Networked minifactories demonstrator at Central Europe

Networked minifactories demonstrator focused on tools and activities demonstrating the mini-factories network concept, showing the flexibility and reproducibility by engaging new production sites in a second proximity cluster centered at Central Europe. The main achievements are: - Demonstrated the mini-factory’s scalability by engaging a second optician (in Switzerland) and an additional lens production site (in Slovenia) as part of the second proximity cluster for Central Europe. - Demonstrated the automated auto-configurability of the network to the dynamics of the different points of demand and the production sites availability, by adding new purchase order generation sites and additional manufacturing routes. - Manufacture and delivery of 215 personalised spectacles for an equivalent number of users that were scanned at the optician shop in Switzerland. - Demonstrated the benefits of the proximity manufacturing in terms of eco-impact, delivery time and flexibility: o Mini-factories can deliver the personalised spectacles in a competitive time frame (less than 25 days) and foresees delivery times of less than 15 days. o Optician 2020 business model can reduce the time-to-market of new personalised spectacles to 75% when compared to stock conventional frames. o The manufacturing of personalized products by means of 3D printing technologies and local manufacturing can reduce the eco-cost up to a significant 50-62% in the best case when compared to traditional processes. .