The project aims to provide and commercialize a self-adjusting bead forming process able to control the quality of the sealing material in car manufacturing industry. LICORNE (LIssage de COrdons Robotisé Novateur Expert) is an innovative automatic vacuum forming solution able to control and adjust itself in front of the variability. The robotized forming operations are repeatable and 100% certified. They will use a standard sealing material and be used on forming operations on all parts of the car. Key assets of this innovation will be: certifying autonomously every vehicle providing to each car a level of quality guaranty never known before, analyzing in real time the slow derivations, providing recommendations for a better installation management, allowing to anticipate non conformities and avoiding defects revision thanks to the communication of data between the positioning, forming and control steps that are integrated in a Big Data system. All manual operations causing MSD occupational diseases are avoided with the LICORNE solution. The paint shop is responsible for the sealing process guaranteeing car waterproofness. To do so, most of the operations imply the positioning of a PVC material sealing compound on all car junctions. The solution will be installed as an industrial pilot at PSA plant to upgrade it to an industrial Plant of the Future and duplicated after 24 months of validation to 3 plants in Europe. The LICORNE consortium will promote the demonstration of the vacuum forming process to other car manufacturers in the European market. A detailed specification of the automatic vision & control system will be published. This will enable car manufacturers to test prototypes of the robot. Further development of commercial prototypes and reproduction of the robots are addressed in the exploitation plan. Results will be disseminated to the car industry through industry fairs and workshops, and car manufacturing associations such as ACEA.

Lean Manufacturing works well in a repetitive, high volume, low complexity/customization and stable demand environment. However, European manufacturers that operate in a high-variety, low-volume (HV/LV) production environment, are also inclining towards Lean manufacturing due to its benefits. Due to the differences in characteristics between the two production environments, implementation of traditional Lean approaches in HV/LV production environments is challenging. Existing “Customized Lean” approaches are less known because of the scattered and fragmented nature of knowledge and its ad-hoc implementation according to specific local context. To unify this body of knowledge a transnational approach was required.The goal of EuroLEAN+ was to create, unify, capture, reuse and disseminate the knowledge on Customized Lean by combining innovative teaching approaches with the development of more relevant HE curricula in the field of Customized Lean, through the exploitation of the geographically dispersed knowledge contained within the consortium and their industrial relationships. To work toward this goal, following objectives were set for the project:1) To create a knowledge base of case studies and best practices that brings together the knowledge that is currently scattered across the partners and their contacts with many SMEs in various industries.2) To develop and share teaching material to be included in European HE courses.3) To increase experience of academic partners in innovative teaching such that they can apply it broadly across their curricula.Participants:1) NTNU (Dept. of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) - expertise in global production strategy, lean production logistics, and supply chain management2) HAN University of Applied Sciences – experience in teaching a customized Lean and QRM and industry projects; globally active research group in Lean for HE3) University of Applied Science Osnabrück - experience in research and teaching in the interdisciplinary field of lean management and technology, and applied science approaches to development of SMEs4) Ghent - expertise in the areas of operational excellence, and tools and technologies for remote and blended learning5) TNO – research organization with large network in industry and previous (EU) project experience in collecting cases and best practices into databases6) Kongsberg Maritime – Norwegian producer of subsea solutions7) Bosch Hinges – Dutch producer of bespoke hinges and exemplar for QRM principlesMain activities undertaken:1) To facilitate knowledge exchange between higher education students, academic staff and industry: Customised Lean Knowledge Community Website and pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube setup; Webinars, seminars, workshops and presentations at conferences held by consortium members. 2) Open Knowledge Base of methods and case studies on Customised Lean developed with possibility for expansion.3) Open online master course developed with original content (video lectures) from the EuroLEAN+ consortium; and recommended external content. Several target groups identified and analysed before course development, ensuring high relevance and utility of the course material.4) Feasibility Study of a Joint Master Program conducted to gain insight into the possibility of developing an Erasmus+ joint master program (JMP) with the current partners within 5 years after the EuroLEAN+ project.5) QRM World Conference organised at Eindhoven, Netherlands in June 2018 by the QRM Institute in association with EuroLEAN+; utilised for highlighting application-oriented scientific studies and best practices, discussing follow-up activities of the EuroLEAN+ alliance network, disseminating project results for attendees of the conference, and sharing the summary of key activities and financial management.6) 13 publications (journal papers/conference papers/book chapters) by the consortium members in the project durationResults, impacts and long-term benefits:1) Various academics-industry partnerships established, and foundations laid for sustaining these partnerships through future alliances.2) Knowledge on customised lean made available through knowledge base for personal learning or for lectures/group discussions.3) Teaching material developed and included in European HE courses, followed by live testing and evaluation through feedback.4) Findings from the feasibility study highlighted themes that are under-emphasised in European courses and are important for future industrial developments. Outline proposed for a prospective future master program; and inspired by the analysis, Lean Engineering Master of Engineering program introduced at HAN University of Applied Sciences. Need for future Knowledge Alliance also identified as a result of the findings.5) Contributions made to the existing body of knowledge on Customised Lean, preparing for dissemination and exploitation of the created knowledge.