central means of increasing flexibility and decision quality in production, and the keynote speech "Infrastructure of the IoP" by Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Matthias Jarke (DBIS), head of the research area CRD A.

Another highlight of the event was the “Demonstrator Tour” during which the participants gained insights into the highlights of the research areas of the new cluster and on Data Lake. Stations were the Smart Automation Lab of the WZL, the Forging Center at IBF, Plastic Processing at IKV and Digital Photonic Production at ILT. Especially laser technology was emphasized as a great example of the efficient use of production data for wear-free technology.

After the tour, the members of the Industry Advisory Board shared their impressions, made recommendations and discussed central issues about the requirements and tasks of the IoP. The discussion focused on Data security as a central challenge of networked production. The question of what university education could look like in the future to meet the requirements of an increasingly agile and interdisciplinary research landscape was also discussed.

As every year, the Cluster of Excellence welcomed the feedback from an industrial perspective as an important indicator for the research orientation. Overall, the event was an outstanding success in terms of qualified discussions, shared impressions and networking.