Integrated Storage and e-commercialisation system for the fast production and delivery of timber components
The objective of IN-TIME is the development of an innovative Product-Service System for the production storage and commercialisation of timber components along the supply chain. IN-TIME will minimise the use of resources (wood, energy) and environmental impact. This will improve the competitiveness of builders, depots, sawmills and log suppliers. It will also increase the safety of employees particularly in sawmills. The timber trade consists of a very large number of small and very small enterprises and a small number of large ones. Large companies benefit from economies of scale. They specialise in producing a restricted range of dimensions and they invest in large and expensive units to store such dimensions. Smaller enterprises would find it uneconomic to invest in storage units. Small enterprises can not compete therefore on standard sizes. However, they can find profitable markets selling outside of the restricted range larger operators supply. But to do that profitably, a number of problems need to be addressed: they need to find a solution for the efficient and economical storage of many timber specifications, they need to be able to measure these specifications accurately to differentiate them, they need to cope with a production scheduling involving not a small number of large orders but a great number of small ones and they need to speed up the commercial process so that all actors in the supply chain can avoid having to store large amounts of many different specifications. Finding the solutions to all these problems is what this project is about. The Consortium which will achieve this includes all steps of the process: log suppliers, sawmills, and timber merchants. Apart from the manufacturers already mentioned, it also includes machine and measuring equipment suppliers and logistics and e-commerce specialists. All partners are industrial SMEs. At its midway stage the project has already proved to be highly successful. Real-time production scheduling systems are in place and a timber e-commerce network has been installed, allowing the supply chain network to respond to new orders in minutes instead of days. Innovative techniques for handling, measuring and storing timber products have increased manufacturing efficiency and have led to shorter response times and greater flexibility. ,
Länder
Österreich, Schweiz, Italien, Vereinigtes Königreich