The Bremen Institute of Industrial Technology and Applied Work Science at the University of Bremen (BIBA) is a research institute for engineering science focusing on production technologies and the related organisational resource management aspects. Currently approximately 120 employees work at BIBA with a staff of nearly 50 scientific researchers. The BIBA provides a range of up-to-date information technologies and high grade production machinery. The large number of research scientists from different disciplines develop in an interdisciplinary approach:
- Technologies to support optimised processes in the field of production, information and communication
- Organisation of processes, tasks and structures
- Methodologies to analyse, evaluate and organise work-systems
- Personnel development measures for special disciplines and interdisciplinary competencies
The solutions are developed for companies of all sizes - from small skilled trade enterprises to large commercial and industrial companies. BIBA participates in a lot of regional, national and European projects with other scientific organisations and practitioners. BIBA is closely connected to the faculty of Production Engineering and other faculties at the University of Bremen.
The BIBA-division of "Product Development, Process Planning, Computer Support" develops strategies, methods and tools for industrial production. The major focus is the optimisation and redesign of development and production processes by introducing innovative information and communications technologies. Research activities concentrate on:
Infrastructures and Means for the Support of Product Development Processes
Work procedures are analysed with respect to their feasibility of being supported by innovative information and communication technologies. Suitable solutions are developed and applied. Specific attention is given to the improvement of co-operation and collaboration both within and between organisations as they develop complex products in a distributed environment. Topics addressed are:
- development of product, process and project models and their integration
- transformation of these models into computerised information and communication infrastructures (e.g. EDB, Workflow, Intranet)
- methods and software tools for decision support
- procedures and support systems for efficient bid preparation
Transformation of Geometric Product Models into Physical Products
In this area software solutions for the support of one-of-a-kind and prototype production are developed. Main focus is the selection and integration of technologies for rapid production of function samples and prototypes (Rapid Prototyping). Main tasks are to develop and demonstrate
- closed, time- and cost-optimised process chains for company specific problem situations
- interfaces for geometric data processing between design, planning and production
- systems and models for the graphical simulation of production processes
- "projected vs. actual" comparisons between CAD and part geometry for the optimisation of component precision.
In recent years the division of Product Development, Process Planning and Computer Support has emphasised on the topics of globally distributed manufacturing, bid preparation and electronic commerce. In these areas the division has participated in several national and international R&D projects. Therefore, the division of Product Development, Process Planning and Computer Support provides a wide range of expertise to achieve the project goals.
Related Projects:
ESPRIT 7131 "BidPrep"
This project focused on support of the bid preparation process for one-of-a-kind manu-facturing. One major task was the development of a product modelling and configuration system. This tool was also able to visualise products by means of CAD drawings. Results of BidPrep can be used as starting point for the INTELLECT development.
ESPRIT 26956 "OnTour"
OnTour aims at supporting the tourist value chain by means of an open network based on Internet technology. It is planned to perform exchange of tourist business data via the Internet. All organisations involved in planning, booking and carrying out the travel (e.g. traveller, travel agency, tour operator) will be connected to the OnTour solution, leading to a complete touristic E-Commerce system.