Definitions Products and Production

Question 1

Define Customization

Answer 1

Globalisation, digital connection and the growth in prosperity over the last few decades have multiplied the options for self-fulfilment. The desire for distinction increasingly expresses itself in the personalisation of products, services and experiences.
Accordingly, companies will have to change their processes, make them more flexible in the future and work closely with their customers in order to economically develop individual products and services in smaller quantities.

Question 2

Define Digital Assistance Systems

Answer 2

Digital assistance systems provide machine aid to manual tasks (e.g. warehouse handling, maintenance). They help to reduce the stress of manual handling, increase efficiency through real-time operational analytics from wearables, voice or gesture control and enable proactive correction.
Examples include augmented, mixed or virtual reality devices, which provide intelligent support, and devices such as smart clothing and bionic arms, which expand the boundaries of current physical barriers and minimize health and safety risks.

Question 3

Define Flexible Production

Answer 3

3D printing enables components to be produced directly and flexibly without needing a specific machine set-up. Instead of a global production site, decentralized regional “factories around the corner” can reduce default risks, transportation costs and the carbon footprint, and therefore minimize lead and delivery times as well as storage demands.
A growing network of high quality on-demand 3D printing services allow flexible outsourcing and upscaling of 3D printing capacities in production peak times.

Question 4

Define Smart Materials

Answer 4

Through the use of new technologies and expanded scientific knowledge, materials are becoming increasingly intelligent. These smart materials adapt to new environmental conditions, for example by increasing the room temperature, by a specific mechanical load or by changing the pH value.
This extends the functional range of the material (for example, self-healing or superelasticity due to shape memory alloy).

Question 5

Define Genome Editing

Answer 5

Genome editing is a special form of bioengineering. It involves the targeted editing of gene information in order to develop new biological organisms with specific functions and properties. The CRISPR/Cas method, for example, enables extensive genome editing, i.e. the precise conversion of DNA building blocks.
Not only could hereditary diseases be eliminated, but ultraresistant plants and new materials (bioplastics) could also be designed by genetically modified biological “factories”.