Data spaces for flexible production lines & supply chains
For resilient manufacturing
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic have forced manufacturers to rethink not only their supply chains but also the adaptability of their production facilities. Achieving resilient manufacturing is crucial to maintain high-quality production at efficient rates while reducing non-value-adding activities.
The European research project Flex4Res, which stands for Data spaces for FLEXible production lines and supply chains FOR RESilient manufacturing, concentrates on making supply chains more resilient.
To achieve this, Flex4Res develops an open platform for secure and sovereign data exchange along the supply chain that supports the reconfiguration of production networks. It also develops two toolboxes: one for resilience assessment and one for reconfiguration planning. These toolboxes allow different players in the supply chain to effectively and rapidly adjust to various disruptions, both in their supply chains and production processes.
Key dates
Use cases
The integrated solution will be tested and validated in four industrial use cases on the reconfiguration of different hierarchical layers, from the value chain to machines and devices.
Hans Berg GmbH & Co. KG
Challenge: Adjustment measures are necessary when a tool or material has changed, but its duration and success depend on the experience of the employee executing it.
Goal: Reducing the time required to reconfigure the tools, the amount of produced defective components, and the need for the experience required to perform the adjustment tasks.
Sidenor Group
Challenge: Disruptions require reallocating the production, which takes place manually. Decisions taken at network level aren’t connected to the reconfiguration needed at the factory level.
Goal: Reducing the time required for reconfiguration of the production plans for the production network by supporting the user throughout the reconfiguration planning.
GOIMEK
Challenge: The process steps within the production of one part are performed in several working centres. They need to be fixed according to the daily production needs.
Goal: Increasing the efficiency and competitiveness as well as the predictability of production by developing a cross-site production planner, which can be constantly reconfigured.
voestalpine High Performance Metals Digital Solutions GmbH
Challenge: The products vary in size and shape and can only be machined on machinery providing the necessary capabilities, which also vary on other factors such as tools.
Goal: Highly flexible production planning and scheduling, also depending on the current machine state and manufacturing utilities with the opportunity to reconfigure the processes during production.
Latest updates
Meet our project partner Sidenor
Sidenor Group is a leading steel producer in south-eastern Europe with production units in Greece, Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia. The group’s products are available in more than 50 countries with a significant contribution to […]
Flex4Res and deltaDAO join forces to build a data ecosystem for European manufacturing
The European research project Flex4Res has joined forces with the data ecosystem technology provider deltaDAO.
Data ecosystems are becoming real – Gaia-X community presents solutions for the future across industry boundaries
Industry and business are in the midst of radical change: sustainability, resilience and securing competitiveness […]
Meet our project partner GOIMEK
GOIMEK are specialised in high-accuracy part machining with the highest standards of quality and service.
Meet our project partner LMS
The Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation (LMS) focus on cutting-edge scientific and technological fields for research and development.
Five innovative research projects, one pioneering ecosystem
The research project Flex4Res is part of the project ecosystem around EuProGigant, which focuses on data spaces to exchange and use data from production securely and sovereignly.
EuProGigant Open House Day 2023
Insights into data sharing, discussions about data ecosystems and effective networking: On October 10 and 11, representatives from politics, industry and research met to discuss the sovereign, Gaia-X-compliant use of data based on the EuProGigant project ecosystem.
Project meeting in Darmstadt, Germany
The Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) of TU Darmstadt hosted the third Flex4Res Project General Assembly, which took place in Darmstadt, Germany.
Industry-oriented research for resilient supply chains
The Horizon Europe research project Flex4Res aims to strengthen the European manufacturing industry by boosting supply chain resilience. Its four use cases are challenges that can be translated to the majority of production companies.
Project meeting in Elgoibar, Spain
IDEKO hosted the second Flex4Res Project General Assembly, which took place in Elgoibar, Spain, on 16 and 17 May 2023. Besides discussions on the latest developments, site visits of Goimek S. Coop and IDEKO were on the agenda.
Project partners
17 partners from 6 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Greece, Luxemburg, Germany and Spain). The number of different countries in the project ensures a rounder approach to the problems that are met by different European countries.
