Research & Innovation in
Digital Production Planning

17.04.2026 | 09:00 a.m. - 12:30p.m. CET

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The ema Online Summit offers companies, research institutions and universities a joint platform for exchanging information on the latest applications and innovations in digital factory and work planning with the help of the ema Software Suite.

Expect an exciting program with presentations and interactive formats, including:

  • AI-driven factory and workstation planning,
  • Seamless integration of real-world data into digital planning with ema,
  • Immersive planning with Omniverse and Mixed Reality,
  • Humanoid robots in production – safe and ergonomic processes,
  • Circular economy in factory and work planning,
  • ema applications in construction, industry, logistics and more,
  • ema in education: teaching Industry 5.0, robotics and ergonomics in a practical way

Leading companies as well as renowned universities and research institutes will present their applications, best practices and latest research results. Use this platform to exchange ideas, build valuable networks and discover how ema can support your use cases in industry, teaching and research.

We look forward to your participation and exciting discussions!

The conference language is English

Agenda

09:00 - 09:05
Opening and welcome
Michael Spitzhirn (imk Industrial Intelligence GmbH)
09:05 - 09:30
Human-Centered AI in the Virtual Factory: Digital Planning of Ergonomic & Efficient Production with ema Work Designer
Prof Dr Lars Fritzsche (imk Industrial Intelligence GmbH)
09:30 - 10:00
From Reality to Simulation: Accelerating Factory & Work Planning with RIIICO and ema Work Designer
Ashar Ahmad (RIIICO GmbH)
10:00 - 10:30
Holistic Simulation of Digital Twins with real logic and behaviour
Dr. Stefan Reinhardt (ISG Industrielle Steuerungstechnik GmbH), Julian Zürn (Kempten University of Applied Sciences)
10:10 - 10:30
Coffee break
10:45 - 11:15
Application of the metaverse in industry: potential, practical examples and perspectives
Omid Safari & Uwe Fries (Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU)
11:15 - 11:45
Circular Economy in Practice: Reuse, Disassembly and Sustainable Factory Design with ema
Prof. Dr. Nicole Stricker (Aalen University), tbd (KIT- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
11:45 - 12:15
Human-Centered Planning of Construction Processes with ema: Robotics, Simulation and Occupational Safety
Prof. Dr. Thomas Linner (OTH Regensburg), Felix Brandstädt (German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Construction Industry)
12:15 - 12:30
Summary & outlook - shaping the future together
Michael Spitzhirn (imk Industrial Intelligence GmbH)
12:30 - 13:00
Optionally: your questions - our exchange: interactive discussion afterwards

Abstracts

Human-Centered AI in the Virtual Factory: Digital Planning of Ergonomic & Efficient Production with ema Work Designer

This presentation gives a first overview of the ema Software Suite with ema Plant Designer and ema Work Designer. Based on industry requirements different use cases for the use of ema Software Suite in various planning and design phases are explained.

Exemplary use cases are shown using example projects from industry.

This presentation demonstrates how factory and work planning can be accelerated by seamlessly connecting real-world data with virtual planning tools. Using selected industrial use cases, it shows how automatically segmented laser scan data is applied to layout planning and detailed workstation design. RIIICO transforms raw point clouds into intelligent 3D landscapes by segmenting scanned environments into hundreds of discrete, movable objects, enabling rapid and flexible usability for planning purposes. This segmented data provides the foundation for further layout and workstation optimisation using the EMA Work Designer. The presented use cases illustrate how the integration of laser scanning, intelligent data processing and virtual simulation significantly reduces planning effort while improving planning quality in factory and work design. 

This presentation showcases a holistic simulation of digital twins with realistic logic and behaviour in NVIDIA Omniverse. An integrated industrial metaverse toolchain enables AI training, collaboration, and the use of open data standards. The interaction between different tools is demonstrated using a representative plant scenario. ISG-virtuos enables virtual commissioning, which is further enhanced through layout planning with ipolog as well as temporal and ergonomic process simulation using the EMA Work Designer. In this way, requirements related to automation and the capability-oriented design of work processes can be considered in an integrated manner. The integration is achieved via SyncTwin and IPI Extensions, clearly demonstrating the added value of a consistent, integrated end-to-end simulation.

The metaverse opens up new opportunities for industry in the areas of digitalization, collaboration, and efficiency improvement. This contribution introduces key concepts and technologies of the metaverse and illustrates how virtual spaces can enable sustainable changes in production processes, product development, and employee training.

Using several practice-oriented examples, application fields of Omniverse are demonstrated in the context of factory and work design. The focus lies on robot simulation and the interaction with ema in combination with services such as Isaac Sim and Composer for the design of human–robot work processes. Furthermore, it is shown how environments and the physically accurate behavior of sensors can be represented together with photorealistic image data within a metaverse environment, supporting the training of AI models for component recognition, position estimation, and layout generation.

This tandem presentation highlights the use of the ema Software Suite in construction, drawing on practical and research use cases from OTH Regensburg and BG BAU. OTH Regensburg presents applications from the Building Lab and the Construction Robotics Test Hall, focusing on economically viable robotics solutions and selective automation in human-robot collaboration on construction sites and in prefabrication. Using the ema Work Designer, human work processes and robotic systems are jointly modelled, simulated and evaluated to support data-driven planning and systems engineering. BG BAU demonstrates how ema is used in operational practice to assess and visualise preventive measures, improving occupational safety and the acceptance of technical solutions in construction.

Speakers

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