Turkish-German Digital Technology Exchange: R&D Cooperation in Manufacturing Engineering and Manufacturing-Related Information & Communication Technology

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Tanrıkulu F.

Fraunhofer IRB , Karlsruhe, 2026

Özet

Four major trends are profoundly changing the conditions and requirements for engineering and manufacturing. These current developments are: the Russian expansion policy in Europe, which is also affecting Turkiye, the restrictive U.S. policy almost leading to the United States’ complete withdrawal from Europe, the flooding of the European market with both cheap and high-quality Chinese products and the unforeseeable refugee crisis affecting both Turkiye and Germany.

For the manufacturing industry this results in the following challenges [0].

Competitiveness: The European and the German equipment industry can only maintain its position in international competition if it consistently focuses on innovation, for example in the development of new components, machines, and production lines that describe, configure and improve themselves, including associated digital services.

Sustainability and resource efficiency: Validating the CO footprint of a machine or component not only on type level but also on instance level as opposed to average values will become mandatory for machine builders and component manufacturers, as will the requirement for factory operators to provide evidence of how much energy and raw materials were consumed in the production process. Digital services will also be needed for this, for example to reduce energy consumption in production by optimizing the sequence of manufacturing orders.

Resiliency: Mechanical and plant engineering, including its automation components and the commissioning, repair and maintenance of machines and lines, are particularly dependent on reliable international supply chains. Machine

builders import supplied parts from China at approx. 15%, more than twice the average for all German industrial sectors. As a consequence, flexibility and adaptability in the value chains of the equipment industry must increase significantly if it is to remain able to deliver amid growing uncertainty. Digital services, for example, help to quickly detect disruptions in supply chains and select alternative suppliers while taking all necessary risks and quality requirements into account [13].

Circular economy: Fraunhofer is working on developing circular strategies and technologies for various industry sectors, in particular the automotive industry, starting with product development for the main components of a vehicle (battery cells, car body, battery housing, electronics and electrical systems, tires, etc.) These activities are based on the 10 R-Strategies, e.g.

–

avoiding products or manufacturing them differently,

–

extending the life cycle of products, and

–

recycling materials.

Such strategies and data-based services must also be developed

for the machine and factory equipment industry, based on ex-isting approaches, e.g., overhaul of motor spindles for machine tools, condition monitoring, predictive provision of spare parts, etc. Digital Technologies just as the Digital Product Passport (DPP)

support the circular economy.

Simply supplying highly productive and reliable machines, lines or components will no longer be sufficient as a distinguishing feature and basis for business success in the future. A paradigm

shift is taking place, moving from a focus on products to value-

based added benefits, known as product-service systems (PSS),

which generate new added value and secure or create future-

proof jobs for highly skilled employees. Complementary services related to machines, in combination with the possibilities offered by industrial digitalization, also enable the prospect of data-based subscription business models in the “as a-service” economy, which are considered less susceptible to sales fluctuations and investment cycles and which, at the same time, can massively strengthen customer loyalty and thus the sensitive customer interface. Furthermore, sustainability aspects of the circular economy are strengthened by providing new business models in repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing.

The key to product-related digital services and potential additional value creation is information and communication technologies (ICT) [38].

In the following sections, the authors show that these conditions

apply to factory operators and machine builders from both Turkiye and Germany. As a conclusion, we describe some action areas as recommendations for a future collaboration between Turkiye and Germany for the benefit of both countries.