The research areas addressed by the division of Production Systems are partly overlapping and focused on:

• Robust Production – Our aim is to achieve successful combinations of robustness and agility in industrial production systems. Important research challenges are: robustness, variable levels of automation, automation strategies, disturbance handling, information handling, and human supervisory control.

• Production Ergonomics – Research is concentrated on virtual product and production preparation and on virtual training for work situations. Important research challenges are movement modelling and development of computer manikins. Virtual training can be used for quick assembly system operators, but is also applicable in health care situations.

• Virtual Production – Research is focused on development and validation of methods and tools for analysis of production systems in a virtual environment. We are specialists in: simulation for sustainable production, and production data management.

• Assembly Systems – Research is focused on optimisation of coordinated assembly operations, assembly workflow, and assembly system design. Important challenges are automation strategies, rapid change-over, and extreme flexibility. This research group is primarily operated by our visiting professor from Jönköping University.

Research is performed in close cooperation with e.g. the Swedish Institute for Working Life, IVF Research and Development, and the Universities of Jönköping, Linköping, Mälardalen, and Skövde. In addition, we have network and bilateral cooperation with several European and US universities. All our projects involve deep collaboration with, for example the automotive, machining, software and food industries.