Preface of the Series
High performing co-operations between independent companies with the aim to develop and to realise customised products are an important success factor for the competitiveness of the European industry. Due to immense political changes and global markets, new ways of cooperations, so called enterprise networks, can be seen in addition to the traditional supply chains. These enterprise networks are often formed to realise a single customers’ order and play an important role during the conceptual phase (product design) as well as during the realization phase (production).
The “Bremer Schriften zur integrierten Produkt- und Prozessentwicklung” (Bremen scientific series for integrated product and process development) bases on the works performed by the research field “ICT application for production (IKAP)” from BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistics GmbH (www.biba.uni-bremen.de) and on the works performed by BIK – Bremer Institut für integrierte Produktentwicklung (www.bik.uni-bremen.de).
The research unit IKAP prepares, develops and realises methods and tools to support cooperative, inter-organizational enterprise networks. The research concentrates on efficient and effective collaborative design and production processes by applying innovative information and communication technologies (ICT). As focus can be seen the collaborative acting of enterprises during distributed design and production processes as well as during the late processes of the product life cycle such as the usage phase or the recycling phase.
Additionally, the BIK research expertise is concentrated on the integrated development of products focusing on methods, tools and systems (like FMEA, QFD, CAD, CAE, and PDM). The main focus lies on products constructed by renewable resources, glass fibre or carbon fibre materials. The research results are integrated in the academic education of the next generation engineers (Production Enginnering, Systems Engineering, Engineering and Management) at the University of Bremen. Another application field of the research results are industrial projects where innovative approaches are transferred to practical problems.
The institute is publishing the results of its work in a series. The objective of this series is to disseminate dissertations, project reports and proceedings of institute-hosted conferences to a larger circle of interested people.
