Developing and Harnessing the Potential of SMEs for Eco-efficient Flexible Production

Production-oriented ICT solutions, offering an intelligent networking of value adding systems, which are interconnected and able to communicate with each other and with the Internet, are seen as key enablers for next generation production systems in “Industry 4.0” scenarios. These future manufacturing systems will be more energy efficient, saving limited resources and having a minimized negative impact on the environment. They also will be able to adapt to new requirements and conditions, incorporating and harnessing human flexibility, creativity and problem-solving capabilities. That's why, apart from ready-to-use technical systems and adequate organizational structure, competent employees, qualified to interact with and to make use of those technologies are of major importance for the success of “Industry 4.0”. Especially SMEs with limited R&D capabilities have to overcome significant obstacles in order to implement the elements mentioned above. The paper introduces the “E3ResearchFactory” located at Fraunhofer IWU in Chemnitz and demonstrates on several examples, which specific solutions and use cases are developed and transferred towards small and medium-sized production companies.