Audi Production Lab: The link between an idea and high-volume production
About 30 employees research and test whether technologies that are not yet used in production processes have the potential for mass production Software and cloud-based solutions will define automation in the future Proximity to production enables direct exchange with users
Audi uses its Production Lab, or P-Lab for short, to identify new and innovative technologies and reliably integrate them into production sequences. In Gaimersheim, just a few minutes drive from the Ingolstadt plant, experts under P-Lab director Henning Löser test the suitability of trailblazing new solutions for series production. That means finding and testing innovations that reliably help optimize efficiency, ergonomics, flexibility, and quality in Audi plants.
When sharp minds work together, a comfortable couch isn’t always necessary. Certainly not in Audi’s Production Lab. Anyone who enters the hall in Gaimersheim feels like they are in a combination of a shop floor and an IT lab. In one corner are the 5G antennas. Diagonally across from them, an industrial robot is sitting on its base. Behind that are the server cabinets. IT experts sit at desks looking at their computers. “We take an idea that worked once under lab conditions and get it off the ground so it can go into stable 24/7 operation,” Löser explains. “We don’t need a big sofa or a football table for that.” For Löser, a real production environment is much more important. In the past, new technologies were inadequately assessed because Audi couldn’t try them out first. To change that, the company with the four rings created the Production Lab in 2012. Since then, Henning Löser's team has tested intelligent assistance systems that employees support with new variants in the mesh between the person and the machine. These systems conserve resources and continuously develop and improve procedural safety and workplace ergonomics.
Smart Production: How Audi Is Designing the Production of the Future
That way, Audi ensures it can build a particular model to spec from both a constructive and a qualitative perspective. With 3D simulations of the body, the effects of component and assembly tolerances can be foreseen in the vehicle's image. The simulation results are then realistically visualized using virtual reality. That way, the experts from Audi Production can influence the design and development process regardless of time and place at almost no additional cost and, for the first time, from the production facilities. What are the essential benefits of virtual assembly planning in smart production? Virtual assembly planning not only saves material resources but also makes innovative, flexible collaboration possible across different locations. It eliminates the need to build prototypes in the planning process. A scanning process generates three-dimensional point clouds that can be used to virtually reverse engineer machines and infrastructure. The software is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It makes it possible for employees at Audi to navigate through assembly lines virtually. Volkswagen’s Industrial Cloud gives them an efficient tool that allows them, for example, to compare locations and use appropriate solutions from other production lines in their planning. Right now, Audi is working with NavVis to test Spot the robot dog so they can do the 3D scans as efficiently as possible. Around four million square meters (43 million sq. ft.) and 13 plants have been involved since site digitalization started in 2017. Scanning 100,000 square meters (1,076,391 sq. ft.) – for instance, in Audi A6 production in Neckarsulm – takes about three weeks in single-shift operation. The scans can only be done at night or on weekends. On top of that, structural obstacles like steps and doors make scanning work more difficult. By contrast, Spot the robot dog can do that scanning in 48 hours and figure out his route autonomously.