SPAICER
In production networks, faults occur time and again, which can lead to massive costs. Nowadays, production downtime and supply chain disturbances are major business risks and can be caused by a wide variety of disruptions - from damage to machinery, to employee illness, to global pandemics such as the recent Covid-19 crisis. In a world increasingly characterized by volatility and uncertainty, efficient resilience management and the associated robustness of companies is essential for business success.
This is where SPAICER comes in and is intended to contribute to the creation of scalable adaptive production systems through AI-based resilience optimization. The project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) as part of the AI innovation competition "Artificial Intelligence as a Driver for Economically Relevant Ecosystems", develops a data-driven ecosystem that is intended to enable small and medium-sized enterprises in particular to become more resilient.
Disturbances in production networks can be predictable and unpredictable. The aim is therefore to use artificial intelligence to anticipate future disruptions in the best possible way and to react ideally to any disruptions that occur. The combination of anticipation and reaction enables companies to adapt quickly and flexibly to changing conditions and to become more resilient. For this purpose, so-called Smart Resilience Services (SRS) are to be developed in SPAICER, which can be offered via the SPAICER platform and implemented in the production networks following to a modular principle. The resulting recommendations for action will support companies in their resilience management. The basis for this is a continuously expanded database, which is available due to the ongoing digitalization of production and industry 4.0.
In order to ensure application-oriented development, SMEs are involved in the development at an early stage and throughout the project and initial results are validated in various use cases. In particular, business models will be derived that enable the partners of the SPAICER ecosystem to implement the developed Smart Resilience Services and participate in an economically attractive way.
On the part of the RWTH Aachen University, the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) and the Machine Tool Laboratory of the RWTH Aachen University (WZL), in addition to the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) as project coordinator, are significantly involved in the project as leading consortium partners. The consortium also includes Senseering GmbH, WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, the Institute of Computer Science of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, TU Darmstadt, SAP SE, Seitec GmbH, Dezem GmbH, Schott AG, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, Feintool System Parts Jena GmbH, and C.D. Waelzholz GmbH & Co. KG. In addition, over 40 associated partners support the project consortium.
Funding Institute:
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Further information can be found at www.spaicer.de.