Hürth, Mönchengladbach, February 26, 2024 – The WIRKsam competence center and the company AUNDE Achter & Ebels GmbH are currently developing a work system in an interdisciplinary collaboration that significantly improves the quality of the so-called laminating process for the textile industry. On February 20, 2024, the project was presented at a fireside evening at AUNDE in Mönchengladbach. Numerous guests from research, business and economic development agencies took part and, in addition to lively discussions, also experienced live during a tour of the hall how fabrics and nonwovens are refined into car seat covers in the production halls.
AUNDE Achter & Ebels GmbH is a global producer of innovative surface materials for seat covers in the automotive industry. AUNDE is now striving to take another step towards process innovation. By using
Using AI technologies, a system is being developed that focuses particularly on the laminating process. The lamination process combines two or more layers of woven and nonwoven materials into a single composite material to increase dimensional stability, strength and comfort.
The reject rate should be reduced
The heart of the collaboration is the innovative design of the work with the aim of an improved and more robust production process. The aim is to make work easier for employees and at the same time improve textile quality. In the future, the AI system will use machine, quality and environmental data to suggest optimal production parameters for the laminating process at any time. The reject rate should be reduced and thus sustainability increased. These suggestions are presented to employees via a user-friendly human machine interface (HMI). Wolfgang Merx, research associate at the Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University (ITA), explains: “The involvement of everyone involved enables collaboration at eye level and direct feedback, which is particularly important with regard to acceptance. The people at the machine decide whether the AI solution developed is successful.”
“Even pondering together is fun”
“The collaboration with the WIRKsam team is very structured, relaxed, even pondering together is fun,” says Emmanuil Ntzemos, project manager at AUNDE Achter & Ebels GmbH. Jennifer Link, research assistant at the WIRKsam competence center, underlines the changes in working methods caused by the AI system: “We carried out an analysis of the work system based on, among other things, the aspects of work content, work organization and work environment. This analysis shows that work will improve significantly for employees.”
Connection of environmental data makes work results assessable
The technical development of the AI project is carried out by Intex Consulting GmbH from Wuppertal. The company is one of the so-called enablers of the WIRKsam competence center. “Finding out which data for the target size in the laminating process are the most likely influencing factors in order to be able to reliably predict the quality was a particular challenge for everyone involved,” says Marc Zohren, project manager at Intex Consulting. The redesigned work system makes work results more predictable, work more holistic and employee satisfaction increased.
About the “WIRKsam” competence center
The WIRKsam competence center was founded in November 2021 and has a real laboratory on the euronova CAMPUS in Hürth. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds the Regional Competence Center for Labor Research under funding number 02L19C600ff. WIRKsam is made up of five research institutes, three enablers, eleven application companies and eleven value partners. The research institutes involved include the Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University (ITA) and the Institute for Mobile Autonomous Systems and Cognitive Robotics at FH Aachen (MASKOR) as well as the Institute for Applied Work Science as project coordinator. V. (ifaa) in Düsseldorf. Other research partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, Sankt Augustin (FIT) and the Chair of Technology and Individuals at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen (iTec). The WIRKsam real-world laboratory in Studio 6 on the euronova CAMPUS provides insights into current research work. Demonstrators using AI can be tested live in the future. Eleven small and large companies from the broader industry have so far taken part in the research project and are supported by the interdisciplinary scientific team.
www.arbeitswissenschaft.net/forschung-projekte/wirksam
www.wirksam.nrw
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EFFECTIVE – Regional Competence Center for Labor Research
CONTACT PERSON: Dorothea Dühr
CONTACT: 02233 600371-6, [email protected]
www.wirksam.nrw
CONTACT PERSON: Sabrina Gellissen
CONTACT: 0241 80-24701, [email protected]
www.wirksam.nrw
The “WIRKsam” competence center was founded in November 2021 and has a real laboratory on the euronova CAMPUS in Hürth-Kalscheuren. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds the Regional Competence Center for Labor Research under funding number 02L19C600ff. “WIRKsam” is made up of five research institutes, three enablers, eleven application companies and 11 value partners. The research institutes involved include the Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University (ITA) and the Institute for Mobile Autonomous Systems and Cognitive Robotics at FH Aachen (MASKOR) as well as the Institute for Applied Work Science as project coordinator. V. (ifaa) in Düsseldorf. Other research partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, Sankt Augustin (FIT) and the Chair of Technology and Individuals at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen (iTec). The “WIRKsam” real-world laboratory in Studio 6 on the euronova CAMPUS provides insights into current research work. Demonstrators using AI can be tested live in the future. Eleven small and large companies from the broader industry have so far taken part in the research project and are supported by the interdisciplinary scientific team.
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Competence center EFFECTIVE
Dorothea Dühr
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50354 Hurth
01788913288