Missing transparency in complex supply chains often causes additional costs. For example, special transports or post-production may be required to provide downstream production processes with error-free parts. To satisfy customer requests and at the same time making processes more efficient, it is necessary to guarantee high quality in supply chains. Both, the product quality as well as the quality of associated processes have to be ensured.

The research project “SaSCh – Digital Services for Designing Agile Supply Chains” aims to solve the described challenges and to increase quality in supply chains. BIBA - Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik develops solutions to capture, exchange and analyse quality data in supply chains in collaboration with the partners BLG LOGISTICS, Robert Bosch GmbH, GS1 Germany GmbH and queo GmbH. The project receives funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under the scope of the technology programme “PAiCE - Platforms, Additive Manufacturing, Imaging, Communication, Engineering “.

The project develops and improves stationary and mobile sensor solutions, which will generate necessary quality data. To exchange quality and sensor data between companies, the EPCIS standard will be used and augmented as needed. In order to trigger and perform effective activities based on data, the project partners develop digital services, characterized by intuitive user interfaces. Moreover, business models are developed for prompt transfer of developed solutions into practice. Legal issues as well as aspects of data security are taken into account as well.

The joint goal of all partners is to make SaSCh a flagship project for the German industry. To achieve this goal, the project solutions will be evaluated in practice and their potentials for the realisation of more efficient supply chains will be highlighted.

Contact: Michael Teucke tck@biba.uni-bremen.de  Daniel Sommerfeld som@biba.uni-bremen.de
Details: www.sasch-projekt.de
Photo: Sensor based track & trace solution attached to small load carrier; BLG LOGISTICS / Marcus Meyer
 
 

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A major challenge in the exploration of Mars by robots is its uneven surface, which is marked by trenches and craters. Whether the systems can withstand the rough terrain on the Red Planet, they have to prove it on the earth first – for example, in the rocky deserts of the American state of Utah. There, scientists from the Robotics Innovation Center of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) tested robotic systems and their cooperation capabilities within the project Field Trials Utah (FT-Utah) from the end of October to the end of November 2016.

Among the systems tested in Utah were the hybrid walking and driving rover SherpaTT and the micro rover Coyote III, both developed and build as part of the TransTerrA project at the Robotics Innovation Center. The robot team was completed by immobile robotic units, namely a BaseCamp as well as various payload containers equipped with electromechanical interfaces.

A control station was set up at the Robotics Innovation Center in Bremen to allow the control of the intended mission, which built a communication link to the robots in Utah via satellite. The Virtual Reality Lab, an interactive 3D multi-projection facility, enabled the operator to observe the mission status in a virtual reality. In addition to a pointing device, a two-armed upper body exoskeleton served as an input and control device. This allowed the operator to control the robots in Utah intuitively with natural movement patterns. Through integrated force feedback, he also received direct feedback on the SherpaTT's manipulator, enabling him to safely move and place it in the more than 8,300 kilometers away.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Frank Kirchner frank.kirchner@dfki.de  
Details: www.dfki.de/robotik/de/forschung/projekte/ft-utah.html, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKIzldni68
Photo: Florian Cordes, DFKI GmbH
 
 

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In the project „preInO“ tools and methods for the realisation of a preacting maintenance were developed by means of artificial intelligence and automatic self-organisation. These have been validated by means of a demonstrator. Great optimization potentials concerning the deployment of personnel, spare parts and transport were pointed out. The project has been implemented in cooperation with the turbine manufacturer SENVION from Hamburg and the software developer SWMS from Oldenburg.

Offshore maintenance processes were recorded and data sources for an automated decision support were identified. Based on this, a basic concept was developed and the required methods analysed or researched. This enabled an automated prioritisation of detected errors. The acquired knowledge flowed into the development of a software module. The developed methods and data were validated with real data by using a demonstrator, which was in the course of development.

The project results are comprehensive methods and tools taking several data sources into account that can be used for a preacting maintenance strategy of the service of offshore wind turbines. To enable an accurate prognosis about the condition of a component, a variety of data sources such as sensor values, statistic data, maintenance data from the maintenance history file, externalized staff know-how, weather data as well as stock inventory and personnel planning were analysed and automatically linked to a relevant event. The prioritisation of the detected errors, the dynamical planning of the scope of maintenance and the scheduling into the workflow with corresponding logistics using decentralized controlling systems are based on the points of the project that were researched. By using the tools and methods of the preacting maintenance, it is possible that logistic accompanying processes can be planned better and earlier.

