How can digital technologies be used to create tangible added value for companies? This was the focus of the event “From Technology to Value Creation: Putting Innovation into Practice”, jointly organised by the VDMA and CENTRUM INDUSTRIAL IT e.V. (CIIT) at SmartFactoryOWL.
The event focused on the practical use of digital technologies for production, data management and sustainability, as well as on exchange between experts from industry and research. Natalia Moriz, Philip Sehr and Laura Reinke represented inIT. Natalia Moriz leads a research group within the Interconnected Automation Systems group, while Philip Sehr and Laura Reinke are also members of the group led by Prof. Dr. Henning Trsek.
From Digital Twins to the Digital Product Passport
The programme covered a wide range of current digitalisation topics in mechanical and plant engineering, from digital twins and IoT data to the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) and the Digital Product Passport.
In a short presentation, Philip Sehr introduced the fundamentals of the Asset Administration Shell and digital twins, providing a basis for the presentations and practical examples that followed.
“The greatest added value is created when digital technologies are not considered in isolation, but are integrated into existing processes in a practical way and developed further together,” says Philip Sehr.
Digital Product Passport at the CinITo Demonstrator
Together with Laura Reinke, Philip Sehr then demonstrated at the CinITo demonstrator how the Digital Product Passport (DPP) can be used in combination with the Asset Administration Shell.
Using a quality audit as an example, they demonstrated live how product quality information can be represented within the AAS. This makes it possible to provide information in a structured way and share it transparently and securely with consumers.
The use case is linked to the research project “DiPP – Digital Product Passport for Reliable Information Exchange in the Supply Chain”. Within the project, inIT is working on solutions for reliable information exchange along the supply chain and the practical implementation of the Digital Product Passport.
→ More about the DiPP project:
https://www.init-owl.de/forschung/projekte/detail/digitaler-produktpass-fuer-zuverlaessigen-informationsaustausch-in-der-supply-chain/
Exchange between Research and Industry
In addition to the technical applications, the event focused on exchange around current challenges in digitalisation. Discussions covered topics including IT security, automation software and digital product data.
“I was particularly impressed by the wide range of perspectives and ideas that came together. This kind of open exchange is exactly what makes digital innovation truly tangible for companies,” says Natalia Moriz.