Reverting to the various approaches for succeeding in FP projects presented or underlined in the last weeks, let me draw your attention on two criteria: scientific excellence and project relevance.
The case study proposed below shows how seven SMEs have succeeded in taking and responding to their contemporary societal and industrial challenges through an ambitious cooperative project (FLEX-EMAN).
This project’s context is characterised by the following statement: the electronics manufacturing sector has seen significant changes over the past two years. Besides, the extensive development of IT and electronics markets have resulted in the creation of multinational manufacturing service providers, the migration of volume operations to low-cost locations outside the EU and in the evolution of manufacturing technology only suited to high volume production.
Considering this statement, the future of the European industry can only be based on an evolving, dynamic SME community. Indeed, SME manufacturers survive by providing low-volume, high variety, mixed-batch manufacture or production of niche and high-value added products. Thus, this community faces challenges from market, manufacturing technology and legislative pressures:
o Pressures of mass-customisation, decreasing life cycles and integration of multifunctional features require the adoption of sophisticated manufacturing capabilities with flexibility;
o Efficiency in volume production, with limited regard to flexibility and rapid changeover for lower volume production;
o The WEEE directive banning lead requires SMEs to adopt new manufacturing practices, requiring another dimension of flexibility in capability and potential cost impacts from expensive consumables (N2) and higher energy requirements.
FLEX-EMAN is a cooperative project under FP6 which tends to offer a solution to these challenges by utilising individual precision soldering chambers combined in a work-cell serviced by intelligent materials handling and control systems. This replaces traditional inflexible production processes with an agile system, specifically designed for cost-efficiency in. The system is also inherently fault-tolerant, eco-friendly and incorporates state of the art control strategies and innovative materials handling solutions.
One university and seven SMEs (2 British, 2 Irish, 2 Swedish and one French) are participating to this twenty four months project. The global cost of this project amounts to 1.1 million euros including a European contribution of 811,252 euros.
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This might be a bit off topic but the nice thing about buying new electronics is they have a warranty. You are buying something that has moving parts or electricity going to it so it has the potential of breaking, there is nothing you can do but replace it, that does not mean the company that made the product sucks, it means the individual item sucked!