FUTURE MANUFACTURING
Data ecosystems provide new opportunities for manufacturing enterprises and their equipment suppliers .
manufacturing enterprises have to acquire comprehensive competences quickly to be able to benefit from new tools such as GAIA-X , privacy and data sovereignty , platforms and data eco systems . The skills gap can only be addressed in cooperation with partners .
Data spaces for simple and secure exchange
An exemplary lighthouse project presenting a sector-related data space , which is basically a data space of the automotive supply chain , was started by the automotive industry in 2021 , sponsored by the Federal Government . The Catena-X project aims at enabling the secure and simple exchange of information within the automotive supply networks while ensuring data sovereignty . The project is designed to increase the level of digitalization of the sector , the collaboration and the efficiency of processes , ensuring that the German automotive ecosystem will remain competitive in the future . To this end , Germany ‘ s three big original equipment manufacturers ( OEM ) BMW , Mercedes and Volkswagen cooperate with large and medium-sized suppliers from the entire automotive supply chain in the context of the Catena-X project .
Data ecosystems enabling decentral data storage in industry-specific data
spaces , multilateral data sharing as well as the control of data access and data usage provide new opportunities for manufacturing enterprises and their equipment suppliers . Core competences can be expanded and other activities can be outsourced to specialized partners . This results in new provider profiles and forms of cooperation .
Data spaces require :
● infrastructure
● basic services such as the interpretation and translation of specific terms into the common “ language ” of the data space (“ semantic mapping ” to a common vocabulary ) or features ensuring the data sovereignty as well as
● software services supporting the business of the participants in the data space (“ business apps ”).
The larger the number of participants , the better the range of products
Business apps create the actual added value for the manufacturing industry , its suppliers and service providers . For they offer features allowing companies to ensure transparency in their manufacturing processes , computing economic indicators or projecting quality and availability in advance . The more participants cooperate in the data ecosystem ( companies providing data and companies using data ), the better the range of products and services in the data space – in terms of data and business apps . Ultimately , data spaces and their rules are a European way to ensure that manufacturing enterprises keep sovereignty and control of their data instead of transferring them to providers outside Europe .
Effects on the structure of value creation
In contrast to many other sectors of industry , digitalization in production is still in its infancy . In the future , everything in the factory will be based on software that can be interlinked spontaneously and that is realtime-compliant . This will have enormous effects on the structure of value creation in the manufacturing industry . All efforts are designed to maintain and strengthen production and its suppliers in Germany – particularly for stormy times ahead . l
Dr-Ing . Olaf Sauer Automation Business Unit Deputy Head of Institute Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics , System Technologies and Image Exploitation ( IOSB )
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