AGILE | AGILE manufacturing for product competitiveness and innovation

The AGILE Project ("AGILE Manufacturing for Competitiveness and Product Innovation") is coordinated by SINFONET and sees the partnership of M3NET, an innovative regional network on precision mechanics, micro-technologies and additive manufacturing. The project proposal was born from a wide and in-depth comparison with the Venetian system of companies and research, which allowed to identify, as a strategic line to guide the development of the Venetian socio-economic system in a post-emergency perspective, the ability to convert "agile" production systems through the application of advanced solutions for agile product innovation.

The project has a declared manufacturing vocation: the proposing group intends to develop interdisciplinary methodologies and approaches, based on the ability of agile conversion of processes and production lines, aimed at increasing competitiveness and product innovation. It is therefore an "industrial reaction" to the emergency COVID-19, built on flexibility, conversion and resilience, the results of which however have repercussions that exceed the time limits of the emergency, to be placed in a wider field of corporate competitiveness.

The detail of this "reaction", particularly focused on the fields of manufacturing and metal production, is divided into four types of actions:

• Virtualization of the design phase: first of all allows a remote management of the design, minimizing the activities in the presence and, more generally, to have an immediate view of the various production scenarios, to better manage competitive restart conditions, also following partial lockdowns.
• Development and industrialization of advanced and rapid production technologies, able to produce "immediately" goods of sudden and immediate need.
• Rapid reconfiguration and optimization of production lines, to modify plants and equipment in a short time, ensuring the creation, in small or large batch, of conventional or innovative components to cope with health emergencies, with a view to maximum flexibility, "quick response", with a guarantee of competitiveness.
• Intelligent quality management: it has become clear, in emergency conditions, how much the certification of quality and reliability of a new product is indispensable for its immediate diffusion and availability; it is an essential tool, to be developed and implemented in companies.

The operational structure of the project essentially corresponds to a matrix, which "crosses" the areas of activity identified with the families of selected processes, which correspond to the main categories of manufacturing processes in the engineering sector: foundry, rolling and stamping, welding and assembly:

The AGILE Project introduces these three aspects within specific (and well representative of regional manufacturing) types of production lines:

•  Foundry: a cast iron foundry (Zanardi), an aluminum mold maker (SAEN) with its own internal foundry, a mold maker (AMTeknostampi) integrated with a magnesium foundry;
•  Rolling and profiling: a company producing systems for sheet metal forming and profiling (Promotec);
•  Welding and assembly: two companies producing welded and assembled structures with different market targets (Ecor and Delka).

The innovative actions compared to the production lines mentioned are complemented by:

• An engineering company (EnginSoft), active in process modeling and optimization,
• Two service companies, active in dimensional control (GOM) and product quality (Unilab),
• A manufacturer of innovative high performance materials (MBN),
•  Three research bodies: CNR-ICMATE (microstructural characterization of materials), and the DTG and DII Departments of the University of Padua, involved respectively in the design of mechanical components and the development of processing technologies.

Eligible expense:   2.545.625,00 euro

Contribution:         1.702.983,50 euro

POR - FESR 2014-2020, ACTION 1.1.4: Call for tenders to support collaborative R&D activities for the development of new sustainable technologies, new products and services