Industrial offering
FBK possesses extensive experience in both research and industrial projects within the domains of manufacturing and production, and is recognized as a respected collaborative partner. The core focus of our service portfolio lies in the organization and advancement of production systems, as well as in manufacturing engineering. Key areas of expertise include:
- Factory planning and simulation of production operations
- Production management and organization
- Analysis and optimization of machining processes
- Component and tooling evaluation
- Additive manufacturing
Selected examples of projects we have undertaken:
Preliminary planning of the new factory
Simulation of material flows in production processes
Investigation of components and tooling
Optimization and management of production processes
Braun Maschinenbau GmbH
BorgWarner Turbo Systems GmbH
RHODIUS® Schleifwerkzeuge
AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke
The objective of the collaborative project was to develop a decision-making basis for the expansion of production capacities (factory planning). Particular attention was given to aspects of lean layout and material flow design. The results were visualized in three dimensions using Virtual Reality (VR) to support decision-making.
To validate the planning of an automated assembly system, the complex interrelationships between the production process, material flow, and material supply had to be analyzed. Based on this analysis, weaknesses and potential improvements were identified, and the design of the assembly system was optimized.
The collaborative project aimed to investigate the age-related performance degradation of handheld cutting discs. Using a custom-designed test rig, the performance was assessed objectively. A subsequent benchmark enabled a comparison between different manufacturers.
In the course of steel sheet production, steel manufacturers are required to produce a large number of metallic test specimens. Within the framework of the collaborative project, the organizational workflows and process chains within the sample workshop were analyzed. Based on this analysis, optimized process chains and organizational recommendations were derived.
Approaches
- Site analysis (location factors, requirements, constraints)
- Production process analysis
- Value stream and material flow design
- Structured mapping of the material flow and production process
- Development of a material flow simulation
- Execution of simulation studies and evaluation based on key performance indicators
- Design and manufacturing of a test rig tailored to specific requirements
- Benchmarking of performance and aging-related behavior
- Analysis of the production system through a material flow analysis
- Identification of improvement potentials
Customer Benefits
- Objective decision-making basis
- Neutral analysis of the current situation
- Design of a lean factory layout
- Integrated consideration of work organization (Lean Six Sigma)
- 3D visualization of results
- Identification of bottlenecks and subsequent optimization
- Evaluation of alternative plant layouts with the goal of space savings
- Creation of transparency in material provisioning
- Objective comparison of the performance of different products
- Assessment of the performance of the company’s own product
- Potential marketing of the company’s own product with reference to an independent expert evaluation
- Concrete action recommendations
- Well-founded basis for the strategic orientation of the sample workshop
