Research infrastructure adopts one-stop shop principle

Jun. 26, 2017 – VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) have set up a demonstration of a digital factory.

In this demo, different robots located in various facilities of the organizations involved are monitored and controlled remotely from one place.

VTT, TUT and TAMK established a joint digital factory demo in The Smart Machines and Manufacturing Centre (SMACC) workspace located in the Tampere Campus Arena. Each organization has remotely connected its own robot systems to the SMACC workspace from its own facility. The workspace houses the system control room, where the work performed by robots and product manufacturing is controlled and monitored phase by phase.

The demo is an example of how, in the future, product manufacturing can be controlled and monitored remotely from one place.

The connecting technologies are undergoing a rapid development. A digital factory can be set up quickly if the conditions for doing business are good, and it can be turned into a profitable and useful unit.

“The digital factory of the future is a decentralized network of companies, with different sub-networks, which can also operate globally. The manufacturing is controlled remotely from one place via the internet. The factory manufactures products in a place that is optimal for the purpose at that very moment. The criteria for the place of manufacture can be, for example, efficiency, quality or proximity to the customer,” said Risto Kuivanen, business development manager at VTT.

At the end of May, VTT, TUT and TAMK combined their research infrastructures to ensure that the Finnish manufacturing industry has access to them at a one-stop shop principle. Automation and robotics, 3D printing and digital product development are the focus areas of the infrastructures.
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