The aim of the INSERT project, which is funded by the EU , is to develop an assistance system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support employees in creating concepts in the area of logistics and production planning.
The system should be designed in such a way that the planner first enters all the necessary key data of the tender, such as required capacities, time periods, etc., into the assistance system. The artificial intelligence (AI) of the assistance system, which is based on expert knowledge and current and historical key figures and operating data (space requirements, machines, personnel, required load carriers and conveyors, etc.), generates an initial rough concept based on this information. In practice, the development and evaluation of such initial rough concepts alone requires a lot of time, expertise and personnel effort. The automated generation by an AI should therefore significantly increase the planning speed and relieve the planner of simple, repetitive tasks.
After the rough concept has been created, the planner has the opportunity to adapt and optimize the concept. The assistance system notes the changes and uses them to further improve its AI if necessary. From the adapted rough concept, the system then automatically generates a material flow simulation in which it checks whether any specifications are being met. Bottlenecks are identified from the results of the simulation and recommendations for action are derived. In the spirit of positive human-technology interaction, these recommendations are always presented with a reason so that the planner can first understand the problem and then solve it, and less experienced planners in particular can learn from the AI, as it contains the expert knowledge of many experienced planners.
The system is intended to accompany the entire planning process and provide a platform for the development of logistics and production planning concepts.