Contact: Stephan Oelker oel@biba.uni-bremen.de
Details: www.preino.de
 
 

 
The DHL Innovation Day is a yearly event that brings together experts and visionaries from industry, research, and media, where trends and future-oriented technologies for logistics are presented and discussed. To be able to react efficiently to the explosive increase in e-commerce as well as the increasing volume of parcels, automation plays a key role in sustainable and efficient logistics processes.

In this year’s DHL Innovation Day, alongside with different international competitions, a “Shark Tank” contest was held for the first time. Within this competition DHL was looking for “innovative ideas and leading young entrepreneurs from the sector logistics”. Three technologies and start-ups were presented to the specialized audience and a top-class expert jury. At the start-up pitch the candidates competed against each other and had to present the technology, its advantages as well as their business model convincingly within a very short time. The Celluveyor developed at BIBA was able to convince the jury and the audience due to the high flexibility of the technology as well as the economic potential.

The vote of the audience as well as the vote of the jury of experts – composed by Dr. Alex of Frankenberg from the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Peer Bentzen of DHL as well as investor Frank Thelen (e42), known for german adaptation of Shark Tank TV series “Die Höhle der Löwen” – went to the Celluveyor team. The Celluveyor was included the “Start-up-Hall-of-Fame” and the technology will be exhibited in the “DHL Innovation Center” in Troisdorf.

Contact: Dr.-Ing. Hendrik Thamer tha@biba.uni-bremen.de
Details: www.celluveyor.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPVQwtX3hg, www.celluveyor.com/celluveyor-gewinnt-dhl-shark-tank-wettbewerb
Foto: Alexander Flögel
 
 

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Several actors with different information backgrounds are currently involved in the decision process for the execution of maintenance operations in the offshore wind industry. For deployment decisions, the decisive factors are especially prevailing weather conditions for the operating period. At the moment, suitable weather windows are partially not used or service technicians have to abort their operation process.

Within the scope of the BMWi-funded research and development project “IeK – Informationssystem zur echtzeitnahen Koordination des Offshore-Transports”, BIBA institute develops a system for planning and control of offshore transportation together with the partners Cluetec (Karlsruhe), energy&meteo (Oldenburg) and the JadeHochschule (Elsfleth). In the future, the system offers decision support for participating actors and is supposed to save costs and time. The conservation of the used technology and the required resources is also a central objective of the project/system.

In the course of this project the article “Information System for the Coordination of Offshore Wind Energy Maintenance Operations under Consideration of Dynamic Influences” by Thies Beinke, Moritz Quandt, Abderrahim Ait Alla, Michael Freitag (all BIBA institute) and Thomas Rieger (Cluetec) has been awarded with the Future Scientist Award on the “International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Maritime Safety and Technology – Ai-MAST 2016” in Mokpo (South Korea).

The article deals with logistics of maintenance for offshore wind energy plants and the influence of swell as well as tide predictions on the coordination process between actors for planning of maintenance operations. Effects of the wave height’s forecast quality on deployment decisions, the average repair time in case of a damage as well as the availability of offshore wind energy plants have been analysed in detail. Based on these findings an approach for decision support in operational logistics planning has been presented.

Contact: Thies Beinke ben@biba.uni-bremen.de
 
 

 

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The cooperation between LogDynamics / University of Bremen and the Capital University of Science and Technology in Pakistan has been established within the scope of the Erasmus Mundus projects cLINK and FUSION. Over the last years, these projects financed several mobilities in both directions. In January and February 2017, Prof. Dr. Amir Qayyum visited the University of Bremen and the International Graduate School for Dynamics in Logistics (IGS) at Prof. Pannek’s invitation. He offered a workshop “Leadership: Care and Growth Model through Intent“ for the IGS during his stay and a lecture at the Faculty of Production Engineering.

Prof. Dr. Amir Qayyum is a professor at the Capital University of Science and Technology, Pakistan. He has both management and technical expertise with leadership skills to effectively lead a team; creative and visionary thought leader, numerous publications and co-author of an RFC in IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) about mobile ad hoc networks. He has been involved in conducting numerous professional trainings and workshops in different leading organizations and institutions at several managerial and technical levels. His leadership sessions cover diverse range of topics like leadership, management, character and professional ethics, etc. He has a research and teaching experience of about two de-cades along with several years of industry experience. His trainings possess valuable insights that he has gained through extensive travel all around the globe and during his stay in Europe.

