Seminar on Digital Twins for the Development of New Product Generations - Coupling Virtual Models and Physical Reference Products for the Validation of Technical Systems

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nikola Bursac  

Director

Institute for Smart Engineering and Machine Elements (ISEM)

The Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany

Development practice shows that today often development decisions are still made based on gut feelings and anecdotal statements. Information from the customers at the machine operator level must travel via multiple stations until it reaches the development. During these transitions information gets lost or the content changes. However, in some cases usage data from machines in the field are used to develop new product generations and validate subsystems from development projects. It is becoming increasingly important for companies to address how they can use data to create sustainable and efficient solutions for dealing with complexity in development processes.  The analysis of usage data of reference systems for validation purposes, as well as the integration of digital twin analysis into development decisions, has a high potential to validate more concepts in shorter time intervals. Especially for the area of mechatronic system development, there are various challenges in enabling developers to use the collected and stored data for the development of new product generations. The introduction of data-driven development processes must be driven in equal measure by lowering the infrastructural barriers to the use of machine data and the methodological empowerment of developers. For example, standards must be created in organizations to ensure systematic data integration and acquisition. Similarly, the data-induced change in the way developers work together necessitates training in the use of digital twins.

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nikola Bursac, born in 1986, has been the Institute Director of ISEM - Institute for Smart Engineering and Machine Elements at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) since October 2022.

Nikola Bursac studied mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and received his PhD in 2016 at IPEK - Institute for Product Development. There, he was at last responsible for the department of development methodology and management as well as CAE and optimization. There, he conducted research on product generation engineering and agile development of complex technical systems. In teaching, he introduced problem-based learning in distributed development teams. He was also involved in the acquisition of large-scale research projects.