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ELCAT

ELCAT:  Enhanced Low-Cost Automation Technology

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Currently, there is no standard approach to manufacturing systems integration. The systems developed are typically bespoke and designed to produce only a single product type. Detailed knowledge on the manufacturing system is not transferred back to the system owner. Together these factors restrict the ability for the end-users to adapt their system for future needs and drive up the non-recurring costs of automation. ​

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ELCAT addresses these challenges through the implementation of an open manufacturing system integration framework and a low-cost reconfigurable assembly cell for multi-product assembly. ELCAT will develop and demonstrate the physical and digital infrastructure to support multi-product automated assembly, alongside the business case evaluation and knowledge transfer back into industry.

Omni Factory Robots. Photography by Alex Wilkinson Media (43 of 54).jpg

​PROJECT PARTNERS

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FUNDING

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Aerospace Technology Institute 

Project Ref.: IUK113235

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DELIVERABLES

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  • Physical system and digital infrastructure to support low-cost multi-product automated assembly.​

  • Reduction in non-recurring costs of automation and increase in asset utilisation.​

  • Targeted knowledge transfer through dedicated CPD modules.​

  • Physical demonstration of approach in Omnifactory, at the University of Nottingham.

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KEY INNOVATIONS

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  • Open manufacturing system integration framework and data flow to support virtual commissioning for a GKN Aerospace use case. ​

  • Methodology and decision-making process for implementation and optimisation of the digital architecture.​

  • Robust and low-cost auto-adaptive reconfigurable assembly cell for multi-product manufacture. ​

  • Definition and implementation of context awareness for auto-adaptive cell.

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