What opportunities do digitalisation and Industry 4.0 offer in welding production? How can industrial companies successfully implement artificial intelligence (AI) in products and processes? To drive technological progress forward, CLOOS works closely with universities, colleges and research institutes worldwide. For decades, the company has been a pioneer in the research and development of new technologies in the fields of welding and robotics.
"Collaboration with universities drives technological advancements and is an important factor in ensuring the competitiveness of our company," explains Stephan Pittner, CEO of the CLOOS Group. "Without such collaborations, medium-sized companies reach their limits, as companies in Germany receive less direct funding for research purposes compared to other countries and are often unable to afford the high administrative costs."
Together with other partners, Pittner opened the Smart Factory Mittelhessen at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) in Giessen in mid-May. Industry 4.0 concepts that can be easily implemented in practice are developed and researched here. The smart model factory enables production in batch size 1, whereby the entire data flow is digitally mapped. CLOOS has participated in the project with a robot equipped with the latest interface technology for warehouse management. CLOOS has a long-standing co-operation with THM. For more than 15 years, CLOOS has been offering technical and commercial dual study programmes together with THM as part of StudiumPlus.
CLOOS also cooperates with the University of Siegen and the WZL machine tool laboratory at RWTH Aachen University in the Siegen Smart Demonstration Factory (SDFS). The SDFS utilises a compact robotic welding system from CLOOS. With intelligent programming, quality control and AI for the automated production of welded assemblies, SDFS is working together with CLOOS on the welding factory of tomorrow.
CLOOS is also involved in various research projects together with the Welding Technology Training and Research Centres (SLV) of the Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik International (GSI) in order to promote practice-oriented knowledge transfer in welding technology.
CLOOS' involvement in this area is not limited to Germany. The company co-operates in various projects around the world - including with the international welding and technology institutes at RWTH Aachen University, various Fraunhofer Institutes, the Welding Institute at Ohio State University, the Pennsylvania College of Technology, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Lund University.