Sewio RTLS Technology Used at the University of Applied Sciences & Arts Dortmund to Educate Graduate Students
By Tallin Walker | May 12th, 2022 | 2 min read
When planning for the future of intralogistics technology, it’s important to consider the people who will be using it. That is precisely why the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund created the Lean Lab in 2021. The lab serves as a practical way for students to test concepts and methods in an industry-oriented environment. It offers them a chance to get hands-on experience digitizing and automizing manual assembly processes by utilizing the latest industry 4.0 technologies, including Sewio’s UWB-enabled RTLS technology.
“If you only go to a lecture and only hear about lean production and lean management, you never know how to really work with it in real life or when you’re working at a company,” explained Leonie Potthoff, the Lean Lab Coordinator. “We would like to show them how they can apply these methods and concepts. We want to show them what aspects digitalization can change in assembly, production, and also logistics processes.”
The Lean Lab is fully equipped with the technology needed for modern manufacturing, making it a mini-factory housed in a single room. It offers students access to software for shop floor management, a pick-by-light system, ergonomic workstations, a manufacturing execution system (MES), and more. Sewio was selected for material management, specifically its real-time order tracking via RTLS. There are plans to expand its usage to eKanban in the future as well.
“We decided an RTLS technology would be great because it’s the state-of-the-art or modern technology to use for [material and order management]. It offered the most opportunities and I think it will be like a future technology.” Potthoff said. “We got in contact with IFM, and they said they use the Sewio kit in their smart factory and they recommended it, that it was really great. We checked what the Sewio kit offered and with the recommendation, we decided on the Sewio RTLS kit.”
Featuring several modern industry technologies, the Lean Lab is a unique opportunity for many students. It has offered a real means of gaining experience that would otherwise be challenging to acquire. Thanks to the lab’s mock-production environment, students get practical experience despite the pandemic, which has limited their chances to get real industry knowledge and on-the-ground training from established companies.
While the Lean Lab is still in its early days, there are high hopes for how effective it will be in educating students.
“Digitalization and industry 4.0 processes are the future.” Ms. Potthoff stated. “I hope that they learn about all the possibilities to digitalize and also, what goes with that, to optimize processes with digital tools. So, they can maybe help their future companies to go further in the digitalization process.”
Are you interested in discovering how Sewio can empower your educational institution as well? Get in touch with us!
