Sustainable development processes

To improve the economic efficiency of a production facility – that is the aim of the application-orientated solutions developed by Fraunhofer IPA. Identifying automation and rationalization reserves helps to achieve this goal. This is often a particular challenge when contamination-critical aspects need to be considered but, even here, steps can be taken to make products and processes more cost-effective as well as more environmentally-friendly – and thus achieve sustainability.

Solutions can only be developed in close collaboration with the customer because they are strongly dependent upon the needs of the company concerned. This is essential if the resulting solution is going to be successful. With a focus on establishing sustainable development processes, we work out a strategy on the basis of feasibility studies and other information in order to derive a development schedule, a so-called technology roadmap.

The process starts with a structured assessment of all known requirements, followed by the iterative development of the product or production process, or optimization of the respective business process within a value network. This transfer of technical knowledge is often of an interdisciplinary nature and highly reliant on close coordination. It is accompanied by experienced employees who implement practicable tools to develop solution-orientated results.

Within the scope of industrial projects and publicly-funded research initiatives, we have already developed and implemented different concepts taking cleanliness-critical aspects into account. Our extensive experience in the fields of photovoltaics, microsystems engineering, automotive industry, biotechnology, medical engineering and pharmaceutics guarantee both effectiveness and efficiency.

Current research projects demonstrate our wide range of technical applications:

• Development and realization of cleanliness-suitable automation and handling solutions
• Knowledge- and information-based production facilities
• Haptic simulation
• Augmented reality
• IT-support in the laboratory
• Station viewer and line controller
• Simulation of factors influencing manufacturing costs (energy, maintenance, material flow, etc.)