Partners celebrate the success of the review meeting
STREAM-0D partners have gathered, last 26-27th of March, in Zaragoza (Spain) to discuss the latest advancements and results of the project.
In March 2019, STREAM-0D reached month 30 since the beginning of the venture: this means that the project is one year away from its conclusion. The time was therefore good to make an assessment of the advancements that have been achieved so far.
The project meeting, which was held over two days in Zaragoza, Spain – respectively at ITAINNOVA’s and Fersa Bearings’ headquarters – was the occasion to showcase before the consortium, the officer and the reviewer of the European Commission, the activities carried out by each of the partners involved in the project. Also, the meeting aimed at defining the work plan for the next 12 months.
ITAINNOVA, the technological institute of Aragon, is the coordinator of the project, while Fersa Bearings is one of the end-users involved. The other partners who attended the meeting were: ZF Group (Germany), Standard Profil (Spain), Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS) (Greece), Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France), Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited (IES) (United Kingdom), STAM SRL (Italy), Day One (Italy), CETRI (Cyprus).
Big advancements
In general, STREAM-0D showed a significant progress in the quality, complexity and speed of execution of the simulation models, which was also highlighted by EC officers at the end of the meeting.
The first day of the gathering, which was held at ITAINNOVA, was used by the consortium to carry out an internal update on the various Work Packages. Since the last project meeting (late September, 2018), several advancements have been discussed.
Some very complex simulation models are now available and the technical partners are now at work to integrate them into the line and feed them with the acquired data. Current work consists also in the implementation of the control systems that act on the process: this is carried out through the optimization of the algorithms that adjust the process, reduce the variability of the KPIs (the Key Performance Indicators of the product that is being manufactured) and eliminate rejects, and that will therefore lead to a zero-defect manufacturing process.
The second day took place at Fersa Bearings’ headquarters: a good opportunity for the partners to gather and discuss the various topics literally around one of the lines that are used to test the STREAM-0D solution.
Fersa Bearings actually incorporated into its lines the measuring equipment able to adjust to the temperature of the pieces and the machine parameter management systems that guarantee the optimization of the process. The company is now working to extend the application to its Chinese and Austrian factories.
STREAM-0D solution will be also adapted to new production systems such as the one installed in Fersa’s Zaragoza factory, that will serve to supply bearings to Mercedes-Benz’s truck axles.
The application in line
Fersa’s production line visit supported with a real experience the theoretical part of the meeting. The EC officers had therefore the opportunity to witness the deep technological integration and the research activity requested by STREAM-0D solution.
Next 12 months will be devoted to the final implementation of the solution and to the development of the business model before the go-to-market phase. STREAM-0D workgroup will gather again, for the next consortium meeting, in 6 months.
