The Factories of the Future (FoF) initiative is part of the European Economic Recovery Plan launched in November 2008 to respond to the global economic crisis. This Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) aims at helping EU manufacturing enterprises, in particular SMEs, to adapt to global competitive pressures by improving the technological base of manufacturing across a broad range of sectors. The ICT contribution to this initiative aims at improving the efficiency, adaptability and sustainability of manufacturing systems as well as their better integration within business processes in an increasingly globalised industrial context. Challenge 7 is fully dedicated to supporting the FoF PPP.
The objectives (=sub-themes) of this challenge are:
> Objective FoF-ICT-2011.7.1 Smart Factories: Energy-aware, agile manufacturing and customisation
a) Demonstration and benchmarking of novel process automation and control
b) Large-scale validation of advanced industrial robotics systems
c) Applications based on factory-wide networks of intelligent sensors and new metrology tools and methods
d) Lasers and laser systems for manufacturing and materials processing
> Objective FoF-ICT-2011.7.2 Manufacturing solutions for new ICT products
> Objective FoF-ICT-2011.7.3 Virtual Factories and enterprises
a) Distributed, adaptive, and interoperable virtual enterprise environments
b) Real-time management of volatile manufacturing assets
c) Component-based tools and architectures enabling the innovative dynamic composition of services
d) Internet-based, user-centric collaboration, sharing and/or mixed reality tools
>Objective FoF-ICT-2011.7.4 Digital factories: Manufacturing design and product lifecycle management
a) Comprehensive engineering platforms
b) User-intuitive tools for simulation and virtual prototyping with forward and backward compatibility
c) Tools for holistic modelling and simulation of full complex products and processes
