CORDIS Archive
This page has been archived. It will no longer be updated.
|
| |
|
| |
| High-Performance Computing & Networking | Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative |
| Software Technologies | |
| Long-Term Research | Technologies for Business Processes |
| Multimedia Systems | Technologies for Components & Subsystems |
The goal of activities in Integration in Manufacturing is, through the development of new IT solutions, to accelerate and enhance the ability of European manufacturing industry to capitalise on the emergence of a powerful global Information Infrastructure and to integrate the various strands of work as part of a strategic initiative for the European manufacturing industries.
Changes in the working environment are currently being driven by the needs of industry to respond in an agile manner to market forces, such as customer demand, increased competition and shifting patterns of global trading. This also requires a clear identification and redeployment of traditional business functions, and a major challenge to which companies must respond is the integration of organisation structures, advanced information and communication technology, and people.
One of the consequences of the market-driven approach is the need to reduce the time required to bring new products to the market. There is a corresponding move towards concurrent engineering development, closer integration in design between manufacturers and their component suppliers and customers, and the development of integrated supply and distribution logistics systems. A further dimension is added to this process due to the fact that many products involve the combination of engineering design and manufacturing with software design and implementation. Particularly in fast-moving markets, this is a key factor in maintaining the competitive position of the enterprises concerned.
Technological developments have provided a new generation of underpinning technologies based on improved information capture, greater storage capacity, easier data access, higher processing speed or increased transmission power. There remains however, a need for greater understanding of how business will be conducted in a shared data environment.
Work in this domain aims to take forward the state-of-the-art in IT developments which are of relevance to the manufacturing and productive sectors of industry. It will be complementary to work undertaken in the IMT programme, where the emphasis is on the application and adaptation of existing or emerging IT solutions.
R&D areas
Objectives
The main objective of the Call is to establish a small number of high impact projects which will demonstrate, in a comprehensive fashion, how companies/industry can make the transition from current ways of working to a distributed engineering and production environment. The individual projects will aim to push to the limit the "time compression" which is needed to bring products to the market as rapidly as possible, with a clear focus on customer requirements and taking account of market demand.
In addition to undertaking technological research and development, the projects must address the complementary issues associated with the introduction of new technologies. The consortia must demonstrate that they have access to the multidisciplinary skills required to undertake the project successfully. Projects will typically address the necessary RTD, demonstration and take-up measures. The partners which are committed to introduction of new ways of working in their organisation must have the full backing of the management and representatives of the workforce. The projects must enable human-centred decision making processes at all levels of the enterprise, and address the resulting training requirements such as the need to acquire new IT skills and the need to retrain experienced industrial workers. Projects must also take account of the changing business environment, in particular the distributed deployment of business processes. Emphasis must be on the re-engineering of business processes, and not focused on the linking of existing systems. Projects must take full account of the rapid innovations in technology, and clearly identify the technological developments which must be undertaken to achieve the overall goals of the project with a time-frame of 2-3 years.
Projects should attemt to address, as comprehensively as possible, the elements of the Work Programme Task:
A-Z index | Task is open under the call of 17 March | How to make a proposal for this task
Objectives
To enable global cooperation in production activities in a volatile business environment; and provide IT support for management of enterprise change, total quality management, systems for distributed management, and provision of the IT infrastructure to support global integration of manufacturing processes.
Achieve an "information logistics" infrastructure providing the required data at every step of the business process, in order to underpin the logistics of the supply and distribution of materials and components.
Objectives
To develop new IT solutions which support the rapid adaptation of production processes to rapidly changing business requirements and to provide optimal decision-support capability in a human-centred production environment with a highly developed and distributed decision-making structure and taking full account of usability considerations and the need for on-line quality monitoring.
Objectives
IT to monitor, control and supervise production processes in order to achieve high levels of efficiency and environmentally friendly production. Use of advanced control algorithms for manufacturing and production will contribute to reduction of pollution, energy consumption and use of raw materials.
Preparatory, support and transfer activities
Objectives
To promote within SMEs best practice in use of ICT in the design, engineering and manufacture of products according to their specific business requirements. To facilitate access of SMEs to new ICT and relevant know-how in the domain. To assist the transition process of traditional engineering and manufacture to IT-based environments.
8.20Best Practice in Manufacturing SMEs in the manufacturing and productive sectors are encouraged to submit proposals for rationalisation and improvement of the productivity of their operations based on the use of advanced ICT including electronic commerce. Particular attention should be paid to participative and training aspects related to the introduction of new technologies.
A-Z index | Task is CLOSED |
This document is located at /esprit/src/domeight.htm
It was last updated on 26 February 1998, and is maintained by Gerda Colling - gerda.colling@dg3.cec.be