The progress of the project beyond the state of the art can be evaluated by the articles accepted in peer-reviewed conference and journals, that mainly concern the scientific and technological achievements developed in the context of Plug-n-Produce, Skill-based robot programming, machine vision and simulation and decision support.
The potential impact of the project is inline or even exceeding the original foreseen impact of the project:
-Impact on the End users: In the automotive sector (PSA use case) the relevance of a scalable production system increased from the point of view of the end-user, mostly due to the change in the automotive landscape where the electrification trend is now perceived to be occurring sooner. The focus of the ScalABLE4.0 project is on the drivetrain assembly plants which are expected to report a significant increase of variants that are significantly different among them, moving from a diesel/gasoline duopoly to a diesel/gasoline/Hybrid/PHEV/EV matrix. The implementation of the project was performed at a pilot line designed to create a vision of what they expect to be the PSA factory of the future.The different solutions and technologies that were/are going to be showcased in this pilot line will help the plant and production managers to test and validate new solutions to be implemented at the real production lines. Concerning the impact on the plastic injection sector (SP use case), the feedback from the SP technical staff is that the multi-product line has the potential to be a revolution in the company and on the sector. The ScalABLE4.0 experiments that took place in the implemented multi-production line at SP shop-floor already created a positive impact in their production and was a proof-of-concept to start the change of their production paradigm, which might be extended to other lines and factories.
-Impact on the consortium SME’s: as expected the project had a direct impact on both SME’s, with the introduction of a new product on SARKKIS Robotics‘ portfolio (ScalABLE4.0 robot) and the development of a module to extend the existing MES from Critical Manufacturing according to the knowledge acquired during the project.
-Impact on the R&D partners: INESC TEC, Aalborg and Lund University and Fraunhofer IPA have identified several exploitable results that can extend the impact of its mission of promoting science and technology. The clearest result is the creation of a spin-off, RiACT, to exploit one of the software platforms developed by AAU and ULUND during the project implementation. Other exploitable results have been identified but need further developments to enter the market. New funding opportunities have already been identified.
-Impact in the society by communicating through dissemination activities (video, talks, conferences) where the integrated vision of a ScalABLE4.0 production system with robots and human operators collaborating can lead to more efficient and sustainable manufacturing in Europe.
