Digital Intelligent MOdular FACtories

Project Information

DIMOFAC

Grant agreement ID: 870092

DOI

10.3030/870092

Project closed

EC signature date 22 August 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 31 March 2024

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced manufacturing and processing

Total cost

€ 19 133 232,49

EU contribution

€ 14 163 497,63

Coordinated by

COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DIMOFAC (Digital Intelligent MOdular FACtories)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The digitization of industry opens the path for mass customization but requires leveraging the existing manufacturing ecosystems and establishing a collaborative manufacturing environment to address an ever-increasing demand from consumers for customized products. In order to fulfill this demand, manufacturing industries must reduce a lot while spending more time and resources on chain reconfiguration, which severely jeopardizes their competitiveness.

The DIMOFAC project will enable the modularity, adaptability and responsiveness of a production line by the integration of Plug-and-Produce modules in a Closed-Loop Lifecycle Management System, for continuous production adaptation, optimization and improvement, in a fast and flexible manner.
A key result will be the network of open pilot lines, offering R&T and services supporting process validation and implementation to industry.

Main objectives:
1– Holistic architecture for smart modular production
2– PnP Digital Thread for Modular production demonstration
3– Portfolio of flexible multi-functional PnP production modules
4– Flexible and reconfigurable production lines
5 – Demonstration of DIMOFAC solutions

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

So far, the work is ongoing, with one third of the work completed. Thus, the first step is almost completed with the DIMOFAC solution architecture defined in WP1, and its implementation is underway in WP2, WP3, and WP4.
The consortium is very active with frequent discussions to enable good cooperation between the different partners despite the exceptional global situation that the project members had to deal with (like many).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

PROGRESS BEYOND THE STATE OF THE ART
Intelligent and modular manufacturing
• Plug and Produce techniques for digital intelligent modular factories
• Closed-loop lifecycle management including PLM, MES and ERP systems
• Integrated production planning and scheduling
• Cyber-secured digital architecture

Quality-by-design for zero-defect manufacturing
• Embedded control systems for implementation of a zero-defect manufacturing control strategy
• Distributed Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) applied to defect detection
• Zero defect validation method
• Process self-adjustment against deviations in process parameters in the multistage manufacturing chain

Cognitive automation
• Autonomous factory systems with perception, learning, reasoning, and management abilities
• Cognitive system architecture for data analytics and perception in the control loop
• Learning of complex behavior from experience
• Abstraction building from data, automatic decision making and decision support


EXPECTED RESULTS
Pan-European network of pilot manufacturing lines by
• Fostering public and private investments in modular production at and Regional levels
• Sharing a holistic reference architecture for smart modular production in compliance with global Industry 4.0 standards and previous EU-National investments
• Providing benchmarked Success Stories for thousands of European manufacturing companies on high TRL level

A portfolio of 12 fully-operational production modules enabling reconfigurable industrial-driven pilot lines and of more than 20 production modules enabling open-pilot lines network at pre-industrial level will be realized combining multiple technologies:
i) injection moulding for cosmetics; ii) manufacturing of multi-material aerospace components; iii) injection moulding for manufacturing of shavers; iv) assembly of medical/spatial components; v) assembly of interactive displays; vi) 3D printing & post-processing.


MAIN IMPACTS
Extension of partners’ services and network, through four rounds of impact
1. High TRL reconfigurable industrial pilot lines
2. Factory lighthouses as industrial general-purpose showrooms
3. Modular production benchmarking services to the (100+) existing networks
4. Network extension throughout Europe (1000+).

EXPECTED IMPACTS RELATED TO THE WORK PROGRAMME
Cost reduction and sustainable competitiveness for customised manufacturing of small product series tailored to customer demands.
• Improved asset utilization up to a 30-50% reduction of total machine downtime
• Advances in connected sensing technologies will help provide valuable information to reduce energy consumption, save time and reduce waste
• Reduction of the overall production costs by more than 25%
• Towards zero-defect paradigm

• Enhanced innovation capacity
• Reinforcing Industrial Competitiveness – creating growth and jobs
• Better jobs and new skills
• Leveraging private investment
• Contribution to standards
• Environmental impact
• Societal impacts
• Contribution to the attainment of the objectives of EU Policies

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