September 5, 2019

Following the invitation of Prof. Sarkis and Prof. Zhu from the Foisie Business School of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Dr. Erwin Rauch from the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano gave a lecture at the PhD Seminar on “Industry 4.0 and the way towards smart and digital factories of the future”. In addition to a general introduction to Industry 4.0, it was shown which technologies this term includes and how Industry 4.0, in symbiosis with economic, ecological and social sustainability, can also be introduced in small and medium-sized enterprises. PhD students from different engineering disciplines in Entrepreneurship, Operations and Supply Chain Management as well as Information Technology participated to this event in Washburn Shops on September 4^th 2019.

September 4, 2019

On 2nd September 2019 Dr. Patrick Dallasega from Free University of Bolzano – Bozen (Italy) and Dr. Manuel Woschank from Montanuniversitaet Leoben (Austria) started their Secondment at ELCOM in Presov. The purpose of the visit is to evaluate and propose some improvement actions for the production planning and control process of the company. Based on the initial evaluation, the researchers will extensively review how information in real-time could be useful for production planning and control concepts based on Smart Logistics approaches in order to improve inventory levels and lead times.

August 13, 2019

On Thursday, 08.08.2019, Dr. Manuel Woschank was invited to give a guest lecture at the Chiang Mai University – Department Industrial Engineering. Thereby, Dr. Woschank explained the concept of Smart Logistics by focusing on requirements, components, enabling technologies, potential benefits, and current developments within the Smart Logistics Framework.

July 30, 2019

From 23-25 July the first International Summer School in Axiomatic Design with focus on complex systems in industry 4.0 took place at the renowned Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, USA. Around 60 students and researchers from 4 continents participated to lectures and exercises on Industry 4.0 and Axiomatic Design on site and via live broadcast and E-Learning technologies. Participants from the USA, Italy, Austria, Colombia, Mexico and Australia learned in eight hours of frontal teaching and twelve hours of case study work how the Axiomatic Design method can be used to design complex systems and processes for Industry 4.0. The Summer School was coordinated by Dr. Erwin Rauch from the Free University of Bolzano in Italy and Prof. Christopher Brown, renown expert in Axiomatic Design and Full Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in USA. They were supported by local tutors who accompanied the participants in the case study elaboration.

July 21, 2019

During his secondment at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (unibz) inner the WP6, visiting researcher Prof. Theeraphong Wongratanaphisan from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Chiang Mai University (CMU - Chiang Mai, Thailand) presented the recent results and research activities of his lab, the Motion and Control laboratory, on July 2, 2019, to the researchers of the Smart Mini Factory laboratory and the research group of prof. Vidoni. He was then invited to give a speech inner the Series of Lectures program of the Faculty of Science and technology; the lecture, titled “Design considerations of large workspace parallel robots”, was held on July 9, 2019. After that, next activities and possible cooperations inner the WP6 of the project have been discussed an planned with the researchers that will visit his lab and have secondments at CMU in the next future.

July 4, 2019

On June 26th Dr. Guido Orzes and Dr. Patrick Dallasega organized a workshop on Industry 4.0 at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. During the workshop different PhD students, including Benedikt Mark, Mirjam Beltrami, and Dollaya Buakum of the project SME 4.0, presented their research and received some comments from Prof. Joseph Sarkis (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) and the other participants. This initiative allowed a significant knowledge sharing among the different partners of the SME 4.0 project.

June 26, 2019

Six professors and scientists of Chiang Mai University from Thailand and Professor Joseph Sarkis of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) from USA are currently at the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano to work with local scientists in the EU project "SME 4.0 - Industry 4.0 for SMEs". During the stays, the visiting scientists will pass on their know-how to scientists, companies, and students in the form of guest lectures, workshops, series of lectures and their research work. In addition, local scientists are supporting Chiang Mai University in setting up an industry 4.0 learning factory laboratory giving inputs based on the Smart Mini Factory Laboratory. Vice Dean Prof. Matthias Gauly from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano welcomed the international scientists in a meeting and underlined the importance of international collaborations in the field of research.

June 25, 2019

On the 21^st of June 2019 Prof. Joseph Sarkis from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in USA, gave a speech within the seminar and workshop entitled “Industry 4.0 and sustainability: influences and relationships”, while doing his secondment within the project SME4.0 at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. The event was organized by Dr. Patrick Dallasega and Dr. Guido Orzes.

June 24, 2019

On 21 June, a delegation from Chiang Mai University and Bangkok Science Park Thailand visited the Smart Mini Factory and NOI Tech Park in Bolzano. In the NOI TechPark, Prof. Dominik Matt presented the Fraunhofer Italia Research to the participants as the first and only Fraunhofer Institute in Italy. Sepp Walder introduced the participants to the Noi TechPark in Bolzano and led them through various laboratories of the newly opened technology park. Dr. Erwin Rauch guided the participants through the Smart Mini Factory Laboratory for Industry 4.0 of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. At the visit following persons took part: Dr. Nirut Naksuk, Manager at MTEC - National Metal and Materials Technology Center at the Science Park Bangkok, Prof. Wasawat Nakkiew, Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Chiang Mai University, Dr. Warisa Wisittipanich, phd-student Adirek Baisukhan and phd-student Dollaya Buakum.