The final aim of Wheel Watcher project is to boost the profitability of the railway sector by means of an advanced wheel status monitoring and control system, providing railway operators with accurate and real-time information on wheel wear to drive preventive maintenance actions thus avoiding premature replacement of this equipment. Main industrial impact of the project is to achieve a wheel life increase of 50%, and an increase of 25% of distance between wheel reprofiling actions, allowing the railway operator for conducting a remote but in-depth inspection of wheels. This industrial impact involves a subsequent relevant economic impact, targeting a cost reduction of 25% in maintenance-related costs as a result of less spare wheels and less low value-added works needed. These industrial impacts rely on relevant technical progresses: a high precision mechatronic platform addressing mechanical challenges derived of its wayside placement, a remote measuring unit comprising an ad-hoc thermoelectric cell guaranteeing thermal stability under potential extreme weather conditions, and a novel laser system doubling current power density available, able to measure trains moving at high speeds in outdoor locations, and a user-friendly control software including a self-diagnosis tool. WheelWatcher will have a deep impact on project’s partners, producing an aggregate profit of 23 M€ with more than 35 new jobs expected to be created, and a positive environmental impact due to less CO2 and less scrap. Excellence of the project will allow for dramatic improvements regarding the more relevant challenges faced by railway operators, as compared to the current state-of-the-art: automated high frequency wheel measuring, enhanced quality of measurements at normal speed (100 km/h) irrespective of weather conditions, remote monitoring without costly displacements to the tracks, no need of service disruption during measuring processes, and as consequence of all, a cut on operating costs.

In the aerospace industry very high quality standards have to be met. For the manufacturing of carbon fibre parts this is currently solved through extended end-of-line inspection in combination with re-work processes to deal with defective parts. Also, in-situ visual inspection is used for quality control, which is currently causing huge productivity losses (30%-50%) during lay-up and has become a real bottleneck in carbon fibre parts manufacturing. The project will provide a solution by developing inline quality control methods for the key process steps: automatic lay-up (dry fibre placement and automatic dry material placement) and curing. At the system level decision support systems will be developed that assist human decision-making when assessing defects and when planning the part flow through the production line. These will be supported by simulation tools for part verification and logistical planning. The future manufacturing of the A320neo wing covers will be provide the background for the developments. Each such wing cover consists of two parts, that each cost several hundred thousand Euros in manufacturing. Assuming the planned production rates of 60 planes per month from 2025, savings of 150 MEUR in production costs can be obtained per year. The consortium consists of all key players that will play a future role in the manufacturing of such large carbon fibre parts. Airbus with its research centers Airbus Group Innovations and FIDAMC will play a leading role in the consortium as far as the multi-stage manufacturing process is concerned. Machine builders (MTorres, Danobat) and research centers will develop the inline quality control, while Dassault Systémes will provide simulation support.

INFINITE aims to develop sensors and analyser based on the usage of ferromagnetic microwires to be embedded in aerospace composite structural parts, in order to monitor manufacturing and structural health throughout the whole life cycle of the component. The wireless monitoring system will permit producing digital signals and vast sets of data linked with the specimen to create an as-built digital twin of the structure that will also account for the whole history since it was manufactured through all maintenance operations performed, until being optimally recycled. INFINITE intends to deliver improvements in composite manufacturing and structural health monitoring (SHM) by the development of functional sensorised Non-Crimp fabrics (NCF). These fabrics will provide an efficient real-time monitoring system through a self-sensing fibre by wireless monitoring of the fibre position, orientation, strain-stress and temperature. This will be achieved by applying a safe magnetic signal, providing a volumetric information during the manufacture process (temperature and fibre control) but also during the life of the component. In service, the new SHM system will provide information about component integrity, performance and safety; therefore informing and improving maintenance operations. The new sensorised NCF will also enable a new repair capability for complex parts. Integration of microwires in the fabric opens new possibilities in the design of future functional composites using existing sensoring technologies. This advanced quality monitoring has the potential to deliver a significant impact on cost and safety reliability of composite components, providing a competitive advantage of European manufactures and MROs. INFINITE also aims to assess the effect of sensoring hardware on the current methods for composite recycling, investigating the potential for re-using (other applications, sectors, etc.) both sensors and components to provide useful end of life functionality.

Smart factories are characterised by smart processes, smart machines, smart tools and smart products as well as smart logistics operations. These generate large amounts of data, which can be used for analysis and fault prevention, as well as the optimisation of the quality of manufacturing processes and products. DAT4.ZERO is a Digitally-enhanced Quality Management System (DQM) that gathers and organizes data from a Distributed Multi-sensor Network, which, when combined with a DQM Toolkit and Modeling and Simulation Layer, and further integrated with existing Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), offers adequate levels of data accuracy and precision for effective decision-support and problem-solving – utilizing smart, dynamic feedback and feed-forward mechanisms to contribute towards the achievement of Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) in smart factories and their ecosystems. The aim is to Integrate smart, cost-effective sensors and actuators for process simulation, monitoring and control; develop real-time data validation and integrity strategies within actual production lines; demonstrate innovative data management strategies as an integrated approach to ZDM; & develop strategies for rapid line qualification and reconfiguration. Deployed in 5 distinct industrial pilot lines we address the following primary objective: Develop and demonstrate an innovative DQM system and deployment strategy for supporting European manufacturing industry in realizing ZDM in highly dynamic, high-value, high-mix, low-volume production contexts, by effective selection and integration of sensors and actuators for process monitoring and control, a DQM platform with an architecture that provides reliable and secure knowledge extraction to ensure integrity of data, & strategies for advanced realtime data analysis and modeling in multiple domains and sectors that will increase quality, reduce ramp-up times and decrease time-to-market.