Contact: Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge rue@biba.uni-bremen.de
 
 

 
Date: 3rd – 7th of July 2017
Venue: Bremen

The research cluster LogDynamics organises the Summer School LOGISS for the second time. The goal of this summer school is to forge a seed of young researchers from different disciplines, who share the interest in mechanisms for coordination of logistics processes as well as in the cooperation and competitiveness in supply chains. The LOGISS 2017 will focus the topic area of Coopetitive Control of Supply Chains.

The courses of the summer school include among others the following topics:

• negotiation mechanisms for supply chain coordination
• IT-enabled decision making in collaborative distribution networks
• network flow optimization, big data analytics, control theory, and heuristics
• performance criteria for control interfaces and selection of evaluation criteria

The LogDynamics Summer School is designed for PhD and Master students who work on theses at the interface of Logistics, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, Economics or related fields. It is encouraged that the applicants have some basic knowledge in modeling, programming, and statistics.

Deadline for application: 4th April 2017.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Till Becker, Prof. Dr. Tobias Buer, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Pannek summerschool@logdynamics.de
Details:  www.summerschool.logdynamics.de
 
 

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Date: 24th – 25th of April 2017, 4th – 5th of September 2017,
20th – 21st of November 2017
Venue: Bremen
 

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Date: 9th – 12th of Mai 2017
Venue: Munich
 

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Date: 17th - 19th of March 2017
Venue: Berlin
 

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Date: 17th of June 2017
Venue: University of Bremen
 

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Increasing customer needs and a strong competitive pressure require efficient processes and innovative solutions within finished vehicle logistics. This applies to automobile manufacturers as well as logistics service providers. Here, companies especially depend on the creativity, motivation and knowledge of their employees. The ECG Academy exists to particularly qualify young professionals for future tasks in the field of finished vehicle distribution. The courses are organised by the auditing company KMPG at different companies and with different lecturers on behalf of ECG - The Association of European Vehicle Logistics.

Last year and for the first time, BIBA institute organised a whole day for the ECG Academy. On that day, participants became familiar with innovative concepts for vehicle identification and tracking as well as possibilities for using generated data for planning and controlling processes in an efficient way. The lectures were based on experiences of BIBA from successfully concluded projects. Innovative approaches from basic research as well as practical experiences from projects with companies were presented. Thereby, participants were able to profit from the BIBA staffs’ comprehensive methodological knowledge as well as from the knowledge of operational processes in finished vehicle logistics.

Thus, the Digitalisation Day conveys the knowledge from diverse activities of BIBA in the field of finished vehicle logistics. Due to the exchange of ideas between participants and lecturers, the event helps to further improve innovative solutions within finished vehicle logistics in the future. Further dialogue between research and practice will definitely make an important contribution to this.

Contact: Dirk Werthmann wdi@biba.uni-bremen.de
Details:  www.ecgassociation.eu/ECGAcademy/AbouttheECGAcademy.aspx
 
 

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“We digitise us”- was the motto of the joint event from the City of Vechta and the Private Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Technik (PHWT). A subject which raises many questions. The City and PHWT invited speakers from politics, science and economy in the town hall’s foyer to give some answers.

Thomas Jarzombek - speaker of the Bundestag Committee “Digitale Agenda”, district chairman of the CDU Düsseldorf and IT entrepreneur himself - explained the importance of digitalisation for German economy using the example of the automobile industry. According to him, in times of autonomously driving cars products are not crucial for success anymore but services.

Prof. Klaus-Dieter Thoben, head of BIBA institute at the University of Bremen, showed what digitalisation specifically means: In this way, employees, who are in the surroundings of a forklift, can be made visible for the driver in time by a “digital shell”. This increases safety. But digitalisation is not always the “big thing”. A digital illustration of the work organisation already provides benefits for companies. According to Prof. Klaus-Dieter Thoben, not everybody has to digitise, but companies have to recognise in which areas digitalisation can improve processes. Here, the cooperation with science helps as well.

A decisive condition for a successful digitalisation was presented by Daniel Proetel, Advanced Software Manager of Big Dutchman. He got to the heart of a fundamental problem. Because: Data exists, but the competence to evaluate it misses. Three speakers, many perspectives. It was shown that companies need the courage to strike out in a new direction, the competence to profit from generated data and competent partners by their side.

Details: www.vechta.de/Aktuelles
Photo: Kläne