Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology
The AI Marketplace
The digital transition is changing product creation. Not only is software becoming more and more important – the developed products are also increasingly complex. More than ever, the integrated expertise of various specialist disciplines is in demand. AI applications have an essential role to play here: They can help manufacturing companies increase development capacity, while at the same time cutting down on development times and manufacturing costs. However, many companies lack the AI expertise to leverage this potential. Conversely, providers of AI solutions often lack access to customers or the necessary domain knowledge. A platform is needed in order to bring the two sides of the equation together: the AI Marketplace!
The AI Marketplace creates a unique ecosystem that brings together AI experts, providers and users to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence. Fraunhofer IPK researchers, with their extensive experience in digitalized product creation, act as sources of knowledge and play a key role in shaping the project. In addition to the intelligent matching of service providers and companies, the marketplace also offers a space for the secure exchange of data while maintaining data sovereignty. In future, an app store and a toolbox for AI solutions will expand the range of services offered by the AI Marketplace. Following the »plug and play« principle, small and medium- sized enterprises will be able to put toge-ther AI applications on their own and integrate them into their processes with-out having to hire a service provider.
Pilot projects show what the AI Marketplace can do
Six pilot projects are currently investigating how the marketplace can function best and what it is able to achieve. In these projects, companies and research institutions are working together to develop AI solutions for specific use cases from various domains – from intelligent product monitoring and AI-based vehicle diagnosis to AI-supported manufacturability analysis. Here, initial applications for product creation are developed, tested and implemented, and subsequently made available to users of the AI Marketplace.
Companies lack AI expertise, AI providers lack access to customers. The solution: a platform.
One of these pilot projects involves the integration of AI into Computer Aided Design (CAx) at the agricultural machinery company CLAAS. Researchers at Fraunhofer IPK are working with users at CLAAS to design an intelligent carry over parts management system, and are already implementing it as a prototype. Using feature extraction, CAD models are initially classified based on their geometry, and later also in terms of function. Missing master data and additional metadata are added. The objective is to reduce the number of parts in the inventory database. During the design process, potential carry over parts and evolutionary stages can also be suggested to the developers, which can reduce the effort required for the design. In the future, this could reduce costs incurred due to accidental duplicate developments without restricting the necessary creative freedom of the developers.