Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ConnectedFactories (Industrial scenarios for connected factories)

Teaser

The main goals of the ConnectedFactories project, can be summarised as follows:• accompany manufacturing enterprises and technology providers in the fast moving developments around \'digitisation\' and \'digital platforms\'• establish and maintain a structured overview of both...

Summary

The main goals of the ConnectedFactories project, can be summarised as follows:
• accompany manufacturing enterprises and technology providers in the fast moving developments around \'digitisation\' and \'digital platforms\'
• establish and maintain a structured overview of both available and upcoming technological approaches as well as best practices
• develop forward-looking scenarios or pathways of how the different platforms and architectures will co-exist, cooperate and compete in a concrete environment
• stimulate consensus building and intensify the dialogue amongst all stakeholders on manufacturing related issues and cross-cutting topics like standardisation, security and business models
• create trust and develop/ deepen the links within the community

The mentioned ‘scenarios and pathways’ play a central role. The scenarios and pathways should become practical tools for the development of company-specific innovation strategies in the context of digitisation of manufacturing and the deployment of digital platforms for manufacturing. Practically all of the activities (and associated work packages) of the ConnectedFactories project are associated to these pathways.

These pathways are particularly the outcome of work package 4 of the ConnectedFactories project.

A pathway is composed of different levels of digitalisation that are associated to a number of milestones. These milestones indicate practices of digitalisation that, while evolving to the right-hand side of the pathways, become more advanced. Ultimately, the milestones on the right fit within the vision of digital manufacturing.

Work performed

The ConnectedFactories project develops pathways towards advanced digitisation of manufacturing processes from different perspectives. These perspectives can be seen as different application areas. The pathways have been built on the national and regional workshops (WP2).

The first project period resulted in the initial versions of the following pathways and the start of the mapping of projects and their results on these pathways

• The Autonomous Smart Factories pathway: with a focus on intra-factory manufacturing automation and optimisation, including advanced human-in-the-loop workspaces.
• The Hyperconnected Factories pathway: with a focus on networked enterprises in complex, dynamic supply chains and value networks
• The Collaborative Product-Service Factories pathway: with a focus on data-driven product-service engineering in knowledge intensive factories

Important cross-cutting factors and key enablers have to be addressed in these scenario’s.
Work package 5 provides some additional focus on essential cross-cutting factors standardisation, skills, business model, security, throughout the project. Also links with other programmes (focus of WP6) contributes to addressing cross-cutting factors and technologies (for example by establishing a cooperation with the Cyber-security PPP and the related ECSO association or with the Big Data Value Association, the ECSEL JU, etc...).
The set of key cross-cutting factors are being maintained while taking into account intitiatives such as the RAMI4.0 Adminstration Shell and the work within the Industrial Internet Consortium.

Final results

The mentioned ‘scenarios and pathways’ and the structured set of key enablers and cros-cutting aspects play a central role for the structured description of concrete demonstrators and implementation cases. The scenarios and pathways should become practical tools that offer awareness making (1st step) and guidance (2nd step) towards manufacturing companies that are keen to follow the transition towards digital manufacturing.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.connectedfactories.eu.