DFI Pole

BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH

Contact:  Karl Hribernik hri@biba.uni-bremen.de

The BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH is a scientific engineering research institute. It was founded in July 1981 as one of the first affiliated institutes of the University of Bremen. Today, it is one of the biggest research institutes of the state of Bremen. It consists of the two research divisions: “Intelligent Production and Logistics Systems (IPS)”, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Freitag, and “Application of Information and Communication Technologies in Production (IKAP) “, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus-Dieter Thoben.
On the basis of fundamental research, the BIBA conducts national and international application-oriented research and industrial contracted research in the areas of production and logistics, focusing on crucial industries as logistics services, automobile, aviation and wind energy.
Furthermore, the BIBA is involved in one DFG- funded collaborative research centre at the University of Bremen, in the Bremen Research Cluster for Dynamics in Logistics (LogDynamics), and in the International Graduate School for Dynamics in Logistics. With the LogDynamics Lab, BIBA has a special service centre for developing and testing innovative mobile technologies for logistics processes and systems.

Website : http://www.biba.uni-bremen.de/

BIBA’s competences in research include:

• Semantic Interoperability throughout the Product Lifecycle
• Internet of Things/Industrie 4.0/Industrial Internet of Things
• Knowledge-based Engineering
• Human-machine Collaboration
• Collaborative Business in Enterprise Networks
• Integrated Product and Process Design
• Product-Service Systems
• Intelligent Production and Logistics Systems
• System Design and Planning
• Data Analytics and Process Optimization
• Robotics and Automation

Infrastructure

BIBA can contribute its infrastructure to potential research and development projects, for instance for technology transfer or outreach to regional and national industry:

The LogDynamics Lab located in Bremen at BIBA conducts research in the area of new key technologies (http://www.logdynamics.de/beschreibung.html), for complex processes in production and logistics. Together with its customers and partners it develops operational solutions for smart logistics. The research lab of LogDynamics offers a great infrastructure for practical orientated test scenarios without disturbing the regular operation. Therefore, varieties of modern technologies are combined for customized solutions. The LogDynamics Lab comes with production and storage equipment as well as transport and robotic systems. This technical infrastructure enables workshops, experiments, field tests and self-development. It also provides an innovation platform for future services in the field of logistics. Additionally, to the core competences like own software development and application, LogDynamics Lab ensures an appropriate methodical approach. LogDynamics is an environment where the progress beyond research to operational reality is designed. This can be realized through know-how transfer, exchanging experiences and workshops based on latest technology. Based on the established state of the art new innovations are necessary to be able to respond to new specific challenges or to open the door for new products or services.

The Industry 4.0 Competence and Transfer Centre at BIBA (http://www.biba.uni-bremen.de/industrie4.html?&L=1) is a technology transfer centre established at BIBA dedicated to providing regional, national and international industry access to the newest Industry 4.0 research results and solutions. Industry 4.0 is strongly interlinked with the term “Cyber-Physical Systems” (CPS). CPS are physical objects (e.g. machines, vehicles, work pieces etc.), which are equipped with technologies such as RFID, sensors, microprocessors, telematics or complete embedded systems. CPS are able to (a) collect data about themselves and their environment, (b) process and evaluate this data, (c) connect and communicate with other systems (e.g. via the internet) and (d) initiate several actions. The implementation of these CPS will lead to more efficient processes and consequently save costs. In addition, new services and thereby generating additional turnovers will be possible due to CPS. BIBA investigates potentials of CPS, starting from product design, through several applications in production and logistics, up to maintenance and exploitation (e.g. recycling) of products. Besides the technical approaches, BIBA pursues possibilities of CPS for generating new business models as well as education and corporate training for the support of employees in their daily work.

The iotfablab (http://www.iotfablab.eu/) is a joint initiative between BIBA and the LogDynamics Lab, which aims to establish a link between research and industry with regards to Internet of Things research and technologies. It offers workshops and technical consultancy, feasibility studies, prototype development, industrial implementation, project management and provides equipment and infrastructure. It is fuelled by the dedicated know-how of the partners in External Logistics / Global Forwarding, Factories of the Future / Smart Manufacturing, Internal Logistics and Material Handling, Smart Products & Product Service Systems and Product Lifecycle Management. It is supported by a number of strategic partners, including PTC, the Open Group, Airbus and others. The iotfablab makes use of the latest research developments in IoT and CPS in its work.