Global Compact International Yearbook 2016

Faster, More Efficient,
More Sustainable –
The Production Plant of
the Future
By Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter F. Tropschuh and Jasmin Lotze, Audi AG
Digital integration will play a central role in the modern production plant over the next few years:
The “factory of the future” – also known as Industry 4.0 or the Smart Factory – not only increases
the ability of machines to control processes faster and more efficiently; it also results in greater
integration of machinery and humans.
Following on from mechanization, electrification,
and automation, the Smart
Factory denotes what now represents
the fourth industrial revolution that
industry will be facing over the coming
years. The goal of the Smart Factory is
to increase productivity and flexibility
while at the same time realizing ecological
benefits by reducing the level of
resources consumed.
The driving force behind this development
is the steady inroads made by
worldwide integration. Today’s internet
continues to evolve into an “internet of
things,” over which not only people, but
also machinery (= things) can exchange
information. The real and virtual worlds
are thus increasingly converging. The
Smart Factory symbolizes this process.
Because all workers, machinery, and resources
are interconnected non-centrally
there, they are able to communicate
with each other in real time. That is how
the factory is able to assist the workers.
Various elements and technologies of
the Smart Factory are already in use at
Audi. The much-lauded revolution is
therefore more a case of an evolution
for Audi production.
Future scenario: Islands of expertise
instead of assembly line
Intelligent systems, innovative technologies,
efficient structures: time to rethink
the topic from the ground up. Small
groups of forward thinkers in Ingolstadt
gather ideas for the Smart Factory beyond
2030. The creative teams work on solutions,
free from the current processes in
production. Instead of today’s practice
of high-volume production at a small
number of plants, in the future production
facilities could be built wherever
the demand is high – in other words,
close to the customer. Every production
unit would therefore need to be able to
build every model according to the same
principles and using the same flexible
tools – a complete rethink of the working
approach in automotive manufacturing.
Here, too, the future is connected,
integrated, and communicative.
The role of the workers
For all the focus on the technology, people
will not disappear from the production
plant of the future. Quite the opposite:
The large number of production
variants, the high degree of customization,
and the high-quality standards
can only be realized with suitably wellqualified
workers. But wherever possible,
they are supported by assisting robots.
Ergonomics and reduced workloads are
the overriding priorities; the workers
will increasingly take on planning and
controlling roles, because in 2035 skilled
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Global Compact International Yearbook 2016