Dezember 18 2025

1. Winter Simulation Conference 2025: Key Insights for AIMS5.0

 

Introduction

In December 2025, representatives of the Infineon Supply Chain Innovation team participated in the Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) in Seattle, USA. The Winter Simulation Conference is one of the leading global events for simulation experts, researchers, and industry practitioners, with around 1,000 participants from academia and industry.

The participation and research activities were supported by several EU-funded initiatives, including AIMS5.0, SC4EU, and SemiconductorX. This highlights the strong connection between European research projects and global innovation in advanced manufacturing and supply chain management.

 

About the Winter Simulation Conference

WSC brings together experts working on simulation modeling, analysis, and real-world applications across different sectors, including semiconductor manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, smart cities, and defense. The conference combines academic research with industrial case studies, tutorials, and panel discussions, creating a unique environment for knowledge exchange and collaboration.

 

Research Contributions Related to AIMS5.0

Several research works presented at WSC 2025 closely align with the objectives of AIMS5.0. The topics covered included production flexibility and resilience in semiconductor fabs, machine-learning-based process optimization, demand and inventory transparency, efficiency improvements in global supply chains, explainable AI, and semantic web technologies.

These contributions clearly demonstrate how simulation and AI can support better decision-making, increase system resilience, and improve transparency across complex semiconductor supply chains.

 

Key Conference

Takeaways A central message throughout the conference was that advanced AI and automation must be built on a strong understanding of the content being modeled. High-quality simulation models need to be accurate, robust, transparent, and traceable, while also clearly defining their limits.

Speakers emphasized that models should not focus only on individual processes but must consider the broader system environment and dependencies. In addition, customer value and real-world impact should be at the center of any modeling approach.

 

Looking to the Future: Simulation and AI

The panel discussion “Simulation Optimization 2050 and Beyond” focused on the long-term evolution of simulation technologies. Experts agreed that hybrid approaches combining classical simulation methods with AI and machine learning represent the future.

At the same time, the discussion highlighted the importance of preserving human creativity, critical thinking, and foundational modeling knowledge, particularly as generative AI becomes more widely used.

 

Relevance for AIMS5.0 and European Innovation

The insights gained at WSC 2025 strongly support the mission of AIMS5.0 to develop resilient, transparent, and human-centric manufacturing and supply chain systems in Europe.

By integrating AI-enhanced and explainable simulation approaches, AIMS5.0 contributes to building future-ready industrial ecosystems. Participation in international conferences such as WSC ensures continuous learning, exchange of best practices, and close collaboration between European projects, industry leaders, and the research community.