Simulation platform for smart services: Research project launched

Aftersales services – such as process optimization, training, maintenance, modification and modernization – are becoming an increasingly important part of value creation for many German machine and plant manufacturers. These services can benefit in particular from the digital transformation: Machines and plants are increasingly merging with information technologies that record condition data in real time, learn from this data, control processes automatically or support human decisions, and communicate and interact via the Internet.

For learning and decision support, the use of different simulation tools is also an option. Such tools are currently used only sporadically and in isolation, especially by SMEs. There is hardly any networking of simulation systems with each other and with the real production facilities.

Against this background, ten companies and institutes started the research project SEAMLESS (Simulation-supported assistance system-based engineering and maintenance services for lean aftersales services). The goal is to develop and provide simulation tools on a cloud-based platform “Simulation enhanced Assessment as a Service (SeAaaS)”, which allows users to synergistically combine different simulators and use them for smart services.

The kick-off of SEAMLESS took place on February 4 and 5, 2020 at the project coordinator SimPlan in Hanau. With a view to the intended project results, Sven Spieckermann, CEO of SimPlan AG, spoke of a great opportunity, especially for SMEs. With new simulation-supported after-sales services, they could maintain their position in the increasingly tough market for machinery and equipment.

Other partners in the SEAMLESS project are Actimage GmbH Kehl, Dieffenbacher GmbH Eppingen, EKS InTec GmbH Weingarten, EXAPT Systemtechnik GmbH Aachen, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik Karlsruhe, Innolite GmbH Aachen, Seeburger AG Bretten, TU Chemnitz (Chair of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Management) and the Machine Tool Laboratory (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University.

The SEAMLESS research and development project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the funding area “Complex Products, Production Processes and Systems (Smart Services)” and supervised by the Project Management Agency Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (PTKA). The project runs until January 2023.