Guest Editorial
Wow – what an amazing year for manufacturing research in Europe! I have never seen such a fast and streamlined process from the announcement of a new programme (in late 2008) to the start of the first projects. The Commission is now seeking to extend relevant aspects of this work to a global collaboration through IMS.
I think it is worth pausing for a moment and reflecting on what has happened throughout the past 18 months months before looking at the opportunities ahead. So let’s switch back to December 2008. In the midst of the financial and economic crisis, the Commission announced its Economic Recovery Plan and the Council its decision to implement this plan also through R&D actions with industry in the form of so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The three PPPs of this plan are "Factories of the Future", "Energy-efficient Buildings", and "Green Cars". For the "Factories of the Future" PPP, a budget of €1.2 billion has been earmarked with equal contributions from the public side (Commission) and from industry.
Within days an Ad-hoc Industrial Advisory Group (AIAG) was established to facilitate the strategic dialogue between the involved stakeholders. Building on the groundwork that was laid by the European Technology Platform "ManuFuture" (http://www.manufuture.org/manufacturing/) the AIAG was able to formulate a Multi-annual Roadmap within a couple of weeks. It describes four major areas of R&D activity: (i) sustainable manufacturing, (ii) ICT-enabled intelligent manufacturing, (iii) high-performance manufacturing, and (iv) exploiting new materials through manufacturing. A first call for project proposals was published in July 2009. In April 2010 the first projects from this call were kicked off and a second call will be published in July 2010.
In parallel to the AIAG, the Commission had also established an IMS Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) to help it prepare the EU chairmanship of IMS. The industrial experts who serve on this board contribute towards the calibration of R&D priorities in IMS, in close cooperation with the Factories of the Future PPP. Other means to this end are the so-called Coordinated Support Actions "IMS 2020" and "ActionPlanT". The IMS 2020 (http://www.ims2020.net/) project has been doing a tremendous job on identifying future research topics in the IMS context. ActionPlanT, a project that has started recently, will take these findings and those of other comparable activities to build processes and methodologies for knowledge sharing and cross-industry learning in manufacturing research.
If we look to the future, beyond Framework Programme 7, we might see the activities of the Factories of the Future PPP further streamlined under the umbrella of a Joint Undertaking between the public sector and industry. The European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA - http://www.effra.eu/), a ManuFuture activity, is working on a proposal for such an undertaking. Again, this is happening in close alignment with IMS. As an example, the Industrial Research Advisory Group (IRAG) of EFFRA, during its last meeting, discussed which of the topics in the above mentioned Multi-annual Roadmap are particularly well suited for global collaboration in IMS. This discussion was based on the outcomes of the IMS 2020 project. With this I am confident that the European manufacturing research community is well prepared and will see a prosperous research environment in the upcoming Framework Programme 8 with a strong international collaboration arm, IMS.
Download the Factories of the Future Multi-Annual Roadmap 2010-2013
Dr. Uwe Kubach, Vice President SAP Research, SAP AG, Germany.
Mr Kubach is a member of FoF AIAG, the European IMS Industrial Advisory Board, and a member of EFFRA IRAG
Interview with the new IMS Chairman, Mr Fred-Holger Günther
As of 1 May 2010, Mr Günther is the Chairman of IMS International. Following the 30-month leadership of Professor Claudio Boër from Switzerland, the sceptre is now handed over to the EU as the new chairing region in IMS. In our January Newsletter we had briefly introduced Mr Günther. However, we thought that at the beginning of his new task, we should ask him a few questions which he kindly answered in a clear and succint way.
Mr Günther, what value is there in international collaboration according to your opinion?
In a globalised economy the challenges to achieve a sustainable, environmentally friendly growth can only be met by joint international efforts. In spite of the growing importance of agriculture and services, manufacturing will maintain its leading role in providing for the needs of a growing world population. Therefore it is important to strengthen international collaboration especially in this field.
From your international business career, what is the most valuable experience that should be communicated to the IMS community?
The manufacturing industry in the different parts of the world, although at different technological levels, is facing many common problems. They can be resolved by international partnership leaving the regional problems to the individual management. These common challenges for manufacturing, like environmental requirements, the need for standardisation, as well as technical advances and improvements in working conditions can hardly be resolved by individual organisations and are therefore well addressed under an international programme such as IMS and its 2020 agenda.
What are the key goals for you as Chairman of IMS?
My key objectives will be to increase IMS membership, to encourage partners to take up important projects from our agenda IMS-2020 and to try to improve coordination between the different organisations working on the future of manufacturing. As Europe, besides the USA, is the strongest partner in IMS it is desirable to increase the project activities especially of European organisations for which the guidance and resources of the European Commission can hopefully provide the necessary support.
John Stark's 2PLM e-zine Community and IMS
John Stark Associates (JSA) was founded in 1991 with a mission to help companies improve product development and support performance in two areas: applications, such as CAD and Engineering Data Management (EDM); and processes (such as the product development process). Its president, John Stark, had previously worked with Battelle Memorial Institute and Coopers & Lybrand Associates in a variety of product development and management consultancy roles, among these being specifications of one of the first EDM applications. Having published the Engineering Data Management Newsletter for many years, the growth of the Web led JSA to launch, in August 1998, the 2PDM (Product Data Management and Product Development Management) e-zine. At the beginning of the new century, the term Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) began to be used, and the name of the e-zine was changed in April 2002 to 2PLM.
