Information technology is a key competitive factor of modern industry. In addition to the traditional business information systems, information technology is applied widely also in product design; product configuration; production planning, management, and control; logistics; after-sales activities such as installation and maintenance; and finally, recycling and reuse. The integration of all these areas is a key precondition for reaping the full benefits of increased automation, and defines the challenge for reseach in the field.
The research activities of the Chair of Information Technology for Production cover selected areas within this overall range of problems. At the present, the research is organized in four independent research groups:
PMRG studies the computational issues of digital product representations that form the foundation of various applications such as Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing. The recent activities have concentrated on areas such as feature-based product models, geometric constraints, and product models for early design stages. The objective of the research is to establish methodologies and techniques for creating product models that support sharing of product information of the entire product life cycle across the boundaries of functional units of a company and its customers, partners, and other stakeholders.
Robotics Group concentrates on advanced computational problems of robotics, in particular path planning. The objective is to establish methods for fully automatic robot path programming on the basis of information on the geometric configuration of the robot cell, the task at hand, and various kinds of technological information.
Usability Group is concerned with the theories, methodologies, and tools for developing usable user interfaces not only for software products, but also for various types of "intelligent products" that include embedded software. The group operates a Usability Laboratory that supports various types of systematic usability assessment methods.
Performance Management and Measurement Group studies the performance of various types of industrial activities such as customer order satisfaction process or product development process on the basis of the process paradigm. In this paradigm, formal or semi-formal process models explaining the sequence of activities in a process is used to study the quality, efficiency, or other performance characteristics of the process. The objective of the research is to establish systematic methods for process modeling and assessment, and in the longer term, for process automation.
For more detailed information see the following: