Closed-loop digital pipeline for a flexible and modular manufacturing of large components

The manufacturing of large-scale parts needs the implementation of a holistic data management and comprehensive automation methodology based on worker-centric tools to achieve the desired levels of precision using modular and more flexible equipment. PENELOPE aims to develop an end-to-end Digital Manufacturing solution, enabling a bidirectional dataflow for seamless integration across the entire manufacturing chain. PENELOPE implements a digital manufacturing architecture for a precise, accurate, flexible and responsiveness manufacturing of large-scale parts from the initial product design.
The major goal of PENELOPE is to develop a novel closed-loop digital pipeline based on the development of modular and reconfigurable production approach for the manufacturing of high-precision large-scale parts. PENELOPE will be deployed in four industrial-driven pilot lines in strategic manufacturing sectors and supported by a pan-European network of Didactic Factories and showrooms, providing i) training, upskilling and re-skilling capabilities enabling to EU economy and its workforce the transition towards Industry 4.0; ii) general-purpose testbeds for assisting in the industry adoption of modular and reconfigurable manufacturing of large-scale parts.
Penelope solution will be implemented, benchmarked and demonstrated in industrial real-scale pilot lines, across different key industry sectors: Oil&Gas, Shipbuilding, Aeronautics and Bus&Coach. In addition, a pan-European network of Didactic Factories will be established, easing the access to the developed technologies to a broad basis of EU manufacturing companies. These innovations will contribute to the following technical objectives to improve the efficiency (reduction of raw materials consumption, production cost and time) and precision in the manufacturing of large-scale parts:
1. To develop a closed-loop data driven pipeline for a Collaborative Product-Service Factories schema capable of addressing the precise manufacturing of large-parts from early design
2. To implement a digital architecture for modular, reconfigurable, scalable, decoupled and distributed production of large-parts
3. To develop a zero-defect manufacturing strategy based on online control, distributed quality assurance and Artificial Intelligence
4. To implement worker-centric tools assisting in the execution of the labour-intensive tasks by preserving industry-specific workers’ knowledge and skills
5. To demonstrate PENELOPE approach in real-scale for the manufacturing of large-scale high-precision components (TRL7), fostering results exploitation and enabling EU wide manufacturing adoption.

AIMEN, is the coordinator of the PENELOPE project and will be deeply involved in different tasks. In addition, AIMEN will be an active member of the pan-European network of Didactic Factories and showrooms. Apart from that, AIMEN coordinates the paramount development of a zero-defect manufacturing and cognitive factory, also leading two main tasks to achieve this goal: (1) to develop a hHardware for closed-loop control and quality assurance and (2) an online control algorithms for zero defect manufacturing.