Public Funding for 4Th Wall Virtual LLP

The ability of end users to simply, consistently and reliably integrate key information across diverse production systems is currently a major barrier to productivity gains in industry. A fundamental challenge in deploying effective digital capabilities is the integration of systems within and across the operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) layers of manufacturing organisations. This integration is currently hindered by either a lack of identifiable frameworks, design methods and engineering tools (technology diversity and fragmentation) or by the cost, complexity and long term strategic lock-in associated with the adoption of proprietary and monolithic commercial solutions. The SIMPLE project applies innovative software technology to address this need, proving the resultant solution in a practical and widely applicable industrial form. 80% of the business value typically resides in 20% of the data that can be collected from the consortium's end users' production systems. The SIMPLE platform will allow better monitoring and optimisation of their manufacturing operations by facilitating the collection of this core data set. The SIMPLE solution will also provide an open and scalable platform to stimulate the deployment of data centric application ecosystems, facilitating the development of wider digital capabilities in UK manufacturing organisations. The SIMPLE platform will benefit manufacturing SMEs in particular, as they lack either the skills to effectively take advantage of the currently fragmented technological landscape, or to invest in large integrated engineering solutions. The SIMPLE platform will focus on providing robust and scalable data models and reinforce the use of those models throughout the production system lifecycle and across all domains of engineering and production management. The platform will materialise as a combination of software components, web services, a design framework (recommendations, rules and guidelines) as well as a technology deployment road map for software and hardware technologies. The blend of organisations in the SIMPLE project's consortium guarantees that there will be a very strong incentive to achieve rapid deployment and validation of the solution (in the project end-user production environment), and to engage with and achieve commercialisation of the SIMPLE product across other domains of industry, agritech and construction in particular, in which commercial opportunities have already been identified.

At the heart of this project is the challenge of effectively digitizing part of a manufacturing process namely, the process of visual/perceived quality control and finishing of automotive seats. This is a challenging area since the project aims to take a subjective craft-based activity and change it into a quantifiable process via suitable metrics. Once this is achieved, the second phase of activity will migrate the manual ad-hoc process to a semi, and ultimately fully-automated finishing process, bringing with this the ability to integrate suppliers and users via this digital product model much more effectively than is possible with the current manufacturing approach. From a materials perspective the project valuably aims to enable the visual characterization of natural materials and their processing and inspection. The project unites a large global end-user based in the UK with innovative SME technology providers and enabling basic technologies and methods from WMG at the University of Warwick. The outcomes include a radical improvement in digitally definable product manufacturing quality and efficiency for a key automotive component supplier and SME products and services applicable to the next generation of smart connected factories.