Reference: RTI2018-101344-B-I00-AR
Period underway: 01/01/2019 – 31/12/2021
Type: Competitive research projects
Specific key: 20190538
Amount: 84.700€
Financed by: RESEARCH SPANISH AGENCY
Members: Poler, R.; Tormo-Carbó, Guillermina; Mula, Josefa; Sanchis, R.; Andres, B.; Díaz-Madroñero Boluda, Francisco Manuel; Esteso, Ana.

Description:

New technological developments, hyperconnectivity and the internationalisation of operations are allowing great opportunities and challenges to be considered in different western industrial sectors, which must deal with them to advance and become international references. This context today is called Industry 4.0, is based on the cooperative digitalisation and coordination of industrial processes through information technologies, and is sustained mainly on: the Internet of Things (IoT), cyber-physical systems, Machine-to-Machine(M2M) communications, cloud platforms, Blockchain or smart robots.

In this reality, production processes should be capable of manufacturing a wide range of different product configurations in small lots at very competitive prices and with sustainability. As demand is becoming more and more sophisticated, and expects increasingly smarter and personalised products, the whole supply chain should adapt to this new paradigm. To face these challenges, it is necessary to connect supply chains, they should be capable of coordinating and cooperating smartly with other value chain actors to automate their processes by minimising the costs involved.

To develop producto processes that organise and improve themselves, i.e., that are self-managed, these processes need to be digitalised. The present research project proposes introducing zero-defects production technologies that allow relevant real-time information to become available so that supply chains are integrated and interconnected, digital and totally flexible. All under a circular exonomy criterion.

The production technologies to propose will be oriented to the scientific development of new optimization models and algorithms for the specific problem of zero-defects replenishment and production planning in the context of supply chain 4.0. The modelling domain would imply until the secondtier supplier of the supply chain and in the tactical decision level. The new models will be included on a digital manufacturing platform (C2NET), to which all the supply chain members will have coordinated and cooperative access.

This research project will mainly, offer a scientific solution but also a methodological and technical one to those companies that have commenced a digitalisation process in recent years. For such challenging objectives, the research plan proposes a multidisciplinary team that contemplates the best academic and practical contributions in a stage that explores and validates the proposal in a confirmation stage with empirical studies to later disseminate and transfer the generated knowledge. Finally in order to validate the results of this coordinated project, three industrial promoting observer enterprises will provide their support.