1,354,447 research outputs found
Highly evolvable e-waste recycling technologies and systems
No full textMaterials recycling is a key process to close the loop of materials in the direction of circular economy. However, the variability of waste and the high volatility of the price of recovered materials are posing serious challenges to the current rigid design of mechanical recycling systems. This is particularly true for Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), whose volume is growing more than other waste streams in Europe due to the diffusion of electronic products and to their short technology cycles. This study is aimed at the development of new flexible recycling systems through the implementation of a Hyper Spectral Imaging system and a simulation model enabling the real-time characterisation of shredded particles and the dynamic optimisation of process parameters for efficient sorting. A hardware and software prototype was realised and tested at theDe- and Re-manufacturing pilot plant of CNR-STIIMA. The positive economic impact of flexible recycling systems enabled by new technologies was assessed through scenario analysis
Key Research Priorities for Factories of the Future—Part II: Pilot Plants and Funding Mechanisms
No full textMission-oriented policies have been proposed for research and innovation in the European manufacturing industry to address grand challenges while fostering economic growth and employment. A mission is required to have clear goals that can be demonstrated also to a wide public, therefore research and innovation infrastructures play a key role to create the necessary conditions. Given the fundamental importance of public investment to promote innovation, possible funding mechanisms for industrial research and innovation are discussed. Furthermore, taking advantage of the experience gained during the Italian Flagship Project Factories of the Future, this chapter identifies three types of industrial research and innovation infrastructure that can support mission-oriented policies: lab-scale pilot plants, industrial-scale pilot plants, and lighthouse plants
Factories of the Future
No full textThis book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book presents results relevant in the manufacturing research field, that are mainly aimed at closing the gap between the academic investigation and the industrial application, in collaboration with manufacturing companies. Several hardware and software prototypes represent the key outcome of the scientific contributions that can be grouped into five main areas, representing different perspectives of the factory domain:1) Evolutionary and reconfigurable factories to cope with dynamic production contexts characterized by evolving demand and technologies, products and processes.2) Factories for sustainable production, asking for energy efficiency, low environmental impact products and processes, new de-production logics, sustainable logistics.3) Factories for the People who need new kinds of interactions between production processes, machines, and human beings to offer a more comfortable and stimulating working environment.4) Factories for customized products that will be more and more tailored to the final user’s needs and sold at cost-effective prices.5) High performance factories to yield the due production while minimizing the inefficiencies caused by failures, management problems, maintenance.This books is primarily targeted to academic researchers and industrial practitioners in the manufacturing domain
Key Research Priorities for Factories of the Future—Part I: Missions
No full textThis chapter investigates research priorities for factories of the future by adopting an approach based on mission-oriented policies to support manufacturing innovation. Missions are challenging from a scientific and technological point of view and, at the same time, are addressing problems and providing results that are understandable by common people. Missions are based on clear targets that can help mitigating grand challenges. Based on the results of the Italian Flagship Project Factories of the Future, this chapter proposes seven missions while identifying the societal impact, the technological and industrial challenges, and the barriers to be overcome. These missions cover topics such as circular economy, rapid and sustainable industrialisation, robotic assistant, factories for personalised medicine, internet of actions, factories close to the people, and turning ideas into products. The accomplishment of missions asks for the support of a proper research environment in terms of infrastructures to test and demonstrate the results to a wide public. Research infrastructures together with funding mechanisms will be better addressed in the next chapter of this book
Alzheimer's disease research enters a "new cycle": How significant?
No full textRecent evidence suggests a link between the aberrant re-expression of cell cycle proteins in adult neurons of the Alzheimer's disease brain and the process of apoptotic degeneration, Here we will discuss this unexpected phenomenon as related to the mechanisms of beta-amyloid toxicity, and its significance for therapeutic possibilities
Beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (L-BMAA) is a potent agonist of 'metabolotropic' glutamate receptors.
No full textHighly Evolvable E-waste Recycling Technologies and Systems
No full textMaterials recycling is a key process to close the loop of materials in the direction of circular economy. However, the variability of waste and the high volatility of the price of recovered materials are posing serious challenges to the current rigid design of mechanical recycling systems. This is particularly true for Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), whose volume is growing more than other waste streams in Europe due to the diffusion of electronic products and to their short technology cycles. This study is aimed at the development of new flexible recycling systems through the implementation of a Hyper Spectral Imaging system and a simulation model enabling the real-time characterisation of shredded particles and the dynamic optimisation of process parameters for efficient sorting. A hardware and software prototype was realised and tested at the De- and Re-manufacturing pilot plant of CNR-STIIMA. The positive economic impact of flexible recycling systems enabled by new technologies was assessed through scenario analysis
DEMAT: sustainability assessment of new flexibility-oriented business models in the machine tools industry
No full textNew flexibility-oriented business models represent a novelty in business model research. They aim at optimising the management of manufacturing flexibility in turbulent environments through the offering of added-value services by system suppliers. However, they are currently defined at theoretical level and their economic sustainability for customers and suppliers has to be quantitatively demonstrated. In this paper, a methodology to assess the economic performance of flexibility-oriented business models based on probabilistic event-decision trees modelling is presented. The methodology was applied to a real industrial case and simulations were performed to identify win-win conditions that make business models sustainable for customer and supplier. Results allowed to understand which are the main variables determining flexibility-oriented business models’ success and they constitute a reference for companies willing to innovate their business model in this direction
Innovative flexibility-oriented business models and system configuration approaches: An industrial application
No full textIn the current competitive scenario, industrial companies experience frequent unexpected changes in production demand. To cope with this, they often opt for investments in manufacturing technologies which embed extra-flexibility that is rarely utilized and, consequently, affects financial and operational performance. Innovative flexibility-oriented business models based on innovative service value propositions could increase manufacturers competitiveness in turbulent environment and could represent a competitive factor for systems suppliers. Their industrial implementation requires the optimization of manufacturing flexibility over the lifecycle of a system and the quantification of economic performance for customers and suppliers in order to mage risks and to shape sustainable contractual agreements. In this paper, stochastic configuration methods to design focused-flexibility production systems are presented as a promising methodological enabler of new flexibility-oriented business models. An industrial case demonstrating the potential value of these methods is discussed. Future research developments are finally outlined
- …
