Industrial Advisory Board Meeting 2017
On February 22, 2017, more than 30 well-known participating industry partners of the Cluster and numerous scientists from Aachen came together at the annual Industrial Advisory Board Meeting taking place for the last time in the second phase of the Excellence Initative.
The annual meeting placed special focus on the Cluster‘s draft proposal and the renewal application to be submitted this year. In addition to an overview over the accomplishments in cooperation with the local industry which have been achieved over the past year, professors Christian Hopmann (Individualized Production), Wolfgang Schulz (Virtual Production Systems), Gerhard Hirt (Integrated Technologies) and Fritz Klocke (Self-optimizing Production Systems) also offered a synopsis of the newest developments within the Cluster’s four major research dimensions.
As a basis of the further transfer of local production technology into the age of the fourth industrial r(e)volution, the vision of the “Internet of Production” as a device providing real-time capability in order to optimize industrial processes was emphasized. From raw data to process optimization by means of intelligent usage of machine processes – the idea of precise data analysis and the transmission to machine learning harbors great potential for modern production in the scope of “Industrie 4.0”. This idea, according to professor Christian Brecher, allows researchers to “find new correlations”, and so the future path of the Cluster is organized under the aspect of further creation of innovative and application-orientated solutions to strengthen the location Aachen and production technology in Europe.
Following the presentations, the vision’s sustainability for the future concerning Aachen as a production location was discussed in a panel discussion uniting representatives of research and industry. RWTH professors Wolfgang Bleck (IEHK), Günther Schuh (WZL) and Frank Piller (TIME) exchanged views with the members of the industrial advisory board Dr. Frank Possel-Dölken (Phoenix Contact) and Dr. Axel Werner (BMW) and achieved a critical transfer between the industrial and scientific perspective on aspects like security and profit of the envisioned data analysis mechanisms.
As a final highlight, the popular visit of selected technical demonstrators allowed industry partners to experience the Cluster’s top-level research. This year, the manufacturing process of optical components, the presentation of the self-optimization of the weaving process as well as an inspection of the new “Cluster Photonics” building including an insight into the Selective-Laser-Melting process were open to inspection by the partners. This year’s IAB ended with an overview over the envisaged draft proposal for the next phase of the Cluster.