Ready4RampUp

The production of engine components for the aerospace industry is becoming increasingly complex and costly. Therefore, the project Ready4RampUp aims to develop combined production environment of physical machines and a corresponding digital infrastructure to manufacture complex engine components for the aerospace industry more efficiently, summarized under the name ‘ramp-up environment’. This ramp-up environment is based on a data-continuous and complete digital twin which will enable significant optimization of quality, time, costs and sustainability. Through these developments, Ready4RampUp is supporting high-performance and efficient aviation by reducing emissions and consumption as well as waste in production.

The path to climate-neutral flying against the background of the current energy crisis requires increased efficiency in the production of engine components, which is becoming increasingly complex and is characterized by recurring time-, cost- and resource-intensive production processes. As such, a corresponding manufacturing system is needed to speed up production and to enable economic growth. As a solution, the project Ready4RampUp aims to develop the framework for a digital twin in manufacturing into the digital ramp-up environment, in order to produce complex engine components in the aerospace industry. This environment will be realized by complete horizontal, vertical and cross-technology compatibility of software and hardware elements along the production value chain. For this purpose, the CAx functionalities will be fully automated with the help of suitable orchestration solutions such as Kubernetes. Additionally, complex flow components made of Ni-/Ti alloys will serve as demonstrators, as they are used in conventional as well as in hydrogen-based or electrified engines. As such, the framework will be tested using specific application scenarios such as design-to-manufacture, predictive quality, and life-cycle assessment.

Within the project, ModuleWorks will create a cloud-enabled Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) infrastructure. Thus, the aim of ModuleWorks in the project Ready4RampUp is to conceive and implement appropriate software interfaces for the construction of the digital start-up environment, between the local CAx systems of the user domain and the cloud infrastructure of the data processing domain. ModuleWorks will also develop the functionalities required for the digital ramp-up environment along the whole production chain. Additionally, it will co-create a digital shadow or twin with the overall system of the digital start-up environment Ready4RampUp.

As a result, the creation of a data-integrated and complete digital twin will reduce the costs of time and money for the current production, and at the same time, it will increase the quality and sustainability of the engines. Therefore, the project’s success will provide businesses in the aerospace industry with an economic advantage by enabling a significant increase in the technological performance of production and the resulting achievement of the manufacturability of more efficient product designs. Overall, Ready4RampUp will achieve high-performance and efficient aviation by reducing emissions and waste in production.