In this paper, concepts for an extended DC network for the main power supply of components from various manufacturers in industrial production are presented. In the first part, detailed requirements for such a network are given from the viewpoint of a customer. Based on those, different concepts for AC/DC conversion and energy management are discussed. As far as AC/DC conversion is concerned, the advantages and drawbacks of several rectifier topologies are listed, as they have a significant impact on the system behavior and EMC properties. An intelligent energy management can improve the energy efficiency and reduce downtimes of a plant, which are major requirements from a customer's viewpoint

The rapid growth of the world population, the finiteness of resources on our planet Earth and the ongoing tendency towards urbanisation result in the need to question our actions and economic activities, also for industrial enterprises. A paradigm shift to decouple growth and resource utilisation is needed. By means of ultra-efficiency, factories are targeted, whose positive impact to their surrounding is optimised instead of only minimising negative influences. In the contribution, the concept of ultra-efficient factories and first tools for their implementation are introduced. Therefore, the term ultra-efficient factory is defined based on the state of the art. On this definition, spheres of activity for ultra-efficient factories under consideration of urban surroundings are determined. For the spheres of activity, criteria to assess the according maturity of companies are identified and aggregated into a comprehensive maturity model. The maturity model enables the determination of potentials for advancements of companies. To support the industrial application of the theoretic work, industrial best practices are determined and a visual tool is developed

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A volatile energy supply, where increasing energy costs take a high toll, as well as rapidly changing energy-related technologies are posing new challenges to sustainable manufacturing. The complex interactions between energy-related issues -such as renewable energy or energy efficiency -and a factory's economic goals prevent the consistent consideration of these topics at the stage of strategic factory planning. There is a lack of methodical support for planning an agile energy system. This paper presents the ongoing research work concerned with the development of a method to be applied during the early phase of factory planning for designing an agile energy system for industrial manufacturing. This method is based on a system dynamics approach considering the interactions between a factory and the volatile energy market.