Roadmap flexPro

The individualization of products opens up opportunities for manufacturing companies in Upper Franconia to tap into new markets and increase their competitiveness. This has a positive effect on the entire location. The aim of the project "Roadmap for the flexible production of individual products" is to advise small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on how to customize their products. This project of the University of Bayreuth and the Coburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Since the project addresses topics from additive manufacturing and the materials and process sector, the Additive Manufacturing Coordination Office and the New Materials Cluster are involved in the project.

Globalization of services and value chains is intensifying competition and posing a particular challenge to SMEs in Germany. Here, the service of customized design of products in combination with short distances and fast delivery times can generate a competitive advantage over international competitors.

The aim of the ERDF project "Roadmap for flexible production of customized products" is to provide practical approaches for flexible production by systematically taking stock. To achieve these goals, novel methods of customer and user experience research are applied and communicated, looking at products, services, data, processes and markets. In doing so, the project draws on expertise from the fields of Environmental Production Engineering, Ceramic Materials, Polymeric Materials, Robotics and Embedded Systems, Graphical Data Processing, Algorithms and Data Structures, Innovation Techniques and Methods, Human-Machine Interaction in the Internet of Things, and Prototyping and Modeling.

Target audience: manufacturing companies and service providers

In targeting the roadmap , a particular focus is placed on B2B users and service providers. The existing product families of the SMEs involved will be examined with regard to their potential for individualization, the respective production with regard to its potential for flexibility as well as its existing innovation communication. From this, cross-disciplinary strategies will be derived, incorporating customer needs, market and marketing potential.

A mobile learning factory for universities and SMEs

Technology transfer will be ensured through the development of mobile demonstrators. These will demonstrate, for example, flexible, cost-optimized production planning, a smart mirror-supported workstation or a tracking process for individualized workpieces. The demonstrators are to be installed on a mobile base, e.g. a truck, and presented on site at interested SMEs and universities. The mobile learning factory will be used to bring technologies from the above-mentioned research areas - such as modern production processes - to life.