AM related HORIZON EUROPE TOPICS: production process chain

Rapid reconfigurable production process chains (Made in Europe Partnership) (IA)

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-01

• Achieve a significant reduction in reconfiguration time, which includes all steps between stopping a production, reconfiguration of the individual production steps, requalification, adjustment of the intra-logistics processes, and ramping up to a full production speed;
• Develop validated standardised interfaces and protocols to enable digitalised and thus flexible manufacturing processes;
• Develop protocols for best practices in rapid reconfiguration applicable not only for the products and sectors present in the project, but also transferable to other sectors and application areas.

Scope: In times of disrupted supply chains or rapidly changing customer demands, production lines will need to be built flexible enough to be able to handle these variations. Rapid reconfiguration technologies of more flexible systems, will enable industries with many production process steps to maintain a resilience against sudden changes in ordering and/or supplies.

The projects should address reconfiguration of production systems in which the lines are running at medium or high volume manufacturing rates , and include a variety of production steps, such as cleaning, forming, thermal treatments, cutting, joining, surface treatments, painting, printing, assembly, etc. It should also consider complex logistics and non-manufacturing operations enabling the production runs. Projects should provide strategies for awareness and early detection of reconfiguration needs, e.g. by using A.I. and data technologies, to enhance their resilience towards threatening events or crisis situations.