Tailored Digitalization in Electrode Manufacturing: The Backbone of Smart Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Production

Following the introduction of Industry 4.0 and the development of information technologies, manufacturing companies have been undergoing a profound transformation. This transformation envisions the realization of the smart factory as a fully connected, flexible production system regulated by data. Digitalization and collection of the critical parameters are the vital prerequisites for this vision. Electrode manufacturing is regarded as the core phase in the battery cell production, having most of the properties determining the electrochemical performance of the battery cell established in this phase. There are a high number of parameters involved in electrode manufacturing. The digitalization of these parameters is associated with a considerable amount of effort and costs. Introducing a tailored digitalization concept provides the first step toward smart battery cell production. The tailored digitalization concept is based on the importance of the parameters from the quality management perspective and their complexity with regard to digitalization. The prioritization of parameters enables a successive quality-oriented digitalization strategy. The concept is built on a two-step literature-based and expert-based approach. The results include a comprehensive list of parameters and their prioritization for digitalization and integration in a tracking and tracing concept.