Digitalization is a collective term that describes integrating digital tools and technologies into processes to increase their efficiency and quality. In the goods-producing industries, digitalization focuses mainly on operational efficiency and reducing costs, faster development times, higher production flexibility, and faster adaptability to new market demands and customer requirements.

Typical use cases that benefit from digitalization in the process industry are predictive maintenance, advanced analytics for process monitoring and optimization, anomaly detection, and virtual commissioning. Digitalization solutions might be usually considered as a combination of both hardware (e.g. Modularization, IIoT, Smart Automation Architectures, Robotics) and software (e.g. Module Type Package, Digital Twins, Advanced Analytics, and Machine Learning) components. In the Process-To-Order Lab, we develop edge-cutting and apply well-known digitalization tools and technologies to shape the process industry to be more resilient, efficient, and environmentally friendly.