A joint venture of
Since its foundation, inpro’s goal has been the development of production systems and technologies for the factory of the future. Thus, inpro operates as a joint ‘think tank’ for its partner companies, an approach unique in Germany to this date.”
„inpro gave the decisive impetus for the development of component-oriented simulation models for materials flow. inpro has laid the foundation for standards which are the basis for present simulation systems, and have undeniable relevance for the digital factory of the future.“
„Thanks to its work and achievements in the field of laser technology, inpro can proudly claim to have significantly advanced the global implementation of high-power laser systems in automobile production. Based on delivered innovations and the need to implement them, several project team members established their own company and successfully went to market, for example, Photon AG with 200 employees.“
„inpro addressed all thematically challenging tasks and developed well-founded solutions. In cooperation with external scientific experts, inpro efficiently supports the work of shareholder companies, especially in the early stages of development. For example, working with technical and executive promoters of shareholder companies, inpro identified the potential of innovative foil technology for exposed parts as an alternative to energy-intensive coating processes. By pooling the resources of these partners, inpro systematically developed the necessary procedures to achieve the pilot maturity stage. Results are recognised in the shareholder group, as well as in the scientific community.“
„inpro’s approach for activity-based costing in logistics, which allowed all members of a supply chain to be included for the first time, has led to large savings and was an important precursor of modern supply chain management systems.“
Topic of the Month
Modelling of intrinsic hybrid joints and their virtual validation
The central challenges in the development, production and application of hybrid structures are the interfaces between the individual materials. A new direct joining process in which the interconnection is obtained via intrinsic interfaces uses the Openair-Plasma® process working under atmospheric pressure. Here the metal surface is coated by plasma polymerization with a precursor that is matched to the metal and the thermoplastic to be directly molded on. Within the framework of the BMBF-funded joint research project “Integrated implementation of hybrid construction methods in series production – hypro” (funding code: 03XP0284C, duration 2.5 years) this process, which so far has only been verified on simple geometries, will be transferred to complex, three-dimensional components. Additionally, series-production capability of this new technology is to be demonstrated. The overall objective is the development of a versatile physical and virtual production chain for manufacturing hybrid components and proof of process capability.
In the subproject “Modelling of intrinsic hybrid connections and their virtual validation” inpro aims to develop the virtual process chain for such intrinsically joined hybrid components with high quasi-static loads, taking into account essential production-related changes in geometry and resulting internal stresses. With the expected project results, it should be possible to predict the load bearing behavior of intrinsically joined, fibre composite plastic-metal hybrid structures. Thus, variants of different materials and pretreatments can be analyzed using digital calculation methods in the future. The results will be used in turn as input parameters for structural simulations.
A total of ten partners are involved in the joint project, which started on May 1, 2020. Brose Fahrzeugteile SE & Co. KG, Bamberg is project coordinator.