At the industrial conference in the Haus der Wirtschaft on 28 March 2019, the TPBW I4.0 showcased successfully implemented transfer projects together with industry partners.
The conference was opened by the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, underlining the significance of the event. Baden-Württemberg, along with many technology leaders, is ensuring a much needed boost to innovation in the field of digitisation and Industry 4.0.
At the joint stand of Esslingen University and topex GmbH, visitors were able to find out about the "digital twin".
A "digital twin" refers to a computer assisted model of a material or non-material object which can be used for various purposes.
In the project that was presented, topex used a Standard topex 7000 label printer and a flexible 5-axis robot system for the application of labels in the "virtual world". Esslingen University developed the corresponding software environment.
The main area of application is production and automation technology. Digital twins map systems across the whole lifecycle (design engineering, commissioning and operation). Engineers can use simulation models during the design phase in order to optimise processes. Once the system is operative, the same simulation models can be used to further improve processes and production.
topex is convinced that this technology will become increasingly important in the future, in particular because it allows costly, time consuming and critical commissioning processes to be performed virtually in advance.
Further highly interesting talks and practical examples on the theme of digitisation and Industry 4.0 rounded off this successful event.