The Eurecat technology centre has showcased at the Advanced Factories trade fair advanced manufacturing solutions drawing on artificial intelligence to transform industrial processes in the textile, automotive, construction and other sectors and unlock Industry 4.0 in enterprises.
Specifically, Eurecat has exhibited at Advanced Factories a solution harnessing photonics, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence algorithms developed for large-diameter circular knitting machines which predicts potential manufacturing defects in the textile industry and warns the production manager who can then assess them and decide what to do.
In construction, the technologies on display at its booth include a robot for assembling metal parts in beams which taps artificial intelligence to plan its path and movements in real time with little or no human intervention.
In automotive and printed electronics technology, it has presented a smart interface designed to be embedded in the central electronic control system of the new generation of cars. The solution has been awarded by the Automotive Industry Cluster of Catalonia (CIAC) in the 9th CIAC Innovation Corner presentations held at Advanced Factories.
“The technology centre furnishes hybrid solutions drawing on photonics, AI, the Internet of Things, robotics, printed electronics and digital manufacturing which deliver smart transformation for businesses to optimise sustainability, productivity and competitiveness in industrial operations,” says Eva Fité, Eurecat’s Head of Business Development Manufacturing.
“Advanced manufacturing and digital manufacturing help companies tackle complex challenges in their manufacturing processes to get smart products with greater added value and personalisation,” adds Guillem Quintana, Eurecat’s Director of Business Development.
Disruptive technology in biomanufacturing
In digital manufacturing, the technology centre has unveiled a disruptive biomanufacturing technology to make highly customised polymer stents for the medical industry in just a few minutes in a single step together with CFIP (Continuous Fibre Injection Process) additive manufacturing technology which makes it possible to reinforce 3D-printed parts using continuous carbon fibres.
Eurecat has also presented organ-on-a-chip technology which speeds up the timescales of scientific tests, making them more versatile and cheaper to run, coupled with bioreactors that recreate the body’s fluid-mechanical movements for conducting biological tests.
Eurecat’s booth additionally featured ISF (Incremental Sheet Forming) technology for manufacturing without moulds or tooling through incremental deformation of the sheet metal to shape complex geometries using distinctive methods for short production runs or prototypes for the automotive, railway, aeronautical and other industries.
Eurecat has also exhibited an aeroplane window manufactured with compositronics technology which has LED lights inside to provide ambient cabin lighting while maintaining the structural properties of the composite.
Factories of the Future Awards 2024
As part of the Factories of the Future Awards 2024, Eurecat’s chair, Daniel Altimiras, presented the Computer Technology Institute (ITI) with the Eurecat prize for the Best Research and Development project for its INDEVERSE initiative.
