Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO

Digital Engineering Lab

Bringing products and their production to life before they actually exist

© Bernd Müller, Fraunhofer IAO

Integrated product and product development

The Digital Engineering Lab presents and illustrates the content of the entire process chain for typical products, from the idea through to production.
© Ludmilla Parsyak, Fraunhofer IAO

Digital connection between product development and production

>Concepts such as digital production, digital factory, and collaborative engineering are also presented as part of integrated virtual product and production development.
© Ludmilla Parsyak, Fraunhofer IAO

Digital connection between product development and production

Particular attention is paid here to the connection between the real and the digital world, i.e. between the product and production system and their representations in software tools.
© Bernd Müller, Fraunhofer IAO

Using existing data and knowledge

In the Digital Engineering Lab, technical possibilities for the digital reuse of existing information (physical and virtual) are tested and their meaningful use evaluated.
© Bernd Müller, Fraunhofer IAO

Additive methods call for a rethink in development

Additive manufacturing technologies allow for a completely new kind of product realization. The Additive Technology Application research field deals with the integration of this new technology into existing processes. Opportunities and risks are also analyzed and evaluated.

Research topics

In Fraunhofer IAO’s Digital Engineering Lab – DELab for short – it is possible to experience products and their production before they actually exist. The focus of the work carried out in this “living lab” is the process chain from the idea for a new product through to planning the product’s manufacturing and assembly. Focusing on selected examples, researchers investigate and highlight which innovative methods and tools in product and production development could help engineers to develop high-quality products and systems even more efficiently, on time and on budget, while also studying the interactions that exist between individual instruments along the process chain leading to product realization.

Facilities

Concepts such as digital production, the digital factory, and collaborative engineering are also explored in the DELab as part of integrated virtual product and production development. Particular attention is paid here to the connection between the real and the digital world, i.e. between the product and production system and their representations in software tools. One approach being pursued in research work at the DELab is known as “serious gaming in engineering”, which involves the use of gaming elements not only for communication purposes, but also for developing the digital engineering content of products and production systems.