Model factory for FH Aachen

At the turn of the year, the much-longed-for Model Smart Factory from Lucas-Nülle was put into operation at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences.

The idea for this special configuration of the system was elaborated by the project manager, Professor Jörg Wollert. In future, the model factory will be used by four different professors for four different aspects of the Smart Factory. As far as teaching is concerned, the system and the support of students will mainly be taken care of by Mr Rau, who is in charge of the laboratory.

Mr Rau was surprised how quickly the system can be set up and reconfigured. Within just one hour of delivery by Marijan Naglic, Product Manager at Lucas-Nülle, and Robert Redling, who is responsible for FH Aachen in Sales, the system was already being used to produce the first completed workpiece. After another hour, Mr Rau had integrated the collaborating UR 3 robot into the system and programmed it to remove the finished product from the system.

The next step is to integrate the system into the new ERP Lab. The system exchanges data via a cloud interface. Higher-level ERP software can control production processes and capture real-time system data via the cloud. The system thus simulates every operation in the laboratory, from customer orders via the webshop to real production.