Fraunhofer Center Circular Economy for Mobility CCEM

Automated production systems, future interior concepts

The ever-increasing demands for climate-neutral mobility and production are presenting the vehicle industry with massive challenges. Up to now, the focus has been on economic efficiency, technical innovation and series quality. New mobility concepts such as car sharing or autonomous driving are shifting the focus to the sustainability of materials, the functionality and durability of surfaces, and automated cleaning. Of crucial importance here is the realization of a sustainable circular economy. The aim is to develop processes and process chains that allow materials, parts and components to be recycled at the highest possible value-added level.

The research campus Open Hybrid LabFactory e.V. (OHLF) is considered one of the leading addresses in Germany for the research and development of solutions on how industrial vehicle production can be designed sustainably and in the sense of a circular economy in the future. Together with research partners, Fraunhofer CCEM is working on the goal of developing and evaluating new materials, production technologies and digital methods in an economically and ecologically sustainable manner. To this end, methods for automated disassembly, Re-X processes such as cleaning, remanufacturing, and reuse, as well as for sustainable surface processes along a circular process chain are being developed and near series testing of these technologies is being advanced.

Life cycle engineering and sustainable product design for circular-economy technologies

In the Fraunhofer CCEM, the Fraunhofer Institutes IST, IFAM, IWU and WKI pool their expertise in the research topics of automated production systems, future interior concepts, life cycle engineering (LCE) and sustainable product design. In addition to automotive engineering, they thereby primarily address aviation, shipping and rail transport. With its research expertise, the Fraunhofer CCEM supports the manufacturers and suppliers of the respective industries in developing sustainable solutions and bringing them to market: from sustainable raw materials, through resource-efficient manufacturing and on to the most complete recycling possible.

In the course of further development, the Campus is addressing the urgent question of how industrial vehicle production can be designed sustainably and in the sense of a circular economy. To this end, work is being carried out jointly on the four research fields of “Design for Circular Economy”, “Processes for Reverse Production”, “Circular Material Concepts” and “Overall System Analyses and Design”, thereby incorporating virtual tools. In addition to the research institutions TU Braunschweig and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, partners in the Open Hybrid LabFactory include industrial partners such as Volkswagen AG, Magna Cosma, Magna Exteriors & Interiors, thyssenkrupp, IAV, Engel, Zwick/Roell and the City of Wolfsburg. Furthermore, more than 20 project-related research and industry partners are members of the OHLF.