Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM
In today’s interconnected world, the efficient exchange of data between organizational units, whether within a single organization or across multiple institutions, comes with significant challenges, especially in maintaining data privacy and security. Balancing the need for collaboration with the requirement to protect sensitive information is a critical concern for many organizations.
Additionally, building the infrastructure for an interoperable digital environment that is both scalable and maintainable is not straightforward. It requires careful design, reliable tools, and expertise to ensure that systems can grow with organizational needs while minimizing complexity and overhead.
With our extensive experience in designing and implementing digital ecosystems, we provide organizations with the setups they need to enable seamless and secure data exchanges. Whether facilitating internal collaboration or supporting external partnerships, we deliver tailored solutions that enhance operational efficiency, interoperability, and scalability.
Knowledge-generating Apps
Engineers often develop small scripts and applications to assist with their daily tasks. However, these tools are typically used locally, which often results in lost opportunities to record data provenance. This lack of provenance not only limits the ability to track and verify results but also reduces the reusability of the apps due to inaccessibility and reliance on specialized input/output file formats.
To address this, we support and guide organizations in developing and registering their own apps within an integrated ecosystem that provides harmonized data representation. By leveraging established, industry-oriented tools such as Kubernetes and Argo Workflows, we help build a robust infrastructure tailored to hosting and executing apps specifically for materials science and manufacturing needs.
The ability for engineers to register their apps within an ecosystem that provides harmonized data representation can significantly enhance organizational efficiency and interoperability. By relying on established, industry-oriented tools such as Kubernetes and Argo Workflows, we deliver a robust infrastructure for hosting and executing apps tailored to materials science and manufacturing needs.
Moreover, the system's semantic layer creates new opportunities for achieving interoperability between data and applications. It enables seamless integration, ensuring that process data and parameters are stored systematically. This not only allows for result verification but also increases confidence in the reliability and accuracy of stored data.
Through these solutions, we empower organizations to harness the full potential of their knowledge-generating apps, driving innovation and collaboration in materials science and manufacturing.
Process Design and Documentation
In materials science and manufacturing, processes are fundamental to product quality and innovation. However, critical challenges, such as inconsistencies in process descriptions, missing details, and lack of standard formats, hinder effective process curation. These issues make it difficult to reproduce processes reliably and reuse them for new applications, ultimately impacting data quality and operational efficiency.
We offer both the expertise and tools needed to digitalize your processes in a standardized, semantic manner. Our Process Editor module is a web-based platform designed to capture and represent processes, ranging from manufacturing (casting, forming, additive manufacturing) to characterization (microscopy, spectroscopy, mechanical testing), modeling (computational materials science, finite element analysis, multiscale modeling), and AI-driven workflows (material discovery, predictive analytics, digital twins).
Key features of the Process Editor include:
- Compatibility with common industry standards (e.g., ISO and DIN) to ensure regulatory compliance and interoperability.
- A user-friendly interface with an intuitive configuration console tailored for administrators and process engineers.
- Integrated visualization tools and advanced search capabilities to facilitate process analysis and optimization.
By leveraging our competencies and this tool, we help companies transform fragmented and incomplete process information into comprehensive, actionable digital workflows, opening new opportunities for problem-solving, innovation, and operational excellence.