Solutions for networked, adaptive production in Industry 4.0

The potential of digitalization and networking in production is undisputed: The increase in added value between 2013 and 2025 is estimated at €62 billion in the German manufacturing sector alone. To fully exploit this potential, interoperability among all stakeholders is essential. This requires both organizational interoperability, which defines the roles of all participating actors, and semantic interoperability, which establishes a clear and unambiguous vocabulary. This article presents one approach to achieving successful interoperability.

The International Center for Networked, Adaptive Production (ICNAP) is the result of an initiative by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Fraunhofer Society, with strong support from industry. Launched in Aachen at the end of 2016 as the Fraunhofer Center of Excellence "Networked, Adaptive Production," the Center's mission is to design an open research platform and test environment for industry, where new concepts for digitalized production and their practical application can be researched and tested. The ICNAP emerged from this initiative and consolidates the successful collaboration in industrial projects. This allows other companies within the community to benefit from the work of the competence center as partners.

The consortium project, centrally managed by Fraunhofer IPT, unites several partners, including Fraunhofer Institutes, universities, and non-university research institutions, who collaborate with companies and civil society actors at a single location, focusing on practical applications. The central objective is to jointly deepen the region-specific research focus on production systems and value chains within Industry 4.0.

In addition to providing companies with a pure technology boost, the project also addresses the necessary knowledge transfer through education and training, IP transfer, and spin-offs. This transfer is essential for the products, services, and business models of German industry to achieve an internationally outstanding level of innovation.

Fraunhofer IME collaborates in transdisciplinary joint projects, particularly with the Aachen-based Fraunhofer Institutes ILT and IPT, as well as other partners, to promote its expertise in biotechnological production in upstream and downstream processing, as well as plant production at the interface with and process innovations in digitalization.