TOPIC : Manufacturing of custom made parts for personalised products

Topic Description

Specific challenge:The manufacturing of customised products (e.g. consumer goods and medical devices) requires the development of new strategies integrating design with manufacturing and incorporating appropriate control methodologies to ensure small or large lot quantities which meet the specifications. Examples include new custom made parts or spare parts on demand either to sub-divisions of sectors/products or personalised to an individual as well as unique identification marking of products. New manufacturing processes and machines will need to be developed which are flexible at the local level to meet specific consumer demand and mass customisation where rapid translation between different specifications is required. In order to address customisation, advanced manufacturing processes(e.g. additive manufacturing or electrical discharge machining) need to enable processing of multi-materials, lightweight and high-strength materials or functionally graded materials, as well as more flexibility and rapid reconfiguring capabilities. For all customised manufacturing, it is necessary to have quick realisation from design to production in one process step as well as economic production systems down to single and small lot sizes. 

Scope: Research activities should be multi-disciplinary and address several of the following areas:

-          Development and integration of advanced design and manufacturing technologies able to transform such new product-service data descriptions and protocols into manufacturing operations and processes exploiting.

-          Development of new machines and processes integrating advanced materials for the manufacturing of personalised parts and products.

-          Seamless data integration across the process and supply chains for the fast production and distribution of custom made parts and products.

-          Methodologies and tools for the management and running of effective value chains for the fast production and delivery of personalised products.

Activities expected to focus on Technology Readiness Level 4-6. A significant participation of SMEs with R&D capabilities is encouraged.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 3 and 6 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected impact:

                Increased capability to provide value added products/services and to rapidly follow the market dynamics by means of fast production and delivery of customised parts and products.

                Reduction by 50% in the lead-time for manufacturing one new custom part with respect to current values for same requirements.

                Cost reduction of personalised products manufacturing by 20%, by decreasing lead times in products and processes development and the time to market of customised parts and products by 30%.

Type of action: Research & Innovation Actions