Today, companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector are faced with increasingly complex and multifaceted customer requirements. Standard products are now only promising in absolutely exceptional cases. Customized solutions tailored to specific customer requirements are needed to remain successful in the face of global competition. The ability to respond quickly to complex customer requirements and offer specific solutions is becoming an increasingly important competitive factor, particularly in the machinery and plant engineering sector. It is crucial not only for the participating project partners but for the entire industry to not only keep pace with this development but to actively shape it.
The main objective of the project is therefore to develop a technological framework in the spirit of the Digital Thread—with a particular focus on requirements engineering, requirements management, and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)—that connects data and data flows from all relevant technical disciplines and business areas and enables a holistic view of a machine or plant across its entire product lifecycle. The innovative aspect lies primarily in significantly increasing the digital continuity of data (models, parameters, measured values, etc.) and improving the ability to manage the ever-increasing complexity in mechanical and plant engineering by building methodological expertise and leveraging digital technologies. Only in this way will it be possible in the future to economically and successfully implement highly flexible development and production tailored to batch size 1. In this context, the digital transformation of companies can be viewed as an ongoing, permanent process whose objectives must be continuously adapted.
None of the participating companies can solve these challenges on their own today, as both the methodological foundations—for example, in the areas of systems engineering and model-based systems engineering—and the associated implementation tools are still the subject of scientific R&D. Several renowned research institutions with proven expertise in the topics under investigation are therefore participating in the TraceMe project. The legal dimension of the topic—data protection being one example—must also be taken into account in the technical concepts and solutions from the very beginning. The LIT Law Lab was therefore brought into the consortium as a partner with the relevant expertise.
In addition to technical complexity, the lack of methodological expertise and the shortage of qualified personnel pose immense challenges for the companies involved today. Employees with the appropriate expertise are not only desperately sought after in mechanical and plant engineering but are also unavailable in sufficient numbers. Training and further educating employees accordingly is therefore a requirement for companies, regardless of their size. For this reason, in addition to the participating research institutions—the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (Wels Campus) and the Institute for Mechatronic Product Development and Manufacturing at Johannes Kepler University Linz—two educational institutions were also included in the consortium. This ensures that the project results can be integrated into the educational programs for future students.
Facts & Figures
FFG Call for Proposals as part of #UpperVISION2030 – FTI Initiative: Digital Transformation 2021/2022
Duration: September 1, 2022, to August 31, 2025
Total Cost: €2,612,677.00
Academic Partners:
FH OÖ (Wels Campus), JKU Institute for Mechatronic Product Development and Manufacturing, LIT Law Lab, LCM, RISC, SCCH
Corporate Partners:
BRAUN, ENGEL, Fill, framag, Gtech Automation Technology, Kremsmüller Plant Engineering, Siemens Industry Software, TAT-TECHNOM Drive Technology
Subcontractors:
Business Upper Austria - Upper Austria Economic Development Agency GmbH (Mechatronics Cluster) with the following responsibilities: organization of training sessions, dissemination, exchange of experiences, industry guidelines
