ComMUnion enables productive and cost effective manufacturing of 3D metal/ Carbon Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic (CFRT) multi-material components. ComMUnion will develop a novel solution combining tape placement of CFRTs with controlled laser-assisted heating in a multi-stage robot solution. High-speed laser texturing and cleaning will overcome the limitations of current joining technology to provide greatest performance joints. ComMUnion will rely on a robot-based approach enabling on-line inspection for layer-to-layer self-adjustment of the process. Moreover, tools for multi-scale modelling, parametric offline programming, quality diagnosis and decision support will be developed under a cognitive approach to ensure interoperability and usability. ComMUnion will address the following key innovations: - Texturing and cleaning based on high speed laser scanning for surface condition. - High-speed spatially resolved control of surface temperature profile. - Multi-scale metal/CFRP modelling, self-adaptive process control, and quality diagnosis based on multimodal active imaging. ComMUnion approach will decrease by 30% the consumption of titanium and boron steel, (costly alloys requiring critical materials). Besides, reinforcement of textured metallic surfaces with CFRT tapes will increase mechanical performance of multi-material components over 30% without cost increase. Manufacturing of two pilot-cases for automotive and aeronautics will demonstrate the scalability of the joining process. It will be possible trough a consortium with a strong involvement of industrial partners (73% of which 55% are SMEs). The outline of the business plan ensures the exploitation of the project results. With a target market of 2.000 companies and a fair estimate of 2% market penetration (5 years after the commercialization start), ComMUnion will result in 40M€/year incomes.

Future manufacturing will be characterized by the complementarity between humans and automation, especially regarding the production of highly customizable products. This requires new methods and tools for the design and operation of optimized manufacturing workplaces in terms of ergonomics, safety, efficiency, complexity management and work satisfaction. MANUWORK aims to focus on the development of an integrated platform for the management of manufacturing workplaces of the future. This will be done through development, implementation and testing of the following technological components: 1. A tool for determining optimal human-automation levels for load balancing, based on methods for the assessment of physical, sensorial and cognitive capabilities of humans, the prediction of evolution of human skills/capabilities using Petri Nets and the modeling of automation skills. 2. A framework for the evaluation of worker satisfaction, safety and health, based on methods for evaluating psychometrics and socio-organizational parameters and the safe human-automation symbiosis. 3. A framework for the adaptive shop-floor support and industrial social networking based on an Augmented Reality tool for the Human-Automation Interface, an industrial social networking platform and methods for knowledge capturing and social analytics. A critical target will be the active and passive use of information from workers, without storing any personal data, in order to maintain the confidentiality of the person involved. This will be done through the direct use of data for the calculation of factors of workplace models for the dynamic assignment of workers based on the groups they belong to (e.g. age group). Finally, MANUWORK will test and validate the research and technological developments in three industrial pilot demonstrators (aerospace, automotive and people with disabilities), following an industrial pre-pilot validation (machine tool sector).

Over the last years, production has been shifted from mass production to customization. The conventional production lines, traditionally focused on one product variant or one family of products do show their limitations to cope with the new needs. Moreover, unprecedented worldwide events, such as the recent pandemic crisis, indicated even more the need for flexible production systems that can rapidly switch production to a totally different one (e.g. automotive manufactures had to produce respirators, facemasks etc.). As a response, MASTERLY aims to develop flexible robotic solutions, constituting of modular grippers combined with state-of-the-art robotic technologies, such as mobile, high and low payload industrial and collaborative robots and smart cranes, enhanced with AI driven advanced control and perception capabilities that will allow them to act autonomously, handling a large variety of parts varying in size, shape and material, while being acceptable by both genders of workforce. The developments will focus around the following 5 pillars: 1) Innovative, efficient and low consumption systems for storage, retrieval, conveying and pick-and-place using a multi-disciplinary approach combining technologies 2) Robust handling devices and systems, with integrated –AI driven- advanced control 3) User-friendly interfaces for robot/machine control and programming 4) Interoperable S/W and H/W interfaces 5) Industrial Pilot Cases for work piece handling in full production line The technologies will be tested for flexibility, efficiency & user acceptance in three use cases from different productions sectors, aiming to demonstrate production line and cross sector applicability and adaptability: Elevators manufacturing, focusing on the assembly of electrical cabinets of lifts (KLEEMANN), Sportswear, focusing on warehouse logistics and packaging (DECATHLON) and Aeronautics production, focusing on production of large composite panels of aircraft wings (AERNNOVA).

The main objectives of this project are to develop a model-based prognostics method integrating the FMECA and PRM approaches for the smart prediction of equipment condition, a novel MDSS tool for smart industries maintenance strategy determination and resource management integrating ERP support, and the introduction of an MSP tool to share information between involved personnel. The proposers' approach is able to improve overall business effectiveness with respect to the following perspectives: • Increasing Availability and then Overall Equipment Effectiveness through increasing of MTBF, and reduction of MTTR and MDT. • Continuously monitoring the criticality of system components by performing/updating the FMECA analysis at first implementation or whenever a variation in the system design or composition occurs. • Building physical-based models of the components which have a higher criticality level or which status is difficult to monitor. • Determining an optimal strategy for the maintenance activities. • Creating a new schedule for the production activities that will optimize the overall system performance through a Smart Scheduling tool ensuring collaboration among the MDSS, the ERP and the RUL Estimation tool. • Providing, in addition to traditional data acquisition and management functions in a machine condition monitoring system, robust and customizable data analysis services by a cloud-based platform. • An Intra Factory Information Service will be developed to allow the company staff to be quickly informed of changes in the machine tool performances and to easily react to eventual production and maintenance activities rescheduling. The production and maintenance schedule of complete production lines and entire plants will run with real-time flexibility in order to perform at the required level of efficiency, optimize resources and plan repair interventions.