Customized IT for networked production ecosystems

Welcome to the pages of the Automation and Digitalization business unit of Fraunhofer IOSB! We are happy to support you if you are looking for a competent development and innovation partner for technological challenges in areas such as Industrie 4.0, factory control, logistics and machine learning.

Our profile

The Automation and Digitalization business unit provides a highly focused range of services throughout the entire automation pyramid within and between industrial production plants. This includes solutions for manufacturing companies, system integrators, machine suppliers, automation providers and software vendors delivering production-related IT including the supplier network.

We focus on creating innovative, customized and functional IT solutions for complex manufacturing processes and networked production ecosystems. For many years, we have been designing, developing and delivering pioneering system solutions for industrial applications, ranging from measurement and control technology to embedded systems and sophisticated production-control and MES systems. Our activities are concentrated in the following fields: Industrie 4.0, IT security in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), collaborative human-machine systems, digital twin systems, and customized AI methods (esp. machine learning) for use in manufacturing, assembly and supply chains. 

Our ambition is to provide secure and service-oriented architectures, AI systems engineering and information management based on open standards. With the SmartFactory OWL and the Karlsruher Forschungsfabrik (Karlsruhe Research Factory), we offer cutting edge development and demonstration environments for SMEs and for major corporations.

We address these topics:

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Data-driven process control and optimization

Industrial communications technology

Digital twin and asset administration shells

Industrial human-machine interaction

IT security in manufacturing

MES and process-control technology

These skills we bring to the solution of your problems:

Edge computing

Cyber-physical systems

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

AutomationML and OPC UA

OPC UA over Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN)

International Data Spaces / Industrial Data Space (IDS)

Plug and Work

Self-organizing production

We successfully cooperate with customers from these sectors:

  • Plant operators and system integrators
  • Machine builder and supplier of automation components
  • Software company for production-related IT
 

Cooperate with us

Companies can cooperate with us within the framework of funded joint projects or commission R&D services directly. Follow the link to learn about other opportunities.

Further information on the business unit

 

“AIoT is heralding new possibilities”

Fraunhofer IOSB has the expertise to support companies in enhancing their production processes with AI methods and tools. In the interview, Dr. Usländer describes the benefits resulting from bringing together the 'Internet of Things' and artificial intelligence.

visIT issues

These issues of the IOSB science-journal are explicitly dedicated to topics of the business unit:

 

 

Research Factories&Co.

Our research factories serve as testing and demonstration centers for the data-driven production of the future. Industrie 4.0 and smart manufacturing can be experienced and special forms of practical collaboration with companies become possible.

In the Competence Center for AI Systems Engineering Karlsruhe CC-KING, we research the fundamentals and applications of a methodical integration of AI into production.