The Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools (Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Werkzeugmaschinen, IFW) is one of the academic departments of the University of Hannover and among the well known research institutes of the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of production engineering. It has a strong reputation in the fields of production management and organisation, machining technology, machine tools, robotics and controls as well as technological information systems. Its activities are aimed at rationalise the manufacturing processes though a balance of fundamental and application oriented research works. The results of the institute’s efforts are accredited world-wide. The close co-operation of the institute with the industry accounts for the good insight of the problems and demands in production environments. Approximately 40 % of the yearly turnover of the IFW is achieved by means of projects which are directly financed by industrial partners, many of whom are SMEs. Beside these sort of projects and the basic research programs funded by the German Research Council (DFG), the IFW has been successfully involved in several European projects like Brite/Euram, Esprit and Copernicus. Related EU-funded projects are HIPARMS, EASYCON, BETTI, COCOS, TOPSYS, FLAMINGO, MAREA, EUROSHOE, AMADEUS, ECOWIRE and ENGY. The IFW employees around 65 research engineers, several technician, programmers, staff personnel as well as about 150 students working as part-time employees.

Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements – PIAP was established in 1965. Currently, PIAP employs about 170 people, including 20 researchers with Ph.D. degree or higher – i.e. professorship – degrees, 80 researchers with M. Sc. degrees, administrative and technical staff - 70 employees. Generally PIAP activity consists in scientific and technical research, design and small to medium scale production, as well as introducing modern control and instrumentation technologies and systems (including robotics) to industrial enterprises, especially SMEs. In particular, PIAP has significant knowledge and experience in:
• systems and devices of automation,
• robotics and robotised systems including mobile robots,
• telemetry and monitoring in industry, monitoring of industrial installations and transportation forms with the aid of satellite links,
• measuring methods, systems, technologies and equipment for industry as well for environmental protection and environmental technologies,
• industrial communication networking,
• vision systems supported by software packages, especially in SMEs.

TEKNIKER is a private non-profit research centre, born in 1981 from a previous laboratory working in metals characterisation since the sixties. From that point onwards TEKNIKER grew adapting its offer to the changing demand coming from its industrial surroundings, mainly devoted to metalmechanical transformation and composed of small or very small companies. Over its twenty years of close collaboration with its surrounding industry, TEKNIKER has not only gained a lot of experience but has a strong influence in these sectors. The research centre has great potential for the dissemination of results to manufacturing industry in the area. TEKNIKER’s fields of actuation include: Product development and precision engineering (mechanical elements design, machines and equipment design and development, control systems, metrology and ultraprecision), Manufacturing systems (product and process design, manufacturing organisation, manufacturing systems) and Production processes (cutting technologies, forming technologies, surface technologies). A recent strategic decision has led TEKNIKER to move also towards being a centre for micro-manufacturing and precision engineering.

The Centre for Distributed Automation and Control, headed by Dr Duncan McFarlane, is part of the Institute for Manufacturing, in turn a part of the Cambridge University Engineering Department. A world-leader in research into distributed, intelligent and agile manufacturing systems, CDAC also incorporates the European Auto-ID Research Laboratory, part of a global project to set standards in RFID technology in the supply chain. Specific research activities within CDAC include analysis of manufacturing responsiveness, development of distributed intelligent control systems, intelligent products and devices and internet-based supply chain operations. The key objectives of CDAC are:
• To provide a focus for education and research in supply chain automation.
• To support and maintain an active, participation-based network.
• To be a source of knowledge and expertise in industrial practice.
• To establish and maintain collaborative R&D relationships with key companies.

The Manufacturing Systems Group is located in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. The Department is broadly based, covering teaching and research in many areas of engineering, and with a strong collaborative and inter-disciplinary tradition.. The Manufacturing Systems Group was established to work with industry to solve the problems that industry face on the management of systems and schedules. So far, we have worked with a wide range of companies, many from the automotive sector (e.g. BMW, Ford and Rover).