Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA
AI-based production planning and control
In Short
In cooperation with Porsche AG, production planning and control (PPC) is to be improved by implementing AI-based methods. The aim of the project is to increase the stability of customer order management and to offer customers maximum flexibility and transparency.
In Detail
AI makes it possible: Planning for tomorrow's customer needs today
In the project titled “AI-based Production Planning and Control”, experts from Fraunhofer IPA are analyzing the processes of the entire order management chain together with employees of the cooperation partner Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. Through an interdisciplinary approach, problems are identified, solutions are sought, and AI-based tools are developed to cover all steps, from planning processes right through to the delivery of vehicles to the customer.
From the customer request to production planning in three phases.
In the first phase of the project, an AI module - the configuration generator - was developed that generates fully-specified vehicle configurations based on sales, development and market data. In Phase 2, a software prototype was created which allows the generated planned orders to be optimally dispatched to production and the corresponding material and capacity requirements to be determined.
In the final phase of the project, an algorithm will be developed that assigns real customer and dealer orders to the planned orders. Once the concepts and prototypes have been successfully validated, these will form the basis for the management of future customer orders at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG.
Insights into the project
“Initial projects enabled us to gain experience with the use of AI. That's why we decided to use AI in other areas of customer order management, too. With this in mind, we looked around for a competent partner with experience in both manufacturing engineering and AI.”*
Simon Dürr, Project Manager at Porsche AG
*quote from an October 2020 press release (translated from German)