Proceedings of Annual International Conference “ VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY IN EDUCATION ” ( VARE 2011

Influenced by decreasing product development times, early production startups, increasing ranges of variants and heightened process orientation, systematically interconnecting the development of products with the development of production systems to form an integrated unified process is becoming a priority in manufacturing companies. This constitutes a significant basis for realizing time and cost cutting potentials while simultaneously engineering superior products and production processes. Developing, testing and operating complex machinery and repairing it under time pressure if it breaks down are some of the new skills professionals in many occupations have to learn as quickly as possible. A study conducted by Fraunhofer IFF revealed that virtual reality technologies are being used for this ever more frequently. Actions on machinery and plants are trained in individual lessons on a virtual model. Lessons can be repeated as often as desired and independent of the real machinery’s temporal and spatial constraints, without any risk to operators or the system if errors are made and even before the real system has been built. This paper introduces the methodology behind the technical solution and presents experiences acquired during its implementation with a virtual development, testing and learning platform for a machinery manufacturer serving as an example. MOTIVATION AND EMPIRICAL FOUNDATION As product development times grow shorter, production starts up sooner, ranges of variants expand and process orientation intensifies, systematic optimization of the development and startup of complex production systems has become the prerequisite to saving time and money while simultaneously enhancing the quality of products and production processes. Shortened commissioning times for production systems particularly constitute a crucial criterion for time-to-market and time-to-volume. One fundamental aspect of the rapid startup and reliable operation of production systems is a company’s competence, which is reflected in the qualification of every employee involved in the startup process. Hence, any company’s goal ought to be to provide suitable qualification measures to prepare future staff for impending tasks before a new production system starts up. Such demands have generated a need for a flexibly configurable qualification platform that supports work on such tasks, factors in employees’ different levels of knowledge and promotes cross-company information exchange. The Fraunhofer IFF’s virtual reality (VR) learning platform meets all these requirements. The platform bundles knowledge on the startup and operation of production systems. Its methodological and didactic organization of tasks enables learners to acquire the knowledge necessary to startup and operate a system. The interconnectedness of complex relationships is reproduced and learners’ interaction with the virtual work system requires them to actively handle tasks and solve problems on their own. Researchers from the Fraunhofer IFF have developed numerous cross-industry solutions for virtual interactive learning platforms for different training and educational objectives (Schenk, 2006 and Belardinelli et.al., 2008). Suppliers are also increasingly being integrated in product development as well as the construction, startup and operation of production systems. The machinery and plant manufacturing industry in particular frequently suffers from a lack of transparency and efficiency in intra-company order processing and project management. This creates problems with delivery reliability for these companies (VDMA, 2006). Moreover, since approximately three quarters of the orders the German machinery and plant manufacturing industry receives annually now come from abroad (VDMA, 2003), it is essential to integrate both regional and international partners in product development and the construction, startup and operation of production systems. This entails investing substantial time and work in the necessary knowledge transfer between collaborative partners, which has to be organized in the phases of the product life cycle on the basis of new cooperation and communication strategies. Here too, virtual reality technologies hold potential to