MetaFacturing focuses on a digitized toolchain for metal part production which will lead to a more resilient production process with respect to the raw materials used (e.g., recycled materials), reduces operator effort and cost, and reduces scrap due to out-of-specification parts. The vision is to create a widely-applicable Digital Twin based process setup and control framework, fulfilling the requirements of industrial scale parts manufacturers (with a specific focus on metal parts) whose central hurdle is the effective use of available part and process data to improve the time-to-market and product quality. This framework will strongly leverage on a range of state-of-the-art technologies in the field of model-based data fusion, efficient process simulation, and data standardisation, and continuous Life Cycle Assessment in order to efficiently develop solutions which are tailored for deployment in industry. MetaFacturing project brings together 6 market leaders (FRONIUS, NEMAK, FILL, VITRONIC, BENTELER and LTH) which will closely cooperate in order to reach a new level of leadership in sustainable manufacturing while maintaining their respective market dominance. The envisaged approach will exploit all available data in the process, starting from material data, in-process measurements, end-of-line quality control and sampling-based product validation. The Digital Twin based approach will enable the holistic consideration of this data in order to provide automatic feedback for the process control, as well as providing novel (meta-)data on the materials used which will be valuable to train the engineers working with these materials.

Recycling aluminium from existing End of Life (EoL) and production scraps uses only 5% of energy compared to primary material production, making it mandatory for exploiting its global decarbonisation potential and meeting the demands of the European Green Deal. However, once aluminium is alloyed with other metals, it is virtually impossible to remove these elements again. Extensive mixing of different EoL alloys therefore inevitably leads to downcycling. This practice has been a successful strategy due to high demand for cast aluminium alloys in combustion engines, a universal recycling “sink” that will dry up in the coming years. Europe possesses a rich potential of secondary aluminium resources with an expected share of 49% of total aluminium production by 2050. The RecAL project (Recycling technologies for circular ALuminium) provides a balanced approach to fully exploit this valuable resource. It synergistically addresses all stages of circular production and tackles problems of the entire value chain: - Increase impurity tolerance in alloy design at level or superior performance - Exploit the benefits of digitization and robotic assistance in sorting and dismantling - Create recyclate streams with vastly enhanced purities - Adapt production paradigms to unfold the full potential of secondary resources - Harmonise communication between all sectors of the aluminium industry The project will mature an envelope of 14 crucial technological solutions towards these goals up to TRL6 and embed them into a digital, “socio-technical ecosystems”: the Aluminium HUB for circularity. This interactive platform will directly link stakeholders along the value chain for full scale industrial and technological symbiosis and circular economy closing energy, resource and data loops at regional and European scale.

EFFRA recommendations on Factories 4.0 and Beyond (Sept 2016) clearly stated the need for development of large scale experimentation and demonstration of data-driven “connected smart” Factories 4.0, to retain European manufacturing competitiveness. BOOST 4.0 will address this need, by demonstrating in a measurable and replicable way, an open standardised and transformative shared data-driven Factory 4.0 model through 10 lighthouse factories. BOOST 4.0 will also demonstrate how European industry can build unique strategies and competitive advantages through big data across all phases of product and process lifecycle (engineering, planning, operation, production and after-market services) building upon the connected smart Factory 4.0 model to meet the Industry 4.0 challenges (lot size one distributed manufacturing, operation of zero defect processes & products, zero break down sustainable operations, agile customer-driven manufacturing value network management and human centred manufacturing). Our chief objectives include: (1) Establish 10 big data lighthouse smart connected factories (VW, FILL, AutoEuropa, +GF+, FIAT, Phillips, Volvo, GESTAMP, Benteler, Whirlpool). (2) Provide the RAMI 4.0 and IDS based BOOST 4.0 open EU framework and governance model, for both services and data assets. (3) Put together methodologies, assets, models and communities in order to maximise visibility, mobilization, replication potential, and impact (business, financial, standardization) of BOOST 4.0 The investment leveraging factor of BOOST 4.0 will be well above the 4:1 ratio, up to 10:1. In terms of exploitation, in 5-years horizon after the project end, just only the participating lighthouse factories will make a direct follow-on investment above 33Meuro (ROI 10,61), while the commercialisation of the BOOST 4.0 products in the market is expected to generate some 96Meuro cumulative profits (ROI 4,73) for the rest of the partners.

6 of the European carmakers (DAIMLER, VW, TME, CRF, VOLVO, Opel), under the coordination of EUCAR, have joined forces to commonly address the high cost issue of innovations in vehicle lightweighting, having identified it as the major bottleneck towards their implementation in vehicle series and mass production. The AffordabLe LIghtweight Automobiles AlliaNCE (ALLIANCE) has the ambition to develop novel advanced materials (steel, aluminium, hybrid) and production technologies, aiming at an average 25% weight reduction over 100k units/year, at costs of <3 €/kg. Additionally, ALLIANCE will develop a mass-optimizer software tool and a multi-parameter design optimisation methodology and process, aiming at an accelerated pre-assessment of technologies over existing designs in a holistic framework. ALLIANCE will work on 8 different demonstrators of real vehicle models, 6 of which will be physically tested, aiming at market application by OEMs within 6 years from project end (in 2025). A transferability and scalability methodology will also be developed for results replication across other vehicle components and models in other segments. ALLIANCE aims at becoming a central hub for innovation in lightweight design in Europe. To do so, it will establish an open inclusive framework towards external centres and clusters in this field, involving them in ALLIANCE development through an open lightweight design contest and dedicated workshops.