Enabling the vision of a perpetual innovative product – predicting function fulfillment of new product generations in a circular factory
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Patric Grauberger
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Matthias Dörr
Abstract
The need for sustainability is driving the transition from linear to circular production. Customers, driven by the desire for innovation, prefer new products with the latest cutting-edge functions and design. The problem is that used products from older product generations are hence less attractive, leading to a limited market for remanufactured products and generating less revenue than their new counterparts. Therefore, this research addresses the problem of reprocessing and technologically updating used products into the newest product generation. To address this problem of reprocessing and technological updating with a Circular Factory, the product’s function fulfillment must be predicted in different situations in a Circular Factory. Three key challenges in which the function fulfillment must be predicted are identified as: Analysis and Diagnostics of Used Products and Subsystems, Prediction for Pairing and Reprocess of the Embodiment and Design for Circular Factory. A model-based approach is presented to address these three key challenges by predicting product function fulfillment to enable cross-generational use of subsystems and components. Five different types of models are proposed: A Functional Model, a Reliability Model and a Reference Architecture Model at the high level of general product modeling, as well as a Digital Twin of an object instance and a Tolerance Scheme at the level of individual instances. A theoretical case study shows the possible application in a Circular Factory using the example of an angle grinder. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that substantial work is needed for the enhancement or development of these models before practical application. Successful application of these models allows the Circular Factory not only to maintain but also to increase the value of reprocessed products to enable offering on the primary market and contribute to the vision of realizing a perpetual innovative product.
Zusammenfassung
Das Bedürfnis nach Nachhaltigkeit treibt den Übergang von der linearen zur zirkulären Produktion voran. Die Kunden bevorzugen allerdings, getrieben von ihrem Wunsch nach Innovation, neue Produkte mit den neuesten Funktionen und dem modernsten Design. Das Problem ist, dass gebrauchte Produkte aus älteren Produktgenerationen daher weniger attraktiv sind, was zu einem begrenzten Markt für wiederaufbereitete Produkte führt und weniger Umsatz bringt als ihre neuen Äquivalente. Daher befasst sich diese Forschungsarbeit mit dem Problem der technologischen Aufarbeitung gebrauchter Produkte in die neueste Produktgeneration. Um dieses Problem der Aufarbeitung und technologischen Erneuerung in einer Kreislauffabrik anzugehen, muss die Funktionserfüllung des Produkts in verschiedenen Situationen in einer Kreislauffabrik vorhergesagt werden. Drei Schlüsselherausforderungen, bei denen die Funktionserfüllung vorhergesagt werden muss, werden als solche identifiziert: Analyse und Diagnose von gebrauchten Produkten und Teilsystemen, Vorhersage der Funktionserfüllung für die Aufarbeitung der Produktgestalt und Design für eine Kreislauffabrik. Es wird ein modellbasierter Ansatz vorgestellt, um diese drei zentralen Herausforderungen zu bewältigen, indem die Erfüllung der Produktfunktionen vorhergesagt wird, um eine generationenübergreifende Nutzung von Subsystemen und Komponenten zu ermöglichen. Es werden fünf verschiedene Arten von Modellen vorgeschlagen: Ein Funktionsmodell, ein Zuverlässigkeitsmodell und ein Referenzarchitekturmodell auf der Ebene der allgemeinen Produktmodellierung sowie ein digitaler Zwilling einer Objektinstanz und ein Toleranzschema auf der Ebene der einzelnen Instanzen. Eine theoretische Fallstudie zeigt die mögliche Anwendung in einer Kreislauffabrik am Beispiel eines Winkelschleifers. Es muss jedoch eingeräumt werden, dass vor der praktischen Anwendung noch umfangreiche Arbeiten zur Verbesserung oder Entwicklung dieser Modelle erforderlich sind. Die erfolgreiche Anwendung dieser Modelle ermöglicht es der Kreislauffabrik, den Wert der wiederaufbereiteten Produkte nicht nur zu erhalten, sondern auch zu erhöhen, um sie auf dem Primärmarkt anbieten zu können, und trägt zur Verwirklichung der Vision eines ewig innovativen Produkts bei.
