NedZ

 

Gestaltung unternehmensübergreifender Kooperationsnetzwerke mit dem digitalen Zwilling

 

Initial situation

Customised production systems are increasingly developing into flexible, cyber-physical production systems (CPPS), which are characterised by high process variance, IT integration and new demands on operators. In conjunction with increasing efficiency requirements, this also leads to a growing technical complexity of modern production systems. These developments contribute to the fact that the production system is increasingly becoming a black box for those involved in the process, as their understanding regarding the system and cooperation through the division of labour is based on limited and one-sided information. The system overview, which is usually still available in the development phase, often disappears in the further plant life cycle. The interdependencies cannot be fully grasped by the various participants in the value creation process. Therefore, the importance of information management and knowledge exchange between the value creation partners is growing. In addition to the physical components, CPPS have a digital representation, the so-called digital twin. This is the digital model of a real object or process and comprises the essential database. It contains digital documents and structural information (life cycle file) along the life cycle and maps real states in real time. In this way, the digital twin offers possibilities for mastering the complexity levels shown and for the transparent representation of the inner connections of the "black box plant". Such models are already being used today in various stages of development in manufacturing companies. Since the work on and with the plant is decisively shaped by the communication of the value creation partners involved, the network structure must enable trusting, data-based and task-related cooperation. For this, it is also necessary to further develop the structures of the digital twin into a digital cooperation platform and at the same time to implement data-based cooperation in the network in a suitable way.

Aim of the research project

The aim of the NedZ project is to holistically design cross-company, data-based cooperation networks based on the digital twin of production facilities. In this way, the social innovation potentials of digital technologies for stress-optimised work as well as new value creation potentials for the network partners can be developed. The central results of this project are the design and organisation of work by means of a cooperation platform using the example of the digital twin as well as generalised recommendations for action and prepared case studies for network design. The design recommendations are aimed at reducing technology stress and ensuring efficient communication in line with the digital transformation of the working world.

Social added value

The NedZ project opens up opportunities for companies in the areas of competitiveness and stress-optimised design of digital work. This includes productivity increases of the plants and improvements of the service processes in the identified scenarios. The application partners are prospectively enabled to establish cooperative business models with data-based services in a marketable way. The networks and associations of the participating partners will be used to publicise the developed methods and generic project results. After the end of the project, the results will also be used as a basis for further research projects and in teaching courses. The underlying socio-technical methods are to be widely used in standardisation committees and evaluated in further applications. In the long term, the aim is to exploit the results commercially in cooperation with companies. The project results will be presented and published at scientific conferences and workshops.

All information on the project and the project partners can be found here!