Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The future and prosperity of entire countries depend on the production of goods, just as many jobs in the USA and worldwide. The future of digitalized manufacturing and Industrie 4.0 rests entirely upon the ability to pool expertise and resources. Fraunhofer’s interdisciplinary systems expertise sparks the new ideas that meet the challenges of a changing world and helps create customized solutions right along the value chain. Visitors to the joint Fraunhofer booth on this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show IMTS in Chicago can experience how a vibrant mix of new technology in the fields of augmented reality as a service, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data sovereignty, sensor and actuator systems, digital engineering, human-machine interaction and smart materials is reshaping the future.

Manufacturers generally must offer high-quality products at low prices in order to remain competitive. Three Fraunhofer Institutes are therefore working on the next generation of industrial robots which will facilitate cost-effective production processes. The researchers are focusing on developing a new kinematics for milling lightweight materials, metals, and steels. The aim: achieving a production tolerance of just 0.1 millimeters all over the robot workspace starting with the very first component.

Spatially demarcated areas such as company premises are ideal test areas for autonomous driving: the vehicles do not require road registration, traffic is manageable, other people who use the road are informed and unauthorized individuals are not allowed access. In the collaborative project AutoTruck, Fraunhofer is cooperating with industry to develop technologies for autonomous trucks in logistics centers. The results also inform the research on self-driving vehicles for normal road traffic.

Data Scientist is one of the most attractive jobs of the 21st century. This impression is confirmed when you take a look at relevant online job portals. According to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute, in the USA demand exceeds supply by far – and this does not appear to be any different in Germany. But what is it that makes this job so interesting in the first place? Someone who knows this is Dr. Andreas Jedlitschka, Head of the Data Engineering Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE and a member of the Expert Committee on Data Science of the Personal Certification Body at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT, Sankt Augustin.