Cork Institute of Technology’s Nimbus Centre will lead a new EU funded research project to deliver energy-efficiency in the manufacturing sector, which aims to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing processes to enable significant reduction of energy consumption.
Dr Alan McGibney, Nimbus Centre, CIT and funded investigator at Confirm, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for Smart Manufacturing and Dr Susan Rea, Nimbus Centre, CIT have been awarded a project valued over €11 million from the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Technologies for Factories of the Future programme, this is a four year initiative to address the need for energy-efficient manufacturing system management. The DENiM project will provide a novel technological solution to enable industry utilise advanced digital technologies to manage resources and processes more effectively and ensure energy efficiency is an integral part of the manufacturing decision processes. “Digital technologies will play a significant role by providing the ability to automatically monitor and optimise energy usage, while also informing users on the environmental and economic impact of decisions made at all stages of the manufacturing process.“ explains project lead Dr McGibney. At the core of the DENiM project is close collaboration with industrial partners who represent the key stakeholders in evaluating the solutions across four complex industrial sectors. These pilots will validate the applicability of key enabling digital technologies as a solution for effective energy management, contributing to best practices that can maximise impact across the EU manufacturing landscape. The project will further demonstrate leadership in both the uptake of digital technologies and sustainable manufacturing that can be replicated across other energy-intensive sectors.
The project includes a consortium of 18 partner organizations led by Cork Institute of Technology bringing together a strong team of partners across 8 European countries. The consortium is well-balanced in terms of the involvement of academic, industrial, and SME partners including: DePuy Synthes (Ireland); Sidenor Aceros Especiales (Spain); SCMGroup (Italy); Gorenje (Slovenia); R2M Solutions (Italy); Idener R&D (Spain); MET SNC (Italy); BAG-ERA (France); Gate SPA (Italy); VTT (Finland); University of Sevilla (Spain); SUPSI (Switzerland); Tecnalia (Spain); University College Cork (Ireland); K-Loops SRL (Italy); CIE Galfor SA (Spain).
Project Factsheet: DENiM Project, Start Date: 1st November 2020
