Research focus: Manufacturing industry, which faces numerous challenges in today’s marketplace, it being under intense pressure to do more, to do it quickly, and to do it for and with less
On the one hand, some of the major costs in the manufacturing industry have increased over the years. Although energy costs have always been subject to some kind of fluctuation, in the demand-driven manufacturing environment, companies don’t have the luxury of waiting out price spikes. Manufacturers are also caught between rising raw materials costs and consumers who reject higher product prices.
On the other hand, manufacturers also face challenges when it comes to adapt to different consumer needs. Expectations have never been higher and customers are demanding an unprecedented level of control over the market. In fact, due to the speed of the internet and wireless communications available today, customers have become used to getting what they want almost instantly.
A clear way to tackle these challenges is by innovation not only in production, but also in new processes or equipment, through new green technologies that eliminate waste during production acquiring greater ability to respond to customer demands, less waste and downtime, better product design, improved product quality, and improved relationships with suppliers and customers.
Within this scenario, we at IDENER participate in research initiatives aimed to improve production systems by means of modeling tools to support new production chain designs, intelligent data procesing techniques, advanced control implementations and novel ICT developments.