Manufacturing in Europe: Facing Challenges

European industry has a long history of producing high quality and complex products. However competition from rapidly developing economies such as China and India present European industry with a great challenge. In addition to this, environmental concerns, resource-scarcity, changing demographics and the changing needs of society all pose challenges that must be met to ensure the long-term survival of manufacturing in Europe and the future of the high-skilled employment that it provides.

EFFRA: Leading the Way

To meet the challenges facing manufacturing in Europe, industry established the European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA) to engage in a public-private partnership (PPP) with the European Union.  

With 112 large industrial, SME, research organisation and association members, EFFRA represents a diverse manufacturing community – a manufacturing community that employs over 30 million people in Europe.

The ‘Factories of the Future’ PPP was launched in 2009 with a joint investment of approximately € 1 billion and with the aim of developing technologies, systems and processes under research priorities identified by industry experts in a strategic research roadmap developed through EFFRA.  These technologies,  systems and processes will not only address the challenges facing manufacturing in Europe but also gradually change our conception of manufacturing and even the factory itself, a revolution in our industry, from highly networked manufacturing to localised production to re-manufacturing services.

Four Years On: An Unprecedented Success

Dr. Massimo Mattucci, Chairman of EFFRA on the success of the ‘Factories of the Future’ PPP:

“As of 2012, 61 projects have been launched – involving over 200 organisations from across Europe with research on areas such as agile manufacturing, virtual factories, mass customisation and advanced intelligent control systems. 36 more projects will commence in 2013 before FP-7 concludes. Because of this PPP, industry participation has increased to 50% with the time to grant now down to an average of 8.5 months.  With work already at an advanced stage on our next roadmap, this success will continue under Horizon 2020.”

The Voice of European Manufacturing Research: ‘Factories of the Future’ at Industry Tech 2012

At Industrial Technologies 2012, two sessions will focus on the ‘Factories of the Future’ topics “Manufacturing the Products of the Future” and “Agile Manufacturing Industries – From Mechatronics to Collaborative Supply Chains”.

Invited experts will shed light on all dimensions of future factories, speakers on this include Prof. Heinrich Flegel (Daimler), Dr. Uwe Kubach (SAP Research), Dr. Martin Hägele (Fraunhofer IPA), Dr. Svend Erik Sørensen (Danish Crown), Prof. Marco Taisch (Politecnico di Milano) as well as Dr. Egbert-Jan Sol (TNO High-tech Systems & Materials), Luigi Galdabini (Cesare Galdabini) and Hubert Lakner (Fraunhofer IPMS).

In addition to EFFRA, the ‘Factories of the Future’ projects ‘Locobot’, ‘fab2asm’ and ‘Impress’ will be at the exhibition at Industry Tech 2012.

Process industries such as chemical, pulp and paper, glass, or non-ferrous metals and steel create materials with new properties and functionalities by formulating and transforming chemically and physically raw materials along the value chain.

This is a very cost-intensive process, as energy consumption and water demand during the production process are sky-rocking and therefore put limitations to the competitiveness of the European industry. In order to overcome this challenge, the Public-Private-Partnership SPIRE, Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency, has been funded. The goal is to improve resource and energy-efficiencies as well as reducing the environmental impact of industrial activities.

“Do More With Less”

More specifically, SPIRE wants to reduce fossil energy intensity of up to 30% from current levels. Additionally, by 2030, up to 20% reduction in non-renewable, by increasing chemical and physical transformation yields or using secondary and renewable raw materials.

These goals shall be achieved by developing new close-to-the-market technologies with focus on the development, and validation of enabling technologies for innovative substances, materials and technological solutions for low-carbon products and less energy-intensive processes and services along the value chain, as well as the adoption of ultra-low carbon production technologies and techniques.

The Impact Is Huge!

The founding organizations of SPIRE include members from more than 450 000 enterprises that employ over 6.8 mio people. By generating over 1.600 billion EUR turnover and making up 20% of all funding for Europe’s economy, these members will make a major contribution to the political and societal objectives of drastic efficiency improvement in CO2-equivalent footprints of up to 40% by 2030.

Dr. Peter Nagler (Chief Innovation Officer, Evonik Industries AG and board member of SusChem) and Jean-Pierre Birat (Expert at ArcelorMittal ) will discuss these opportunities arising from energy and water efficiency during “Resource-Efficient Process Industries” at Industrial Technologies 2012 and discuss associated concepts such as  cradle-to-cradle, recycling, end-of-life and waste treatment.

