GRK 1491:  Ramp-Up Management - Development of Decision Models for the Production Ramp-Up

• Subject Area: Production Technology
• Term: from 2008 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 51278575

For industrial enterprises and especially for the automotive supplying industry the production ramp-up represents a critical factor, since according to the global assimilation of technical abilities and competences the product launch to the correct time and meanwhile low assignment of resources will be an important differentiation criteria for enterprises in the future. The transition from the planned, virtual world to the real world occurs in the ramp-up phase. In this phase extraordinary many decisions with huge consequences have to be made under a high time pressure. Due to the high complexity of the overall system wrong decisions are numerous today, because for the high interdependence and the high time pressure the effects on the overall system cannot be considered.
According to these facts the objective of the Research Training Group is to meet present decision-theoretical deficits in handling the production ramp-up by means of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary explanation model. The decision model will provide a basis for the scientific expertise of the PhD students as well as a device for the orientation of enterprises in order to bridge between teaching, research and industrial practice.
The target systems of decision making during the ramp-up process represents the interface between engineering and economics. On the one hand, technological systems and, on the other hand, humans´ and organisations´ attitude to the control of such complex systems will be considered. Thus an interdisciplinary handling of the topics logistic, business economics and production engineering is necessary. The individual questions concerning the improvement of decision quality will be answered by the PhD students by using different perspectives of the different disciplines. Thus solution components of the topics will be developed interdisciplinary and concerning the interdependencies of adjoining areas in order to achieve a holistic method of resolution.
The system-theoretical approach according to Ulrich will commonly underlie every approach.
Further on, the accompanying study programme will promote both the competences of the contents and the research methodical competences of the PhD students. The Research Training Group will extend the main focus production engineering at the RWTH Aachen and strengthen the interdisciplinary cooperation between the departments.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Heinrich Schmitt
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Brecher; Professor Dr. Harald Dyckhoff; Professorin Dr. Sabina Jeschke; Professor Dr.-Ing. Fritz Klocke; Professor Dr. Peter Letmathe; Professor Dr. Frank Thomas Piller; Professor Dr.-Ing. Günther Schuh; Professorin Dr. Grit Walther