SPIE develops innovative Facility management processes at the ARENA2036 Research Factory

- Since last year, SPIE has been conducting tests at the automotive ARENA2036 Research Factory dedicated to the future of production, mobility and work.
- Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and a German car manufacturer, SPIE is developing innovative facility management processes as part of the FM ARENA project.
- The development focuses on the use of digital solutions in facility management, such as digital building twins, resulting in the efficient operation of buildings.
 

Stuttgart, January 17^th, 2019 - Since May 2018, SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa, subsidiary of the SPIE group, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has been testing innovative facility management processes at the joint research platform ARENA2036 in Stuttgart. With the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO) and a long-standing customer from the automotive industry, SPIE joined the FM ARENA project focusing on the creation and application of digital building twins.

Facility management using digital building twins

By the end of 2018, the project partners were testing two application scenarios involving digital building twins. Using a variety of technological methods such as laser scanning and 3D models, these virtual images of existing buildings and processes are created to improve their operations and maintenance. Digital building twins are therefore intended to improve decision-making. They allow, for example, to provide remote diagnosis with the help of real-time data and make sure safety conditions are met. “Together with our customers, we develop comprehensive solutions using digital technologies”, says Clarissa Hack, Head of Digital Transformation at SPIE Deutschland & Zentraleuropa.

Equipment testing will also benefits from these technologies. In addition, sensors collect information on the status of plant equipment and thus enable maintenance to be carried out upon request instead of a fixed schedule. This year, a wider range of applications will be tested following the digital twins model throughout the FM ARENA project.

SPIE, “an innovative partner”

As a part of ARENA2036, The FM ARENA project was launched in early 2018 by a German car manufacturer and the Fraunhofer IAO in order to further develop facility management processes with ever more versatile buildings and equipment in mind. “SPIE has proven to be an innovative and future-oriented partner,” says Dr Stephan Wilhelm, Fraunhofer IAO.

ARENA2036 is a joint research platform for mobility in Germany. Partners from science and industry are gathering on the Vaihingen Campus at the University of Stuttgart to promote researches on the future of production, mobility and work within the context of digitalisation. The automotive industry is one example how innovative facility management processes are getting increasingly important. Because production is becoming more flexible and moving away from fixed assembly lines, buildings and equipment must therefore dynamically adapt to constantly changing demands.

About ARENA2036

The ARENA2036 “Active Research Environment for the Next Generation of Automobiles” research campus at the University of Stuttgart is adopting a new form of cooperation, in which various partners from science and industry research innovative future topics in the areas of production, mobility and work within the context of digitalisation under a single roof.
Anticipating the year 2036, the 150th anniversary of the car, ARENA2036 pursues the long-term goal of implementing “lightweight design with integrated functionality in the versatile factory of the future”. ARENA2036 will therefore be the pacemaker for sustainable automotive engineering for the next generation of cars.
This innovative approach allows for a consolidation of the existing competencies in the Stuttgart region regarding lightweight design and production. In the long term, ARENA2036 thus contributes to strengthening Baden-Württemberg and Germany’s world leading position in the automotive industry.
This requires the close integration of both science and industry, as well as lightweight design research and production technologies. Such an endeavour is only practicable on a research campus.