Delcam in group seeking to develop factory of the future

The four-year project – FoFdation (Foundation for the Factory of the Future) – targets a 'Smart Factory' architecture and implementation. The project cost is €10,350,000, with €6,660,000 of this coming from the EU's FP7 research programme. Benefits are expected to be: earlier visibility of manufacturing issues; faster production ramp-up time; faster time-to-volume production and subsequently shorter time-to-market; reduced manufacturing costs and improved product quality; as well as sustainability objectives like reduced energy consumption and waste reduction. These benefits will be achieved through: end-to-end digitisation of the process, product and machine resources; development of a 'Smart Machine Controller' (SMC) concept, including a 'Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System' (SCADA), adaptive process control and energy-efficient monitoring; realisation of a 'Smart Manufacturing Optimiser' (SMO), using the virtual product information from CAD/PLM and the real machine and on-line process information to adapt process control information to achieve optimal process results; extension of MES systems to a 'Smart Manufacturing Execution System' (SMES) by supporting resource efficiency and sustainability goals and interfacing with 'Enterprise Resource Planning' (ERP) systems; and compilation of all information into a common dashboard to offer 'production-to-enterprise' asset integration and overall sustainability management. The developments will extend existing information processing systems by adding more information about product data, machine tools, tooling and processes, and process monitoring information fed back to shop-floor information systems.