ALICIA | Assembly Lines In CIrculAtion – smart digital tools for the sustainable, human-centric and resilient use of production resources

Summary

A large part of production assets such as robotic arms, conveyor belts do not reach their maximal lifetime and become prematurely obsolescent. Anecdotal evidence from the automotive industry suggests that 60% to 70% of production resources is prematurely taken out of operation, scrapped, or at best sold for spare parts.

The aim of ALICIA is to create and demonstrate a Circular Manufacturing Ecosystem (CME) for production resources, such as robotic arms or conveyor belts. The underlaying vision is that within five to ten years, production resources will be traded and reused to their maximum utility in-between factories in Europe, ultimately contributing to “closing the loop” of production assets as circular economy subjects.

The project aim will be achieved by integrating and demonstrating in two real industrial environments (at Continental and Comau) a combination of innovative and symbiotic digital tools as key enabling technologies behind the ALICIA CME, ultimately enabling to design, deploy, run, decommission and re-circulate second-hand production lines 40% faster, reduce material consumption by up to 80% and reuse up to 100% of the assets. The innovations behind ALICIA include a machine-readable ontology for mapping factory owner requirements, an AI-matchmaking engine for combining incumbent factory assets with second-hand assets coming from the ALICIA online marketplace, a Plug & Produce middleware for seamlessly connecting the production assets and a Digital Shadow/Digital Twin to ramp-up and operate the ALICIA second-hand line. Novel Circularity-as-a-Service business models will be evaluated.

ALICIA addresses the EU “machinery and equipment” as well as “machinery repair service” market segments, which together contributed 288 Billion EUR in value added to the EU economy in 2018. ALICIA is expected to contribute to increasing the EU’s resilience against disruptions in global supply chains and significantly contribute to the creation of a circular economy.

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Demonstrators, pilots, prototypes
Demonstrator (project outcome type)
Industrial pilot or use case
More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101091577
https://alicia-cme.eu/
Start date: 01-01-2023
End date: 31-12-2025
Total budget - Public funding: 5 859 526,00 Euro - 5 859 525,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

A large part of production assets such as robotic arms, conveyor belts do not reach their maximal lifetime and become prematurely obsolescent. Anecdotal evidence from the automotive industry suggests that 60% to 70% of production resources is prematurely taken out of operation, scrapped, or at best sold for spare parts.
The aim of ALICIA is to create and demonstrate a Circular Manufacturing Ecosystem (CME) for production resources, such as robotic arms or conveyor belts. The underlaying vision is that within five to ten years, production resources will be traded and reused to their maximum utility in-between factories in Europe, ultimately contributing to “closing the loop” of production assets as circular economy subjects.
The project aim will be achieved by integrating and demonstrating in two real industrial environments (at Continental and Comau) a combination of innovative and symbiotic digital tools as key enabling technologies behind the ALICIA CME, ultimately enabling to design, deploy, run, decommission and re-circulate second-hand production lines 40% faster, reduce material consumption by up to 80% and reuse up to 100% of the assets. The innovations behind ALICIA include a machine-readable ontology for mapping factory owner requirements, an AI-matchmaking engine for combining incumbent factory assets with second-hand assets coming from the ALICIA online marketplace, a Plug & Produce middleware for seamlessly connecting the production assets and a Digital Shadow/Digital Twin to ramp-up and operate the ALICIA second-hand line. Novel Circularity-as-a-Service business models will be evaluated.
ALICIA addresses the EU “machinery and equipment” as well as “machinery repair service” market segments, which together contributed 288 Billion EUR in value added to the EU economy in 2018. ALICIA is expected to contribute to increasing the EU’s resilience against disruptions in global supply chains and significantly contribute to the creation of a circular economy.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07

Update Date

23-01-2023
Geographical location(s)
Structured mapping
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Factories of the Future Partnership - Made in Europe Partnership

Made in Europe (MiE)
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
Demonstrator (project outcome type)
Industrial pilot or use case
MiE KPI section - Impacts
Demonstrator showcasing the realisation of new resilient value chains
Demonstrator showcasing the realisation of new innovative circular value chains
Demonstrator showcasing digital platforms and engineering tools supporting creativity and productivity of R&D processes
MiE KPI section - Outcomes
Demonstrator showcasing an increased uptake of green manufacturing
Demonstrator showcasing virtual end-to-end life-cycle engineering and manufacturing
Demonstrator showcasing artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics tools’ uptake
MiE_25-27_RP01: Sustainable value network resilience and competitiveness through robust and flexible production technologies
MiE_25-27_RP04: Circular, connected manufacturing ecosystems
MiE_25-27_RP05: The next level of circular economy through scalable, highly productive and zero-defect re-manufacturing technologies
MiE_25-27_RP05_PastCallTopics(main)
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
MiE_25-27_RP08: Quick response service deployment for maintaining optimal manufacturing operations using trusted AI and digital twins
MiE_25-27_RP10: Data spaces and cloud/edge solutions for responsive and robust manufacturing
MiE_25-27_RP13: Augmentation of human capabilities for inclusive and socially sustainable manufacturing
MiE_25-27_RP13_PastCallTopics(main)
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
MiE_25-27_RP14: Digitally enabled upskilling, qualification and job transformation
Specific Objective 2: Circular products & Climate-neutral manufacturing
R&I Objective 2.2: De-manufacturing, re-manufacturing and recycling technologies for circular economy
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
R&I Objective 2.4: Virtual end-to-end life-cycle engineering and manufacturing from product to production lines, factories, and networks
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
R&I Objective 2.5: Digital platforms and data management for circular product and production-systems life-cycles
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
Specific Objective 3: New integrated business, product-service and production approaches; new use models
R&I Objective 3.1: Collaborative product-service engineering for costumer driven manufacturing value networks
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
R&I Objective 3.3: Transparency, trust and data & IP integrity, open systems and cyber security along the product and manufacturing life-cycle
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
Specific Objective 4: Human-centered and human-driven manufacturing innovation
R&I Objective 4.1: Digital platforms and engineering tools supporting creativity and productivity of manufacturing development
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)
Horizon Europe
HORIZON.2 Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
HORIZON.2.4 Digital, Industry and Space
HORIZON.2.4.1 Manufacturing Technologies
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01
HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-07: Digital tools to support the engineering of a Circular Economy (Made in Europe Partnership) (RIA)