Descripció del projecte
Composite (long fibre reinforced thermosets) manufacturing is mainly a handmade and labour intensive technique, which has set defined limitations in terms of geolocation and market applications of this advanced materials. As an example, European production centers are adequate in terms of cost levels for low to mid production volumes of high-end parts, where the added value of the manufacturing itself can be repercuted to the final product. In opposite, low cost applications or high volume markets are usually manufactured in low cost countries such as South East of Asia, where labour cost are lower than Europe and health & safety work conditions are also less restrictive.
The increasing interest of high volume markets such as sports goods or automotive for composite materials provokes the evaluation of possibilities to manufacture high-volume parts in an European country through the application of automation and technology.
Although they are initiatives to fully automate the production of composite parts, the investment needed for such an automation cannot be afforded in some of the cases due to the everytime shorter lifetime of the products.
The objective of this project is to create a low capex methodology to optimize the production of composite materials, by means of current available technological resources.
The objective should be pursued by combining the following 3 different aspects: Material science, Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
Material science: Within thermoset reinforced advance composites, the determination of the right cure kinetics is crucial to obtain an optimal cure of the part, depending on its dimensions, thickness, mould and related cure process, therefore it is expected to obtain modelization tools to determine the most optimal cure cycle per step of the manufacturing process
Lean manufacturing: Composite manufacturing is mainly a sequential process where a part gets value as sequential manufacturing steps occur over it. The determination of the optimal flow within the production line as well as within the production cell is key to obtain a balanced and optimal line, when volume scale up.
Industry 4.0: Different tools and sensors can be coupled together to the line to understand it better and also to take smart decisions and obtain useful analytics of what is going on. The effect of applying knowledge on material science and lean manufacturing aside of the line can have a significant impact on the outcome of the production line, but the implementation of real-time sensors and advance monitoring and quality control techniques is a next step on trying to get a competitive advantage in the production line.
By combining the above mentioned action lines all together, Airborne expects to obtain a clear framework to face high volume manufacturing projects in the future with the aim to bring the advance knowledge in composite materials to new potential markets.
