Photo: Christoph Böhm

For the past eighteen months, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences has been operating the Industrial Data Lab – the Josef Ressel Centre for Knowledge-Assisted Visual Analytics for Industrial Manufacturing Data. The centre focuses on optimising manufacturing processes within companies.

Its aim is to improve the interaction between humans and machines in order to extract relevant insights from industrial and production data more effectively and efficiently. Based on these insights, manufacturing processes can be optimised and partially automated.

Young Researchers

Alongside senior scientists, several junior researchers are also working at the centre – including Laura Kainzbauer, Stefanie Größbacher, and Jan Vrablicz.

Laura Kainzbauer, for instance, creates visualisations from industrial data provided by partner companies. “The idea behind it is to help our partners identify problems within their production processes in order to improve workflow. We regularly coordinate with them throughout the process,” says Kainzbauer.

Stefanie Größbacher is working on a similar topic. Together with industry partners, she develops user-centred dashboards to visualise inventory levels, capacity planning, and capital commitment. Her work focuses on high usability and a positive user experience. Jan Vrablicz, in turn, applies machine learning techniques to analyse time-related data.

Josef Ressel Centres: High-Level Research

At the Josef Ressel Centres of the Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG), application-oriented research is carried out at a high level, where outstanding researchers collaborate with innovative companies. The centres are funded by the Federal Ministry for Labour and Economy as well as the participating companies.

Industry partners include Greiner Packaging International GmbH, Welser Profile, STIWA Automation GmbH, and Schmid Schrauben Hainfeld.