Events

Knowledge and Skill Requirements for Industry 4.0: Perspectives from Thailand’s Automotive Industry

By Trasapong Thaiupathump on Dec 26th, 2023

Rungchat Chompu-inwai and Trasapong Thaiupathump together with co-author Waratinad Wichajaroen jointly wrote an article entitled “Analysis of knowledge and skills essential for Industrial Engineers in context of Industry 4.0 within Thai automobile sector” which was accepted for publication in an academic journal named “Engineering and Applied Science Research” which is indexed in Scopus. The article is awaiting publication. This study aims to identify the needs of Thai automobile companies regarding the knowledge and skills of IEs for Industry 4.0. Furthermore, it aims to rank these IE knowledge and skills in terms of importance. The findings indicate that the importance rankings for essential IE knowledge and skills vary across a distinct group of Industry 4.0 adoption levels. The rankings of vital IE knowledge and skills across diverse adoption levels are comparatively analyzed and discussed. While this study primarily centers on the automotive industry, it has the potential to illuminate broader trends that extend to other sectors as well.
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Secondment TUM-PFW (Secondment itself)

By Marc Wegmann on Dec 14th, 2023

Marc Wegmann from TUM visited Prof. David Cochran from PFW from the beginning of November until mid of December 2023. The activities carried out during the secondment included the work on a design decomposition for Industry 5.0 and the preperation of a questionnaire that will be sent out and analyzed within the stakeholder network of SME 5.0. Additionally, Marc Wegmann together with his colleagues and Prof. Cochran hold an industry workshop (mainly SMEs) in West Lafayett regarding the implementation barriers of Industry 5.0.
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Secondment TUM-PFW (workshop during Secondment)

By Marc Wegmann on Dec 12th, 2023

Marc Wegmann from TUM visited Prof. David Cochran from PFW from the beginning of November until mid of December 2023. The activities carried out during the secondment included the work on a design decomposition for Industry 5.0 and the preperation of a questionnaire that will be sent out and analyzed within the stakeholder network of SME 5.0. Additionally, Marc Wegmann together with his colleagues and Prof. Cochran hold an industry workshop (mainly SMEs) in West Lafayett regarding the implementation barriers of Industry 5.0.

The workshop included the provision of an overview of the Industry 5.0 pillars. Afterwards, the participants derived use cases in the field of Industry 5.0 based on their company experiences. A structured brainstorming emphasizing the underlying problem statement, the technical solution, the value proposition and the system barriers was used. For selected use cases, implementation barriers were identified by the participants. These barriers were identified by providing the framework of an Ishikawa diagram. In the afternoon of the workshop, the participants got to know the smart manufacturing labs of Purdue University in West Layafette to experience som of the discussed use cases in a real world application.

The workshop serves as a pilot workshop that will be carried out with other partners in the future.
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Secondment: Arrival at CMU

By Jona Rief on Dec 12th, 2023

This week, our colleague Jona Rief has begun his secondment at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. He will be working with the team at CMU, which includes Asst.-Prof. Chawis Boonmee, Asst.-Prof. Korrakot Tippayawong, and Assoc.-Prof. Sakgasem Ramingwong.
Jona's secondment is part of the #SME 5.0 project, which the EU funds. The project aims to help SMEs transition to Industry 5.0, the next level of intelligent, sustainable, and human-centered production. The project involves building a network, researching, developing tools, creating guidelines, and providing recommendations for SMEs and stakeholders.
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SMART Labs Tour

By Sarah Wagner on Dec 12th, 2023

Purdue University invited all those attending the SME5.0 Workshop to visit the SMART Labs located on the West Lafayette campus. From intelligent process technology and assembly innovations (robots, camera systems, etc.) to an electrical engineering learning environment, it was all there. The high TRL level fascinated all participants and allowed them to easily transfer the results to their own use cases. We'd like to thank Prof. Duane Dunlap, Prof. David Cochran and Tim Updike for making it possible for us to enjoy this exciting Lab Tour.
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Winter-Secondment at Purdue University (USA)

By Sarah Wagner on Dec 10th, 2023

North America in the winter - isn't that boring? Purdue University and Fort Wayne proved me wrong. Even in winter, there is plenty to do at the university and in the city near Chicago.
During my secondment, I worked with Professor David Cochran, Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, to research barriers to Industry 5.0 implementation. Despite the colder days, we organized workshops and exchanged ideas in person on how to capture the concepts of Industry 5.0 in a system design composition - no hibernation for the European research project SME 5.0!
Besides research, Fort Wayne has a lot to offer in winter: the white snow on the roofs of the colorful houses, Indiana's largest drive-through light display, the botanical garden with winter plants like the poinsettia, the fireworks on New Year's Eve, and finally the numerous parks decorated in the winter evening sun, like the Promenade Park in the attached picture.

An experience report by Sarah Wagner from iwb at the Technical University of Munich
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Dr. Matteo Podrecca secondment at Deakin University

By Matteo Podrecca on Dec 9th, 2023

From October 24, 2023, to December 9, 2023, Dr. Matteo Podrecca, a postdoctoral researcher from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, was at Deakin University, working in collaboration with Professor Sam Tavassoli. During his stay, Dr. Podrecca dedicated his efforts to the Work Package 5, "Requirements for Sustainable SME Factories," concentrating on Task 5.1, "Requirements and Barriers for Environmental Sustainability." His work primarily involved conducting a detailed patent analysis, aimed at understanding the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in assisting companies to enhance the sustainability of their activities. In addition to his research, Dr. Podrecca actively participated in various academic activities at Deakin University, including attending meetings and delivering a seminar. This experience provided him with numerous opportunities for networking and laid the foundation for future collaborative efforts.
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Industrial Visit to GKN Sinter Metals: A Collaborative Activity Between Chiang Mai University and Free University of Bolzano

By Rungchat Chompu-inwai on Dec 4th, 2023

During their secondment from 3rd April 2023 –18th May 2023 at the Free University of Bolzano, Rungchat Chompu-inwai and Trasapong Thaiupathump from Chiang Mai University, together with Professor Rauch Erwin and his students from the Free University of Bolzano visited the company “GKN SINTER METALS” on April 12, 2023 from 1-5 pm. GKN SINTER METALS is the world's leading manufacturer of precision powder metal products, sintered structural parts, porous products and filters, sub-assemblies, soft magnetic components, and e-motor solutions. In addition to listening to information about the company from company executives, visitors to the company also got to see the production process in detail. However, visitors are not allowed to take photos inside the company.
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SME 5.0 – (SMES) The secondment in Montanuniversität, Leoben

By YOTSAPHAT KITTICHOTSATSAWAT on Dec 3rd, 2023

SME 5.0 – A Strategic Roadmap towards the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable, and Human–Centred (SMEs)
I went to Montanuniversität, Leoben, for secondment from 15 March to 15 June 2023.
My research is about productivity improvement and machine learning for SMEs.
My scope of the research is relevant to the increased profit for entrepreneurs in the agriculture field, for example, i)Improve the coffee production performance via integrated lean and automated mechanization techniques, ii)Forecast Arabica Coffee Yields by Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average and Machine Learning and iii) Design Coffee Supply Chain Strategy Using Business Model Canvas and Axiomatic Design to Improve Profitability.
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