Co-creation within the Machine Building & Mechatronics West Flanders Competence Centre

In the 'Co-creation within Machine Building & Mechatronics' project, the partners want to involve the companies through co-creation in the Machine Building & Mechatronics labs. This co-creation is realised through two consecutive cycles: inspiration and implementation, co-design and co-production and co-evaluation. After each cycle, the findings are disseminated to the broad target group. Sirris, together with UGent Kortrijk Campus, is responsible for the 'Smart Assembly/Production’ subject matter within this project.

Context

Industry 4.0 provides many new technologies within your production environment: augmented & virtual reality, collaborative robots, big data, Internet of Things, etc. Developed within the ERDF project Competence Centre for Machine Building & Mechatronics, the five labs of Factory of the Future Machine Building together form one whole and provide an answer to the diverse challenges that companies face today. Here we bring together the expertise of the West Flemish knowledge centres on Industry 4.0 in order to prepare your company for the future.

Objective

We want to develop and validate proof-of-concepts with the participating companies in order to face typical Industry 4.0 challenges. Smart and interconnected machines, smart and flexible production systems and innovative supporting technologies for the operator are inseparable flexible for the realisation of Industry 4.0. Within this proposal, the focus is on removing barriers to the development and implementation of these important elements. This project aims to answer the following industrial challenges:

• How can intelligence be integrated into new or existing machines?
• How can interconnectivity between machines and between machines and the cloud be realised in a reliable and flexible way within a production system? 
• How can a digital twin of a machine or a complete production system be built? How can it be used in a practical way, for a more controllable, more reliable and more efficient machine operation, to make predictions for wear and maintenance, for life-time tests? 
• How can technology, such as VR/AR or mobile/collaborative robots, support human operators? 
• How can solutions be developed for these challenges, tailored to the specific requirements of each stakeholder? How can best practices be defined from these implementations for the rollout of Industry 4.0?

Target group

The labs in Bruges and Kortrijk are specially equipped to make the high-end demonstration and test infrastructure available to production companies. As we know, innovation is necessary, but how do you determine which new technology or digital innovation will add value to your company?

Funding

Reference

Co-Creation within the W-VL/ERDF 1301 Machine Building and Mechatronics Competence Centre

Budget

The project comprises a total budget of 1,480,000 euros, of which 592,000 euros comes from ERDF, 258,000 from the Hermes Fund and 112,000 from provincial resources.