June 19, 2019

The Free University of Bolzano started a collaboration for radio lectures with the radio channel RAI Sender Bozen. Three of this radio lectures are dedicated to the topic “Industry 4.0 for SMEs” reporting about the results of the EU project SME 4.0 and about further efforts to support the digital transformation of small and medium-sized companies. The radio lectures were held by Dr. Erwin Rauch who explained in the first radio lecture the history of Industry 4.0 and what were the main developments over the last years. In the second lecture he talked about the main results of the first phase of the project reporting about the specific requirements that SMEs are facing when introducing Industry 4.0 in their own company. The third lecture introduces the Smart Mini Factory laboratory, which is a learning factory lab for qualifying students and professionals from SME companies and therefore supports them in the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies in practice.

All broadcasts can be listened to under the following link: http://www.raibz.rai.it/feed.php?id=83


June 14, 2019

On Thursday (June 13th 2019), Prof. Nakorn Tippayawong, Ass.-Prof. Korrakot Y. Tippayawong and Dr. Manuel Woschank conducted several company visits in Chiang Mai and Lampang. Thereby, a special focus was placed on the process improvement of SMEs in the food industry (i.e., pork skin producers).

June 10, 2019

On 30th May 2019, the PHD students Adirek Baisukhan and Dollaya Buakum participated to the excursion to LEITNER group within the secondment period at the Free University of Bolzano. The excursion to LEITNER (one of the leading producer of ropeways and technical equipment for winter ski areas) was organized within the courses “Production Planning and Control” and “Industrial Installations and Operational Safety” by the responsible lecturers Dr. Erwin Rauch and Dr. Patrick Dallasega. Although the Leitner group is anymore an SME most of the manufacturing processes are characterized by a high individualization of the products and therefore an important example of mass customization in manufacturing.

May 27, 2019

Dr. Erwin Rauch and Dr. Erich Wehrle from the Free University of Bolzano organized on 23 May 2019 a study trip to two Laboratories of the Technical University of Munich, Germany with a master class. The phd students Adirek Baisukhan and Dollaya Buakum from Chiang Mai University joined the visit of LPL (Laboratory for Product Development and Lightweight Design) and the iwb (Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management). During the visit the participants had the opportunity to see the laboratories of both institutes and to know more about future technological trends. On the next day the group visited the production plant of AUDI cars in Ingolstadt, where over 45.000 employees manufacture cars for the whole world. During this visit the participants had the possibility to get in touch with Industry 4.0 technologies used in large companies.

May 27, 2019

Two students of the technical high school TFO Max Valier have programmed a website for the implementation of an online assessment for industry 4.0 in the research project SME 4.0. With the help of the website, SMEs should have the opportunity to check their company online for the implementation of Industry 4.0 and directly receive a report with their Industry 4.0 benchmark profile compared to the average of similar companies. Dr. Erwin Rauch from the University of Bolzano and phd student Dollaya Buakum from Chiang Mai University participated at the Open Day where the students explained the website and the project to local politicians, other students and guests.

May 13, 2019

On 10th May 2019, the PHD students Adirek Baisukhan and Dollaya Buakum participated to the excursion to the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) within the secondment period at the Free University of Bolzano. The excursion to the BBT was organized within the subjects “Industrial Installations and Operational Safety” and “Production Planning and Control” and the responsible lecturers Dr. Patrick Dallasega and Dr. Erwin Rauch.

April 29, 2019

On 22nd of April 2019 Miss Dolaya Buakum, a Ph.D. student at the Chiang Mai University (CMU), started her secondment at the Free University of Bolzano (FUB). Dr. Dallasega introduced her to the FUB and presented the Smart Mini Factory laboratory. Miss Buakum will collaborate to WP7 - Synthesis and solutions for Smart Logistics in SMEs.

March 26, 2019

At the International Conference "Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM 2019)" in Bangkok, a research project of the "Smart Mini Factory" and a researcher of the Faculty of Science and Technology received an award. Researcher Patrick Dallasega received the IEOM Young Researcher Award recognizing his active participation in the last IEOM conferences. In addition, the work "Suitability of Industry 4.0 Concepts for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Comparison between an Expert Survey and a User Survey" received the "Best Track Paper Award" for the Track on Industry 4.0 research. The research work was carried out as part of the "SME4.0 - Industry 4.0 for SMEs" project and in the "Smart Mini Factory".

March 26, 2019

During his secondment at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the months of February and March, visiting researcher Prof. Helmut Zsifkovits (Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria) was invited to give a presentation at the APICS Professional Development Meeting on 28 February 2019. APICS is a nationwide professional supply chain organization and WPI Chapter is the one on WPI Campus to help students to develop professional skills in supply chain discipline.

In this meeting, it was discussed how developments in supply chains in different industries. Speakers included Ms. Kali Kouri, Director Clinical and Commercial Supply Chain at TESARO (a GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company), and Mr. Paul Arthur Delvy, Adjunct Instructor from Foisie Business School.

After an introduction by Walter "Wally" T. Towner, Associate Teaching Professor from Foisie Business School, Helmut Zsifkovits talked about the promise of Industry 4.0 for smart supply chains and the state of implementation, and presented the goals and outcomes of the SME 4.0 project.

March 12, 2019

During the 9th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Prof. Apichat Sopadang moderated a panel session to discuss the impact of Industry 4.0 to economy, society and education. Prof. Athakorn Kengpol from the King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Professor Kanchana Sethanan from the Khon Kaen University in Thailand, Dr. Warisa Wisittipanich from the Chiang Mai University and Dr. Patrick Dallasega from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano participated in the discussion. During the panel session the project “SME 4.0 – Industry 4.0 for SMEs” was presented as an important reference project between the research collaboration between European and Asian universities.