All about automation took place for the fourth time at the Chemnitz trade fair and can look back on increasing interest with more exhibitors, more visitors and more automation buzz than in the previous year. The 191 exhibitors also included two of our network partners. As a software system house, ARC solutions GmbH provided information about innovations in their software solutions for the manufacturing industry. 3D-Metall Theobald e. K. was also there and presented impressive additively manufactured exhibits and prototypes with remarkable attention to detail and surface quality to interested experts and practitioners. Of course, the network management visited its partners and found out about innovations in the industry. Once more the all about automation in Chemnitz underlines its importance as an automation meeting for Saxony and beyond.

We were guests at ibs Automation GmbH in Chemnitz for the second network meeting on August 31, 2023. At the meeting, the network management provided information about current R&D project ideas, opportunities for national and international R&D funding and explored interesting common topics for workshops and other projects. In the spirit of networking, other companies and institutions have expressed interest in becoming a member of SUPRA. Two of them - H+E Produktentwicklung GmbH from Moritzburg and the Saxon Textile Research Institute from Chemnitz - took the opportunity to present their skills to the participants on this day. Tilo Sigmund, Managing Director of ibs Automation GmbH, then showed the guests around his company and invited them to exchange ideas over a snack.

In the spirit of "The TU Chemnitz in Carlowitz's footsteps and in the light of his legacy" sustainable approaches to solutions for tomorrow's world were the focus of a public forum in the dialogue series of the Saxon Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Society. As part of the programme, in which several researchers from the TU Chemintz present current research projects on sustainability, Mr. Dr. Rehm spoke on "Ways to the circular production of cyber-physical products" at the Carlowitz Congress Centre in the Chemnitz Stadthalle.

In terms of sustainability, we used our business trip to Leipzig to talk to another new network partner, SCHRÖDER DESIGN, about initial project ideas in the sense of the SUPRA network. In the wonderful ambience of the House of Books, the managing director, Mr. Strahl, gave us a warm welcome and showed us around the premises. The numerous products and innovations from the field of product design showed the broad portfolio and the explanations of the underlying processes once again illustrated the high creative added value. We discussed the first starting points in the design of adaptive gripper systems for a variety of dismantling processes. Here in particular there are different stakeholders whose needs must be taken into account at an early stage and mirrored to one another.

Endlich hatten wir die Gelegenheit, unseren neuen Netzwerkpartner, die 3D-Metall Theobald e.K. mit Sitz im Business and Innovation Centre Leipzig, zu besuchen. Gerne folgten wir der Einladung fühlten uns im innovativen Umfeld der additiven Fertigung sofort wohl. Das ausgesprochen hohe Maß an optimierten Prozessen und Abläufen erläuterte uns der Geschäftsführer Herrn Theobald eindrucksvoll an unterschiedlichsten Werkstücken aus Bronze und Edelstahl. Gemeinsam entwickelten wir erste Ideen und Konzepte für den Einsatz des 3D-Pulverbettdrucks im Bereich des Formenbaus. Wir freuen uns auf die weitere Intensivierung der Zusammenarbeit!

As part of the international transfer of knowledge and the promotion of young students, the international Polish coordinator of SUPRA, Frau Prof. Patalas-Maliszewska, gave a lecture to our international students of the "Advanced Manufacturing" course. As an expert in the field, she gave a lecture on information systems at the various company levels and illustrated this with a large number of interesting examples from industrial practice. There was a lively exchange with the students, especially in the area of the digital twin. We would like to thank Prof. Patalas-Maliszewska and are pleased about the invitation to the international student conference in Dabki, which you finally addressed to all students.

After the successful approval of our concept, we were very pleased to bring all network partners to one table for a first meeting for the Kick-Off on June 1st, 2023 in our premises at Chemnitz University of Technology. With a focus on sustainable automation solutions for small and medium-sized companies in the field of production technology, we discussed initial ideas that deal with the following topics:

• Agile Manufacturing Processes and -systems
• Environmental Economics in Production Engineering
• Human-Machine-Robot Cooperation
• Smart Data and Models
• Machine Learning
• Smart Materials and Structures

Of course, we used the breaks for interesting conversations over coffee, cake and snacks and addressed the central topics of sustainability, digitization, but also resilience and demographic change. Many thanks to all partners for the successful start - we look forward to forming the network together.