Get a first glimpse of the session and watch the video below:

Energy inefficient buildings consume 40% of the world's energy and are responsible for nearly the same amount of emitted carbon. Coupled with additional 3 billion people on the Earth and 70% of the world's population living in cities by 2050 we are heading towards an energy and environmental disaster. Urgent actions need to be taken now. As Europe’s buildings and districts are built or renewed, reducing energy consumption does not only reduce your heating bill but becomes the critical goal for planning the cities of tomorrow.

The notion of a zero energy home has until recently been beyond the imagination of most people. However, today homes that are not only efficient but can produce all of the energy needed through the use of renewable energy can be built. In order to achieve energy neutral buildings and districts by 2050 the European Construction Technology Platform has set up the Energy Efficient Building European Initiative (E2B EI), steered by the Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) founded in November 2008.

At Industrial Technologies 2012, Gaëtan Desruelles of Bouygues Construction, Hervé Charrue of CSTB, Stefano Carosio of D’Appolonia, and Javier Grávalos of Acciona will elaborate on how E2BA will achieve the goal of energy neutral districts in Europe for the next generation in the Industry of Energy Positive Buildings and Districts session.

Raw materials are a critical input for the European economy, but the region is often dependent on imports or vulnerable to declining supplies.

To prevent this becoming a bottleneck for economic growth, Europe needs a fourfold strategy. Alternative sources for materials should be found – many of which may already exist in Europe, and provide opportunities for renewed and environmental sensitive extraction agency. Alternatives to rare earth metals need to be found, and material usage in general should become more efficient. Recycling is also of critical importance, as well as a significant business opportunity.

At Industrial Technologies 2012, Professor Pär Weihed of (Luleå University) will argue in the session "Ensuring the Availability of Raw Materials" that Europe does not lack reserves of critical materials, but that political will is required to support their extraction.

Dr Thomas Scheiter (Siemens) will reveal in the workshop "Innovative Materials Based on Less-Common Elements, Environment and Processes", how his company is responding to material scarcity, by developing alternative components such a magnets which use substantially lower quantities of rare materials like dysprosium.

Moreover, Professor Armin Reller (Augsburg University) argues that, while facing raw materials scarcity, resource management, resource efficiency and resource strategy are crucial concepts for the design and implementation of new functional materials.

King Tut’s mummy, a fashion show and a perfect finish for Audi. Seemingly there is nothing in common in these three. However, Wilfried Vancraen’s company Materialise can manufacture the replica of the remains of the long-dead pharaoh, dresses of the new fashion, and paint the Audi A1 model with secondary colors automatically. Additive manufacturing – also known as 3D printing – is one of the hottest topics in manufacturing since the invention of mass production.

3D printing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. It is achieved using additive processes, where an object is created by laying down successive layers of material. These layers can be from a few microns to a couple of hundred microns. Oliver Jay, the Head of Section Additive Manufacturing of Danish Technological Institute, explains: “Producing directly from the digital model to the prototype or to the final product within hours, the technology permits to continue the development of the product, and customize products to the needs of the users”.

In Industrial Technologies 2012, Oliver Jay will show examples of how 3D printing has been brought to the market and Wilfried Vancraen highlights the importance of European R&D-funding in the successful growth of Materialise – a 3D printing company which now employs more than 600 people.

The workshop Beyond Gutenberg - Printing Industrial Products in the 21st Century will give further insights to how nanotechnology can change the traditional world of printing.

Sustainability, resource and energy efficiency are on everyone’s lips. The Kalundborg municipality, Denmark, has taken the principles of sustainability to heart. They have created the world’s first working industrial symbiosis.

In Kalundborg Symbiosis, public and private enterprises buy and sell waste products from industrial production in a closed cycle. The residual products traded can include steam, dust, gases, heat, slurry or any other waste product that can be physically transported from one enterprise to another.

A residual product originating from one enterprise becomes the raw material of another enterprise, benefiting both the economy and the environment.

Martin Andersen, the EU Director of Kalundborg municipality will chair a session on Industrial Symbiosis in Industrial Technologies 2012. Peter Layborn of International Synergies will broaden the perspective to global reach and elaborate on why this has not been achieved elsewhere. Claude Fussler – a special advisor to the United Nation Global Compact - will look at the benefits of achieving symbiotic relationships will have on the climate.