Funding source: The Carl Zeiss Foundation
Award Identifier / Grant number: AgiProbot
About the authors
Patric Grauberger is an academic advisor at the IPEK – Institute for Product Development – Chair of Power Tools and Machine Elements. He conducts research in the field of data-driven design research and functional modelling for the circular economy. From his career through vocational training, studies and doctorate to his currently aspired habilitation, the implementation of the models and methods developed in design research into practice is close to his heart.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gisela Lanza received her diploma in industrial engineering at University of Karlsruhe (TH) and her Dr.-Ing. Degree in the topic of simulative ramp-up based on the quality capabilities of production processes at the Institute of Production Science (wbk), University of Karlsruhe (TH). Since 2008, she has been member of the management board at the Institute of Production Science (wbk) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). She heads the Production Systems division dealing with the topics of global production strategies, production system planning, and quality assurance in research and industrial practice.
Stefan Dietrich received his diploma in physics at University of Karlsruhe (TH) and his Dr.-Ing. degree about the behaviour of composite sandwich materials at the IAM-WK Institute for Applied Materials - Materials Engineering at the KIT.Currently he is group leader of the group “Manufacturing and Component Behaviour” at IAM-WK. His research areas include materials for additive manufacturing, heat treatment technologies, surface engineering and non-destructive evaluation and data fusion with their applications.
Volker Schulze received his diploma in mechanical engineering at University of Karlsruhe (TH) and his Dr.-Ing. degree with a thesis on Fatigue of Steel in Shot Peened States. at the Institute for Materials Science and Engineering, University of Karlsruhe (TH). He was head of a group working on interactions of manufacturing processes with component behavior and then habilitated on Stability of Surface Layer States in different Loading Scenarios. Since 2008 he has been Head of Institute at wbk - Institute of Production Science and leads the group Manufacturing and Materials Technology. Additionally he is member of the management board at Institute of Applied Materials.
Sven Matthiesen is professor and head of the IPEK - Institute for Product Development - Chair of Power Tools and Machine Elements. His research focusses on design methods, human-machine systems, mechatronic machine elements and system reliability. He is a DFG review board member, member of several scientific societies, former board member of WiGeP - Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktentwicklung, author of over 200 scientific publications and as an inventor involved in 18 patents from his time at HILTI Corporation and his current research on power tools.
Acknowledgments
The work described in the project AgiProbot served to prepare the SFB 1574 Circular Factory for the Perpetual Product (project ID: 471687386), which has since been approved by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) with a start date of April 1, 2024.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: AgiProbot is funded by Carl Zeiss Foundation.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Perpetual innovative products from circular factories for sustainable production
- Survey
- The vision of the circular factory for the perpetual innovative product
- Long living human-machine systems in construction and production enabled by digital twins
- Methods
- Enabling the vision of a perpetual innovative product – predicting function fulfillment of new product generations in a circular factory
- Managing uncertainty in product and process design for the circular factory
- Learning human actions from complex manipulation tasks and their transfer to robots in the circular factory
- Self-learning and autonomously adapting manufacturing equipment for the circular factory
- The role of an ontology-based knowledge backbone in a circular factory
- Analysis and evaluation of adaptive remanufacturing strategies for mechanical products
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Perpetual innovative products from circular factories for sustainable production
- Survey
- The vision of the circular factory for the perpetual innovative product
- Long living human-machine systems in construction and production enabled by digital twins
- Methods
- Enabling the vision of a perpetual innovative product – predicting function fulfillment of new product generations in a circular factory
- Managing uncertainty in product and process design for the circular factory
- Learning human actions from complex manipulation tasks and their transfer to robots in the circular factory
- Self-learning and autonomously adapting manufacturing equipment for the circular factory
- The role of an ontology-based knowledge backbone in a circular factory
- Analysis and evaluation of adaptive remanufacturing strategies for mechanical products
