The aim of the cooperation project 'Research and development of new process technologies for the automated and flexible manufacture of cement balcony slabs' (2012-2014) is to increase productivity in the manufacture of balcony slabs. Within the framework of the ZIM funding programme in the area of production, and on their request, the Chair of Production Management lead by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dieter Specht analyzed automation in cooperation with the BOSIG company.

The result of the two-year project is comprehensively geared to the existing production floor concept, in which the production of balcony panels is automated in the future with only minimum manual labour required. At the same time the variety increases with this greater flexibility.

After the company had reached its capacity limit due to an increasing demand for balcony slabs, the production needed to be optimized in order to produce more balcony slabs within the same work area but in less time and with greater variety. All manufacturing steps were optimized, from customer orders through to production and shipping. Through the automation of some areas and the introduction of innovative technologies, the following objectives were achieved:

• An increase in capacity
• A lower rate of complaints
• Time saving in production
• More choices of design alternatives for the customer

Automated customized production

The core of automation is the electronic recording and processing of order-specific data. The networking of the customer with the company allows for quick processing of orders and the coordination of all tasks within the production process. In addition, it ensures that if necessary, customers can be informed of the exact status of the processing of their order. All operations in the manufacture are controlled by the IT system. The slab designs and the networking of individual systems and storage systems enable communication between facilities and registers the incoming and outgoing balcony slabs. This secures the production flow and greatly increases flexibility.

The project was awarded 1st place in the Lausitzer Science Transfer Prize 2015 of the Lausitz Business Initiative (Wirtschaftsinitiative Lausitz, WIL).