Production Organisation and Management

by admin on October 19, 2004 - 17:57

Production Organisation and Management (POM) represents the management of the factory of the future. It includes advanced process control, enterprise/ manufacturing simulation, (human) knowledge management, and human-computer interaction at the organisational, enterprise level. This cluster deals with the management of operations ranging from concept to disposal within the organisation to incorporate the functions of innovation, planning, organising, scheduling and controlling of production processes and the management of the interface with extended enterprise and other supporting functions. Two key themes are identified:

  • Cost-effective and rapid reconfiguration of the Factory requires the development of organisational strategies to enable rapid self-reconfiguration in response to changing business and value driver requirements, combining so-called ‘Fit Manufacturing’ and ‘Virtual Enterprise’ paradigms.

Production Automation and Control

by Eldukhri on October 19, 2004 - 17:55

Production Automation and Control (PAC) represents the foremen of the factory of the future, responsible for overseeing the machines and for communicating between machines and management. This includes self-adaptive control, flexible/reconfigurable manufacturing, adaptive quality systems, agent-based distributed architectures, (machine) knowledge management, and human-machine interaction. The major research issue identified for this cluster is collaborative agent-based (or holonic) manufacturing automation, and related to that, collaborative automation, self-adaptive control and human-machine interaction. There is considerable interaction between this cluster and the Advanced Production Machines cluster in making these machines more ‘intelligent’ and between this cluster and the Production Organisation and Management cluster in controlling these machines within the overall Autonomous Factory environment. It is the combination of these cluster areas that will ultimately provide the overall flexible/reconfigurable Autonomous Factory.

Innovative Design Technology

by admin on October 19, 2004 - 17:49

Innovative Design Technology (IDT) relates to the designers of the factory and products of the future, designing the innovative, customisable, value-added products of the future, and the factory machines and systems required to produce them. It includes product knowledge management, computer-aided innovation, and advanced computer aided manufacture. It is here that critical concurrency through the product life-cycle, as well as across the extended enterprise, is achieved, with huge impact on time-to-market and product development cost. Two key issues are identified:

Advanced Production Machines

by admin on October 19, 2004 - 17:47

Advanced Production Machines (APM) are the workmen of the factory of the future.They include machines for processing new/nano/smart/high-performance materials, micro-manufacture (MEMS) machines, rapid manufacturing machines (rapid prototyping and rapid tooling), and manufacturing robots (stationary and mobile). In addition to the challenging ‘stand-alone’ research issues connected to these emerging technologies, this cluster will also consider two key additional complexity issues that require cross-technology network-type co-operation in order to make progress. These issues are:

I*PROMS Mission

by Eldukhri on October 19, 2004 - 17:40

The Mission of I*PROMS Network of Excellence is to:

  • assemble a critical mass of world-class researchers focused upon jointly generating the innovative design and manufacturing concepts, tools and techniques needed to realise I*PROMS's vision of a knowledge-based "Autonomous Factory";
  • establish a common research infrastructure to support researchers within the Network;
  • develop a strategy and mechanisms to sustain Network activities beyond the EC funding period;
  • provide EU industry, through research training/ education, with a constant flow of qualified specialists adept at designing, managing and maintaining knowledge-based Autonomous Factories;
  • contribute to social welfare improvement and sustainable growth of the economy in the EU through knowledge-based manufacturing.

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