16 February 2018
Press ReleaseHANNOVER MESSE 2018 (Monday–Friday, 23–27April):
Research today: Industrie 4.0 for… plants?
Digitalize, automate, optimize. That isthe goal today. Because when manufacturers fully network machines and sensors, they can flexibly adjust their processes in real-time. Such an optimization has many applications – for example, extracting medicine from plants.
Hannover/Aachen. Optimizing an ongoing production process is very difficult, but that is exactly what three Fraunhofer institutes are working on. In the new Fraunhoferhigh-performance center “Networked, Adaptive Production” in Aachen they are building a completely networked production environmentwhere researchers can develop new diagnosis and prognosis techniques for manufacturing.The goal is to enable the production of sophisticated products in many different industries.
“We are applying digitalization and networking to real manufacturing", said Thomas Bergs, general manager of the FraunhoferInstitute for Production Technology IPT. “We outfit the plants with numerous sensors that continuously transmit measurement data to a database wirelessly via the upcoming 5G mobile communication standard.” The data is stored in a specially developed cloud named “Virtual Fort Knox” where it is processed and analyzed by custom-designed algorithms and apps.
A special feature of the high-performance center: All production and sensor data for each product is stored individually in a Digital Twin. In the event of failure, workers look at the process history and extract the data that caused the error, thus optimizing the process.
To demonstrate the diversity of networked, adaptive production, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME collectively built within the performance center six facilities for pilot applications, including one for extracting medicine from plants.Tracking and analyzing product history plays a special role in the breeding of plants, too.
The Fraunhofer IME grows plants under controlled conditions and then biochemically alters them so that they produce medicines. They then harvest the plants and, in the final step, extractand isolate the active substances. However, plants grow at different rates and produce different levels of active substances, so it is useful to track the history of the plants in order to analyze precisely the growth conditions and production rates of thesesubstances.
“This is how we can determine under which conditions the plants are especially productive and then adjust the ongoing process accordingly,” said Johannes BuyelfromFraunhofer IME. "We conduct extensive bigdata analyses to find and monitor the right parameters that influence production of active substances."
Fraunhofer researchers present their concepts for networked, adaptive production at HANNOVER MESSE from 23 to 27 April 2018 at Stand C22 in Hall 2. The display is especially interesting for industry representatives who want to network their own technologies in the high-performance center or further develop them in the direction of Industrie 4.0. “The potential of networked, adaptive production has no limits. We want to form partnerships with various industries,” said Bergs.
HANNOVER MESSE – Get new technology first!
HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s leading industrial show. With the lead themes “Integrated Industry” and “Integrated Energy”, it is the global platform for Industrie 4.0. The next edition runs from 23 to 27 April 2018 in Hannover, Germany. Five leading trade fairs – IAMD–Integrated Automation, Motion & Drives, Digital Factory, Energy, Industrial Supply, and Research & Technology – comprehensively depict the digitalization of manufacturing and energy systems. CeMAT, the world’s leading trade fair for intralogistics and supply chain management, is staged concurrently at the Hannover Exhibition Center. Mexico is Partner Country of HANNOVER MESSE 2018.
Deutsche Messe AG
As one of the world’s foremost organizers of capital goods trade fairs, Deutsche Messe (Hannover, Germany) stages a rich array of events at venues in Germany and around the globe. With 2017 revenue projected to total about 357 million euros, Deutsche Messe ranks among Germany’s top five tradeshow producers. The company’s portfolio features such world-class events as (in alphabetical order) CEBIT (digital business), CeMAT (intralogistics and supply chain management), didacta (education), DOMOTEX (carpets and other floor coverings), HANNOVER MESSE (industrial technology), INTERSCHUTZ (fire prevention, disaster relief and safety & security), LABVOLUTION (lab technology) and LIGNA (woodworking, wood processing, forestry). The company also regularly hosts a number of internationally renowned events by third parties, among which are AGRITECHNICA (agricultural machinery) and EuroTier (animal production), both of which are staged by the German Agricultural Society (DLG), EMO (machine tools; staged by the German Machine Tool Builders’ Association, VDW), EuroBLECH (sheet metal working; staged by MackBrooks) and IAA Commercial Vehicles (transport, logistics and mobility; staged by the German Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA). With more than1,200 employees and a network of 58 sales partners, Deutsche Messe is present in more than100 countries.
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No. RT-003-2018-en – 216/McC-JaS / 1/4