Project description
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a key technology for the future of manufacturing in an Industry 4.0 and beyond and already plays an important role throughout value creation in the Australian manufacturing industry. AM cannot only be used for the direct manufacturing of parts and products, which comes hand in hand with unlocking new product geometries and materials, but it also enables direct tooling e.g., by creating tools for casting, bending, or sheet metal forming. AM is predicted to be also a main technology for novel production strategies such as mass customization and will play a crucial role in sustainable production approaches and a circular economy. However, AM systems in industrial applications are currently often not automated nor digitalized which makes the efficient integration of these cells into Industry 4.0 manufacturing systems difficult. Lacking automation means that the current tool set-up i.e., equipping the tools with materials and removing the manufactured parts and products as well as the subsequent quality control of the part and product, is usually a mere manual process. Lacking digitalization refers to a typically missing linkage between the physical AM system and the virtual system e.g., AM systems are usually not digitally linked to the internal logistics systems for initiating a pull for materials or for requesting a pick-up of finished parts and products. Consequently, the project aims at conceptualizing a Mobile Learning Factory for Digital Additive Manufacturing Systems. Mobile in this sense means that the learning factory can be easily relocated with conventional transportation means.
Assumed knowledge
Additive Manufacturing / 3D printing; Engineering Design / Systems Engineering; cobots (optional)
Supervisors research focus
Industry 4.0; Engineering of Advanced Manufacturing Systems; Factory Design and Management
Note: You need to register interest in projects from different supervisors (not a number of projects with the one supervisor).
You must also contact each supervisor directly to discuss both the project details and your suitability to undertake the project.