Adapting production processes swiftly and cost-effectively

It was surprising to get the call from the smartphone maker. Instead of the scheduled volume of electronic components, the company now needs double the amount – and two weeks sooner! It is not an atypical scenario for an electronics supplier. Individual customer requests force most medium-sized companies to administer increasingly flexible production processes. It’s a complicated situation: scheduling employee shifts, ensuring machine capacities, adjusting made-to-order production rates - all of these have to be completely reorganized at a veritable instant, and typically across multiple production sites. So what is the most cost-effective solution? “There is software that helps with the scheduling of capacities. But I know of no product that analyzes the adjustments based on costs and calculates the most cost-effective variant – taking nearly every conceivable aspect into consideration while doing so,” states Christian Morawetz of Fraunhofer Austria, Fraunhofer’s Austrian subsidiary.

The scientists therefore developed “KoKa,” working jointly with the University of Vienna and the Adaptive, flexis and Melecs companies. Once all the necessary data are uploaded, then one click suffices for the software: the user immediately sees how expensive the necessary measures are in order to adapt production, and receives an optimized production plan based on this information. Practice tests have shown that through this approach, manufacturers can save up to seven percent on production costs. “That could equal up to EUR 1.4 million a year for an electronic components manufacturer of a size that generates up to EUR 100 million in annual revenues,” as Morawetz describes the added value from this now market-ready technology.

Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH
Theresianumgasse 27 | 1040 Wien, Austria | www.fraunhofer.at
Contact: Christian Morawetz | Phone +43 676 888 616 08 | christian.morawetz@fraunhofer.at
Press: Marie-Therese Wagner | Phone +49 676 888 616 17 | marie-therese.wagner@fraunhofer.at

Shepherding a lively crowd into safe channels

Large throngs of people congregate at airports, train stations and stadiums, presenting certain challenges apropos security for those who are in charge of things. This is where SAFEST (Social Area Framework for Early Security Triggers at Airports), a German-French research project, comes in: in conjunction with partners from industry and research, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS are engineering a risk detection and crisis management system for heavily frequented public spaces. SAFEST is being coordinated by the Freie Universität Berlin.

The team is taking a comprehensive approach: an intelligent guidance system detects crowds of people using infrared technology, and guides them in a targeted manner away from the danger zone – via the local WLAN, with the aid of their mobile telephones. An orderly evacuation can be brought about substantially better this way than with conventional guidance systems. In addition, security personnel must immediately identify if unauthorized persons have gained access to secured areas. A variety of sensor systems for this purpose can differentiate between inadvertent and intentional intrusion. The control room then assesses the conditions.

Researchers will introduce RIOT at this year’s CeBIT. RIOT is an open-source operating system for the Internet of Things, and the foundation of SAFEST technology. Using RIOT, the team is seeking to integrate surrounding small devices swiftly and cost-effectively into the risk detection system. In emergencies, SAFEST could, for example, signal an emergency through the building’s light control system, or flag the escape routes.

Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS
Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31 | 10589 Berlin | www.fokus.fraunhofer.de
Contact: Stefan Pfennigschmidt | Phone +49 30 3463-7574 | stefan.pfennigschmidt@fokus.fraunhofer.de
Press: Niklas Reinhardt | Phone +49 30 3463-7594 | niklas.reinhardt@fokus.fraunhofer.de

Production efficiency: putting battery devices on a virtual leash

The Performance-Optimized Systems department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Nuremberg is concerned with the issue of how movements of objects and humans can be recorded. The researchers’ solutions have a variety of applications: vehicles that automatically detect traffic participants and avoid collisions. An algorithm that knows whether humans are lying on the ground or have collapsed. For CeBIT, the scientists have transferred their software-based technology to the industrial production space. There, it is important to know, for example, if tools are being properly employed. And when it comes to cordless devices, whether these can also be found at their intended location.

The IIS software is capable of determining an implement’s movements and its position. As a requisite the algorithms and the sensors are directly integrated in the device. The results are forwarded to the company’s data center via Bluetooth, and once there, they are compared with the specified deployment scenarios. If these values do not correspond, then this is displayed on the device per LED. “Even cordless screwdrivers are connected to the virtual leash this way – and provide transparent information as to whether they are working efficiently,” says Jochen Seitz of Fraunhofer IIS. Visitors can test the technology themselves at this year’s CeBIT from 10th to 14th of March when visiting the joint exhibition booth of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Hall 9 (Booth E40).

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
Nordostpark 93 | 90411 Nürnberg | www.iis.fraunhofer.de
Contact: Jochen Seitz | Phone +49 911 58061-6461 | jochen.seitz@iis.fraunhofer.de
Press: Angela Raguse | Phone +49 9131 776-5105 | angela.raguse@iis.fraunhofer.de