BMWET Funding Enables Launch of Josef Ressel Center at UAS Upper Austria, Wels Campus

Digital twins are virtual representations of physical systems and processes. In industry, they are used for decision-making, control, adaptation, and process optimization. A key challenge is that digital twin models must be capable of operating in real time—that is, they must provide the required information within process-relevant time constraints. Developing real-time-capable models is particularly challenging for forming processes involving complex material laws and large deformations. Such processes are described by nonlinear systems of equations, whose solution times currently range from hours or even days and need to be reduced to the sub-second range. A Josef Ressel Center funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWET) at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Wels is dedicated to addressing this challenge.

At Josef Ressel Centers, researchers and companies work closely together, ensuring that the knowledge generated can be put to use by industry more quickly. This collaborative approach is also at the heart of the new “Josef Ressel Center for Real-Time Models for Digital Twins of Forming Processes.”
Together with its industry partner Salvagnini Maschinenbau GmbH in Ennsdorf—a subsidiary of the Italian company Salvagnini Italia S.p.A. in Sarego—the research team is focusing on an industrial use case involving the digital twin of an automated sheet metal processing system.

Ministry of Economic Affairs Supports Robust Production Processes

“Digital twins enable continuous monitoring of production processes. This improves process quality and, in turn, reduces error rates,” explains FH Professor Zehetner, who holds the Chair of Product Development at the Wels Faculty of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and heads the new Josef Ressel Center.

The Minister for Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, explained the relevance of the research project for Austria as a business and innovation hub: “Josef Ressel Centers are of central importance in translating Austria’s outstanding research into concrete, operational applications. This is precisely where we place a key focus with the Industry Strategy 2035. The new Josef Ressel Center in Wels brings digital twins into industrial practice. Production facilities can be digitally represented in real time, processes optimized, and errors reduced. This lowers costs, increases productivity, and strengthens the competitiveness of Austria’s mechanical engineering sector. At the same time, we are making targeted investments in key enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing technologies, thereby reinforcing Austria as an industrial location.”

Upper Austria’s State Councillor for Economic Affairs and Research, Markus Achleitner, emphasized that this Josef Ressel Center once again brings federal funding for an important research initiative to the region: “This new Josef Ressel Center is a key driver for Upper Austria as a center of innovation and economic activity, because research on digital twins offers significant economic added value for our companies. Digital twins are a core building block for the competitiveness of tomorrow’s industry. Especially in Upper Austria’s strong mechatronics sector, they open up enormous potential—from more efficient development processes and optimized production workflows to entirely new business models.”

Improving Quality While Conserving Resources

FH Professor Michael Rabl, President of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, emphasizes that “digital twins improve production processes and therefore contribute to resource conservation in multiple ways: on the one hand, they help avoid scrap; on the other, machines can remain in operation longer by detecting and compensating for wear.”
According to FH Professor Johann Kastner, Vice President for Research, the resulting process optimization “leads to increased productivity and quality, and thus to long-term growth in technology-driven industries.”
There is therefore great anticipation for the Josef Ressel Center on the part of Wolfgang Kunze, CTO of Salvagnini: “Salvagnini is a technology leader in the field of sheet metal fabrication. Through our collaboration as an industry partner in the Josef Ressel Center, Salvagnini can use high-level scientific research to further strengthen its technological lead in bending technology on an international scale.”

Focus of the Research

One of the central challenges lies in nonlinear material behavior combined with large deformations. Solving the underlying equations is highly time-consuming. However, digital twins require inverse solutions to identify unknown process parameters—an undertaking that is particularly computationally intensive and demanding.

What Are Josef Ressel Centers?

Josef Ressel Centers conduct high-level, application-oriented research, bringing together excellent researchers and innovative companies in close collaboration. The Christian Doppler Research Association is internationally recognized as a best-practice model for promoting and supporting this type of cooperation.

Josef Ressel Centers are jointly funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism (BMWET) and the participating companies.

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