Striving in global competition involves many players from different continents. The basis for a global business is to understand other's strategies and find ways in which companies can benefit from each other. The International Cooperation session therefore gives the opportunity to see other global player's view on competition and their views how European industry and research may strive in global competition by co-operating.

Professor Chunli Bai, the president of Chinese of Academy of Sciences, will be a honoured guest in the Industrial Technologies 2012 congress. Being responsible for 117 Chinese institutes with legal entity, more than 100 national key laboratories and engineering research centers, 1000 field stations in China and more than 50,000 employees, he will present his views of Chinese research and technology strategy and possibilities for international cooperation.

Bringing in the insight in Korean R&D policy, Dr. Sang-il Park, the CEO of Park Systems Corporation, claims that Korea’s traditional growth model based on copying products of developed countries and manufacturing them with higher efficiency and better cost savings no longer works. Korea has become the home of many world class industries, and many Korean industries are having hard time to meet the level of technical difficulty and product complexity in today’s competitive global market. The CEO’s solution to keep Korea competitive is increased global cooperation. He advocates that global cooperation in basic research, product development, and other applications is vital to the sustainable future of Korea.

Also in Industrial Technologies 2012, Professor Sergey Kalyuzhnyi, the Director of the Scientific and Technological Expertise of RUSNANO, will talk about how the state-funded multi-billion investment company RUSNANO enables commercialization of nanotechnologies in Russia.

Joining them in the discussion will be Robert Kiggans, who has had an active engagement with industrial innovation in the USA in his various positions in Advanced Technology International, SCRA, International TechneGroup Incorporated, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the University of South Carolina.

Through billions of years of evolution, nature has created amazing solutions to complex problems. Now, facilitated by the advances in nano- and biotechnology, industrial solutions and processes can be implemented based on Nature’s own principles designing new and novel solutions.  The concept of observing functions properties and characteristics in nature and adapting them to man-made solutions is called biomimicry or biomimetics.

Professor André Studart, an assistant professor at ETH Zürich, has been inspired by seashells in his materials research: “We invented a simple, general method to deliberately control the orientational and spatial distribution of reinforcing platelets and rods within composites.” The method, which is based on seashell structure, can be applicable for the fabrication of e.g. strong adhesives, biomedical implants, and dental restorations.

Sea-life has had an impact on Dr. Henrik Birkedal’s research as well. Dr. Birkedal, who works at iNano, Aarhus University, discovered that techniques used by the blue mussel could be applied in the wound care industry: “The blue mussel attaches to substrates ranging from Teflon over wood to steel, and it does so underwater – features that are of great use in a wide range of technological applications”.

Tune in at the Industrial Biomimicry workshop in Aarhus to find out the range of industrial applications that have been inspired by nature.

2014 will see the start of the European Union’s new funding programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020. The development of the programme has gathered pace under the Danish Presidency of the European Council, and will continue during the Cypriot and Irish Presidencies.

Industrial Technologies 2012 will consider how best to develop Horizon 2020 in order to ensure that it supports industrial innovation, encouraging companies to invest in research and development and commercialise new products in Europe.  Morten Østergaard (Minister for Research, Denmark) and Rudolf Strohmeier (Deputy Director General, European Commission) will provide an update on the current development of Horizon 2020, and how they see the role of industry.

Several high profile Chief Technology Officers from Europe’s largest industrial R&D investors, amongst them Ric Parker (Rolls Royce), Pierre Joris (Solvay) and Jukka Kilpeläinen (StoraEnso) will set out what they see being necessary to encourage critical research and development to continue to be performed in Europe. 

Renewable energy generation, including wind and solar technologies, are both a response to the societal challenge of climate change and a business opportunity for innovative firms. Yet for the cost of renewable generation to reach grid parity, fundamental efficiency improvements will be required. This is where materials science and nanotechnology can help.

Henrik Stiesdahl (CTO, Siemens Wind) will describe how new materials and coatings can improve the efficiency and lifetime of wind turbines. Betrand Filon (CEA) will review the current research landscape in advanced photovoltaics, and identify specific areas of European strength. Leopold Demiddeleer (Director of Business Development, Solvay) will look at the technical challenges and business opportunities within fuel cells.