In addition to its main activity of carrying out consultancy assignments for manufacturing companies, JSA has participated, with CADCAMation, a Swiss hi-tech SME, in research projects such as IMS STEP-NC (2001), and KOBAS and MYSELF (FP6 2006-2008). Another activity related to FP6 led to the creation of the PLM Interest Group (PLMIG) which, under the leadership of Roger Tempest, is addressing PLM Standards. JSA was also involved with the IMS PROMISE project, working with Lion Benjamins of Promise Innovation. In 2009, the latter created the Closed Loop Lifecycle Management (CL2M) organisation as an extension to the PROMISE project. CL2M, which actively promotes the development of lifecycle management standards, is a key player in the Quantum Lifecycle Management (QLM) consortium. Since 2009, the 2PLM e-zine is been published by CL2M.com. It currently has an international circulation of over 11,000. For more information, see: http://cl2m.com/cl2m-next-generation-plm
Given his knowledge and experience with IMS we asked John Stark to give us his view on the following issues:
The global PLM market
PLM has a wide scope. It is used in discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, distribution and service industries. It doesn’t just address "the product", but also services and the product portfolio. It is applicable in industries as diverse as automotive, chemical, clothing, electronics, finance, furniture, healthcare, machine tool, medical equipment, pharmaceutical and utilities. These industries have products as different as cars, defibrillators, insurance policies, mobile phones, mortgages, power plants, software - and related services.
Across all industries, and across all the components of PLM (i.e., including components such as applications, embedded devices, machine controllers, IT outsourced services, and consultancy in areas such as product structuring and business process improvement), the overall PLM market size exceeds $ 50 billion.
The global market for PLM application software (such as CAD and PDM) in discrete manufacturing is estimated at about $ 15 billion. There are thousands of suppliers of products and services in the application software segment. Market leaders include Siemens PLM, PTC, SAP, Oracle, Autodesk and Dassault Systèmes. The future of this segment will depend on the strategies adopted by these companies, and their success in implementing their strategies. It is worth noting that Siemens has a unique position in that it is also a major global supplier of automation, and a manufacturer of a huge range of products that can benefit from PLM.
Major Developments
We expect to see many major developments in PLM in coming years. They include:
- The emergence of a new breed of standards that addresses holistic lifecycle management and takes account of the emergence of new lifecycle technologies
- Availability of increasingly "open" applications (even if these are partially proprietary) and the emergence of more and more developers of components that can fit into these open systems. We expect new applications in areas such as product portfolio management, business process automation, product lifecycle simulation, intellectual property protection and sustainable development
- Increased use of information from the middle-of-life of a product to its end-of-life, and in the beginning-of-life of the next generation of products
- Major new possibilities for products to communicate as we go beyond Web 2.0 and progress with the Internet of Things and (Internet of) Services
- End-to-end integration across the product lifecycle
- The development of Human Health Lifecycle Management (H2LM) as concepts of PLM are applied in e-healthcare.
Benefits (and drawbacks) of international R&D cooperation, i.e. in initiatives such as IMS
Among the benefits of international R&D cooperation that we have seen is the input of many new ideas from many differerent sources – different countries, different organisations, different cultures and different industry sectors. Another benefit of international R&D cooperation is that it provides an excellent environment for the development of international standards. And international R&D cooperation offers good opportunities to network, to visit and learn about other countries, and to build understanding between people from different countries and cultures.
In Europe, the Framework Programmes have had a huge impact, and we have found that European R&D cooperation works well. However, outside Europe, much of the basic framework for international R&D cooperation seems to be missing. As a result, each new project seems to re-invent the wheel, discussing issues about contracts, funding, project management and intellectual property that have already been addressed in hundreds of previous projects. This may not be a drawback for academic organisations, working on a long timescale. However, it is frustrating for potential research partners in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that, to survive, must respond to short-term market forces. The development of a basic framework enabling international R&D cooperation among SMEs is an area where IMS could take the lead.
Digital Agenda: Commission outlines action plan to boost Europe's prosperity and well-being
Implementing the ambitious Digital Agenda for Europe unveiled on 19 May 2010 by the European Commission would contribute significantly to the EU's economic growth and spread the benefits of the digital era to all sections of society. Half of European productivity growth over the past 15 years was already driven by information and communications technologies and this trend is likely to accelerate. The Agenda outlines seven priority areas for action: creating a digital Single Market, greater interoperability, boosting Internet trust and security, much faster Internet access, more investment in research and development, enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion, and applying information and communications technologies to address challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population. Examples of benefits include easier electronic payments and invoicing, rapid deployment of telemedicine and energy efficient lighting. In these seven areas, the Digital Agenda foresees some 100 follow-up actions, of which 31 would be legislative. The Digital Agenda is the first of seven flagship initiatives under the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. For more details see: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/
Vacancy notice: University of Groningen, the Netherlands: Full professor in Smart Manufacturing Systems
(ITM) at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, has a vacancy for a full professor in Smart Manufacturing Systems (tenured position). The candidate is expected to initiate new research in the area of Discrete Technology, with emphasis on research areas shared with partners in Discrete Technology, such as partners in the field of Systems and Control Engineering, Operations Research, and Flexible Manufacturing. The candidate will chair the new Smart Manufacturing group and play an active role within ITM and the organisation of educational activities. The candidate is expected to build up a strong research group with a leading international position in this field. We expect an active attitude towards (inter)national networking. Teaching duties include the supervision of BSc and MSc students in Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) and PhD students in the framework of the Groningen Graduate School of Science. The University of Groningen is an equal-opportunity employer. Female candidates are encouraged to apply. Further information can be obtained from Prof Dr J.M.A. Scherpen.
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