IAR-IPR visits SEW-Eurodrive

On the 19th of July, fourteen members of IPR staff and students visited SEW-Eurodrive in Bruchsal to learn about the company's MAXOLUTION concept for factory automation. MAXOLUTION is an integrated approach to factory automation, involving manufacturing and assembly processes as well as material flow and handling applications.

After an initial company introduction, The MAXOLUTION concept was presented. The concept is focused on aspects such as Industry 4.0, Smart Factory Devices, Automated Guided Vehicles and intelligent drives. It aims to increase the changeability and flexibility of automation facilities. This is especially important in use cases where production facilities need the ability to produce small batch sizes in a large number of variants. After the concept presentation and a subsequent discussion, we visited the MAXOLUTION application hall, where different machines, assembly lines and other examples for intelligent factory automation are displayed. The examples included suspension conveyors, automated packaging machines and high rack storage areas. Interest was sparked especially by the company's autonomous guided vehicles that are offered in different sizes and with payloads between a few hundred kilograms and multiple tons.

Overall, the visit was very informative. Especially in the light of the ongoing digitization of manufacturing processes, insights into practical implementations of Industry 4.0 are highly valuable for research institutes like the IPR. Therefore, we greatly appreciate the invitation from SEW-Eurodrive.