PACT News

The INDUPYMES+ project, co-financed by the Portugal-Spain Cross-Border Cooperation Operational Program (POCTEP 2014-2020) and integrated by PACT – Alentejo Science and Technology Park, has come to an end.

This is a capitalization project that has helped to improve and implement the results obtained in its precursor project, INDUPYMES 4.0.

Thanks to cross-border cooperation and the interaction of the quadruple helix, INDUPYMES+ aimed to carry out concrete implementations of digitalisation plans, put into practice the transfer of knowledge to SME managers to develop short, medium and long-term actions that help SMEs to increase their digitalisation.

Despite the time constraints felt for the completion of the capitalization actions, the project fulfilled what it proposed, namely:

Study on the digital enablers most sought after by companies through the analysis of individualized Digital Transformation Plans and Strategic Process Maps of actions to be carried out in the short, medium and long term, carried out within the scope of INDUPYMES 4.0. This analysis identified as the most sought-after/necessary technologies the sensorization of equipment, which allow the collection of data in the production processes in an automated way, the implementation of ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning and MES – Manufacturing Execution System systems or their improvement through, for example, the integration of the two softwares, the creation of dashboards with automated data collection that allow better and more efficient decision making, the introduction of applications and systems to control production costs and productivity, and the integration of production lines.
Holding of the conference “Implementation of smart manufacturing solutions in the product development cycle”, which, aimed at industrial SMEs, addressed the smart manufacturing process in virtual prototyping, trends and challenges in product design and development, digitalization in product development for early defect prediction and reduction, Virtual solutions in the simulation of manufacturing processes and the innovation practices of sustainable products in the virtual factory. It also included the demonstration of the simulation of the complete manufacturing process of aeronautical leading edge by RTM – Resin Transfer Moulding.Analysis and presentation of possibilities for transferring the technological platform developed during INDUPYMES 4.0 to the hospital sector and the green hydrogen sector. The Technological platform, as well as the physical demonstrator that accompanies it, favour the provision of real-time location applications (RTLS) of different types of assets (people, parts, tools, etc.) and the traceability of movements, monitoring activities and obtaining different types of data that allow improving processes, plant layouts, knowing the productivity of operators and, in short, to increase the real productivity of the company. The possibilities of transferring the technological platform to the hospital sector and the green hydrogen sector are available in https://indupymes.eu/plataforma-tecnologica/.
Capitalização of the Business Creation Program (incubator) specialized in services 4.0, through which four companies were made available the use of infrastructures in existing nurseries and access to programs to promote entrepreneurship.
Creation of a financing model for SMEs 4.0 that aims to identify the financing needs of SMEs in the field of digital transformation.
Technical visit to the Sevilla Control Group, to demonstrate the implementation of RTLS technology, a real-time location system for the tracking of materials during the factory production process; and the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (FADA-CATEC).
Presentation days of digitalization demonstrators and application examples, namely real-time location systems, Edge-Computing mobility and multimodal dialogue systems.
Technical visits to companies in the Alentejo region (Évora) that promote and use Industry 4.0 technologies. in its activity, namely KEMET, with special emphasis on its Electrolytic Innovation Center, and the Hercules Laboratory, through its intervention in Inovstone 4.0, a Mobilizing Project of the Action Plan of the Mineral Resources Cluster (Portugal 2020), which provides for the development of techniques and technologies that will help drive the Sector’s operating model for Industry 4.0, ensuring an adequate response to the digital procurement model in the context of Building Information Model (BIM).
The consortium hopes to continue collaborating in the future with a view to continuing to promote the implementation of 4.0 technologies in companies in the cross-border area, with the aim of improving their efficiency and competitiveness.

Led by the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies FADA-CATEC and composed of the following consortium: Diseño y Automatización Ningenia, the Federación de Empresarios del Metal (FEDEME), the IDEA Agency, the universities of Seville and Évora, the Cámara de Comercio de Sevilla and PACT – Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia do Alentejo, INDUPYMES+ is co-financed by the Portugal-Spain Cross-Border Cooperation Operational Program (POCTEP 2014-2020).