Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Sport Infinity (Waste-Based Rapid Adhesive-free Production of Sports goods)
Période du rapport: 2016-12-01 au 2018-05-31
Sport Infinity is a research project funded by the European Commission (DG Research, Industrial Technologies, Materials Unit) that ran from 2015 to 2018. The core objective of the Sport Infinity consortium was to identify and develop innovative, partly waste-based, long-fibre reinforced composites, enabling the automatic production of easily customisable plastic sports goods.
The project focused on the production of balls and shoes from recycled material. A design-driven approach was applied, exploiting the automation potential of rotation-moulding forming processes, enabling product shaping without using glue and/or other adhesives. To create more relevance for the technical development of innovative materials and manufacturing technologies, the project took into account consumer needs, speed, flexibility and sustainability.
The main Scientific and Technological objectives of the project were:
• The identification, selection and processing of appropriate materials (virgin or recycled), enabling the achievement of semi-automated and sustainable production.
• The design and development of innovative production processes, enabling local and adhesive-free production of customisable sporting goods.
• Definition and development of an integrated design approach, based on effective knowledge management and including user-involvement in the configuration of custom products.
Sport Infinity gathered expertise across the value chain from design to material development, production, marketing and distribution and across multiple disciplines of industrial design, material science, recycling and industrial processes. The partners involved were industrial companies, (adidas, BASF, Oechsler and Fill), representing the complete value chain for sports goods made from plastic materials, two highly acclaimed research institutes (LKT of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and CTT of University of Leeds), the center for applied research and innovation dedicated to textile materials and products (CETI Centre Européen des Textiles Innovants), the largest design company in Austria (Kiska), an IT company specialising in knowledge management (Hypercliq) and the world´s leading soccer skills coaching program provider Coerver Coaching.
The project focused on the production of balls and shoes from recycled material. A design-driven approach was applied, exploiting the automation potential of rotation-moulding forming processes, enabling product shaping without using glue and/or other adhesives. To create more relevance for the technical development of innovative materials and manufacturing technologies, the project took into account consumer needs, speed, flexibility and sustainability.
The main Scientific and Technological objectives of the project were:
• The identification, selection and processing of appropriate materials (virgin or recycled), enabling the achievement of semi-automated and sustainable production.
• The design and development of innovative production processes, enabling local and adhesive-free production of customisable sporting goods.
• Definition and development of an integrated design approach, based on effective knowledge management and including user-involvement in the configuration of custom products.
Sport Infinity gathered expertise across the value chain from design to material development, production, marketing and distribution and across multiple disciplines of industrial design, material science, recycling and industrial processes. The partners involved were industrial companies, (adidas, BASF, Oechsler and Fill), representing the complete value chain for sports goods made from plastic materials, two highly acclaimed research institutes (LKT of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and CTT of University of Leeds), the center for applied research and innovation dedicated to textile materials and products (CETI Centre Européen des Textiles Innovants), the largest design company in Austria (Kiska), an IT company specialising in knowledge management (Hypercliq) and the world´s leading soccer skills coaching program provider Coerver Coaching.
The first year of the project was mainly dedicated towards setting out the framework for the project. The partners worked closely together to further define the ideas described in the GA into more targeted requirements and specifications – to provide clear guidance for the development path. A lot of effort was put into fundamental material and processing trials, benchmark testing and target setting. Focus was on learning, evaluating and identify the most suitable materials and processes for creating the Sport Infinity Products.
In phase 2 and 3 an intense collaboration of all partners was necessary to transform the design ideas into manufacturable demonstrators while a huge amount of trials was performed to provide input for additional design options.
A knowledge management was used to capture the design/construction parameters and trial results to provide guidance for further tests as well as input for configurators for experts and consumers.
During the project the exploitation opportunities have been evaluated continuously, incl. surveys and research on consumer needs and open innovation opportunities.
The innovation activities led to results in all 4 key areas of the project: Material Innovation, Production & Process Innovation, Co-creation User Interface, Product Design Innovation.
The Sport Infinity project demonstrated that it is possible to:
• Reduce the environmental footprint in the production of sporting goods;
• Achieve fast and flexible production of easily customizable sporting goods thanks to the materials developed within the project;
• Create new business opportunities for the EU industry – the innovative material/processing technologies can be transferred to other products and other industries;
• React instantly to short term consumer needs.
In phase 2 and 3 an intense collaboration of all partners was necessary to transform the design ideas into manufacturable demonstrators while a huge amount of trials was performed to provide input for additional design options.
A knowledge management was used to capture the design/construction parameters and trial results to provide guidance for further tests as well as input for configurators for experts and consumers.
During the project the exploitation opportunities have been evaluated continuously, incl. surveys and research on consumer needs and open innovation opportunities.
The innovation activities led to results in all 4 key areas of the project: Material Innovation, Production & Process Innovation, Co-creation User Interface, Product Design Innovation.
The Sport Infinity project demonstrated that it is possible to:
• Reduce the environmental footprint in the production of sporting goods;
• Achieve fast and flexible production of easily customizable sporting goods thanks to the materials developed within the project;
• Create new business opportunities for the EU industry – the innovative material/processing technologies can be transferred to other products and other industries;
• React instantly to short term consumer needs.
SPORT INFINITY exploitable results will cover a wide range of materials, products, processes, machines, software systems, as well as new methods and models and new knowledge.
These can be grouped as follows:
• Products: Customisable shin guards in small lots and/or lot of one, customisable footballs in small lots, customisable sports shoes. All products should be made of sustainable and recyclable materials by automized processes. Recycled material should be included in the products.
• Materials: New range of innovative materials with enhanced controllable properties, waste-based materials and composites (multi-layer) with pronounced sustainability profile and controllable properties.
• Processes: Innovative Machinery and Production Processes enabling semi-automatic local production of sports goods
• New Design Methodologies, innovative ways of co-creation and the usage of Knowledge Based systems supporting the design of configurable sports products
The potential impacts of the findings in the projects include:
• Reduction of the environmental footprint in the production of sport goods
• New business opportunities for the EU industry - the innovative material/processing technologies can be easily transferred to other products and other industries
• Instant reaction to short term consumer needs (qualitative and quantitative)
• Competitive, flexible and cost-efficient production of high volume, low budget products made in Europe
• Introduction of collaborative innovation and co-design strategies in the production of sports goods.
• Education of consumers regarding sustainability – raising the awareness to reduce waste and providing solutions
• Establishing circular economy solutions within the consortium partners, also for other areas of their business.
These can be grouped as follows:
• Products: Customisable shin guards in small lots and/or lot of one, customisable footballs in small lots, customisable sports shoes. All products should be made of sustainable and recyclable materials by automized processes. Recycled material should be included in the products.
• Materials: New range of innovative materials with enhanced controllable properties, waste-based materials and composites (multi-layer) with pronounced sustainability profile and controllable properties.
• Processes: Innovative Machinery and Production Processes enabling semi-automatic local production of sports goods
• New Design Methodologies, innovative ways of co-creation and the usage of Knowledge Based systems supporting the design of configurable sports products
The potential impacts of the findings in the projects include:
• Reduction of the environmental footprint in the production of sport goods
• New business opportunities for the EU industry - the innovative material/processing technologies can be easily transferred to other products and other industries
• Instant reaction to short term consumer needs (qualitative and quantitative)
• Competitive, flexible and cost-efficient production of high volume, low budget products made in Europe
• Introduction of collaborative innovation and co-design strategies in the production of sports goods.
• Education of consumers regarding sustainability – raising the awareness to reduce waste and providing solutions
• Establishing circular economy solutions within the consortium partners, also for other areas of their business.