Agile production systems

Today, many manufacturing processes are manual, for example product assembly. This is due to the majority of Danish manufacturing companies producing small batches of customer specific products where traditional automation solutions are not suited. To maintain competitiveness and ensure efficiency, Danish manufacturing companies want to optimize their production and utilization of human resources.

Listen to the leader of the strategic effort Agile Production Systems Henrik Gordon Petersen explain the effort.

Dette strategiske indsatsområde vil have særligt fokus på:

  1. Intelligente, digitaliserede, rekonfigurérbare robotmoduler
  2. Konfigurérbare digitale modeller af hele produktionssystemer

Purpose

The purpose of the initiative Agile production systems is to develop hardware and software  solutions which  enable agile manufacturing systems, and  ensure Danish manufacturing can maximize productivity, automate the production of small batches and scale automated production up and down based on demand at minimal cost.

A key component required to achieve this goal of developing these innovative automation solutions is the use of digital technologies to automate the programming and optimization of the hardware.

“We want to unite digital solutions with physical solutions so that in a digital world you can test solutions before they are implemented and when the solutions are implemented, you can easily adjust the applications via digital twins,” the Workstream Leader, Professor Henrik Gordon Petersen from University of Southern Denmark, explains. Henrik Gordon Petersen has worked with automation solutions in the manufacturing industry for about 25 years.

The researchers, RTOs and industrial partners working in workstream 3 will initiate  many industrial pilot projects, where state-of-the-art knowledge and technologies are tested in an industrial setting and the solutions are validated across different industrial partners.

“Technologies that make programming easy have been developed. For example, we have a project with the armature manufacturer VOLA, which focuses on the automation and optimization of metal polishing robots for high-end components,” Henrik Gordon Petersen explains.

We want to unite digital solutions with physical solutions so that in a digital world you can test solutions before they are implemented.

Henrik Gordon Petersen, Professor, University of Southern Denmark and Leader of the initiative Agile production systems

Contact:

Henrik Gordon Petersen

Professor

Mail: hgp@mmmi.sdu.dk

What is the goal?

“Together with the companies, the other academic partners and the Danish Technological Institute, we want to improve the companies’ technologies within digitization and automation, so they can remain competitive in the global market. In this globalized world, that requires utilizing the most advanced manufacturing technologies and solutions,” the Workstream Leader says.

Parties in the initiative

Companies

Danchell
Danfoss
Granby Pack
Jensen Group
KUKA
LEGO
Louis Poulsen
Robot Nordic

Rockwool
Siemens
Technicon
Terma
Velux
Vestas
Vikima Seed
VOLA

Universities

AU
AAU
SDU

RTO

Teknologisk Institut

SME development projects

A large number of SME’s are also key partners in the projects within the workstream and are collaborating closely with Danish Technological Institute:

The SME Paul E. Danchell, along with other industrial partners, will develop an automated assembly system for the assembly of printed circuit boards in low volumes, which offers the potential of increasing the amount of low volume production of electronic components in Denmark.

The SME, Granby Foam manufactures shock-absorbing and protective foam-based padding that protects components when they are transported. Granby Foam cuts the customer specific padding with a CNC machine and afterwards the waste material generated is removed manually. The company wants to automate this time-consuming process so that it can be applied to all customized products.

How do you balance different needs?

“It is important for us to have an ongoing dialogue so that both short-term and long-term needs from companies and universities are being addressed. Many companies are interested in research results because they are well aware that they will also depend on new technology in 10 years,” Henrik Gordon Petersen, who looks forward to achieving tangible results in collaboration with the companies, explains.

As mentioned, there are also several SME development projects where the Danish Technological Institute support the SME’s in developing innovative solutions that will help boost their flexibility.

Thematic leaders

  • Peter Gorm Larsen professor AU
  • Christian Schlette professor SDU
  • Thomas Ditlev Brunø lektor AAU
  • Anders Glent Buch lektor SDU

Henrik Gordon Petersen

Professor

Mail: hgp@mmmi.sdu.dk