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SUMMARY:Electrochemical processes to meet the needs of Industry 4.0 or Ele
 ctrochemistry 4.0
DTSTART:20170221T090000
DTSTAMP:20260502T001220Z
UID:a2b9cd5528ba19abac89c62d971e512875a9b831443b2e07200538f8
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof Rolf Wüthrich\, Concordia University\, Montreal\, Canada
 \nManufacturing industry is currently at the dawn of a new industrial revo
 lution. Within the past two centuries\, humanity passed through three indu
 strial revolutions leading us to the ability to mass produce complex produ
 cts in affordable ways. However\, manufacturing industry lost a significan
 t element in this journey: individuality. Today’s customer is part of a 
 global society in which connectivity and access to information plays a key
  role. As such a customer wants to be part of the world but in a very pers
 onal way\, for example through unique and personal products. Industry reco
 gnized this new trend. Novel business models emerged. New key words are: c
 loud services\, smart manufacturing\, mass personalization.\n\nHowever\, t
 his results in a new challenge for manufacturing industry. Instead of mass
  fabricated products small series (batch-size 1) are required. Individual 
 products can be fabricated by rapid-prototyping\, but it is very challengi
 ng to produce personalized products in an economical way. New processes ne
 ed to be developed which are of a new kind. This new revolution was recogn
 ized recently by industry and in Germany the key word industry 4.0 was int
 roduced to characterize this “fourth industrial revolution”.\n\nThe ai
 m of industry 4.0 is to design smart factories in which batch-size 1 produ
 cts on demand can be produced economically. This means that any cost not d
 irectly related to the final product must be reduced to zero. In mass prod
 uction such indirect cost could be removed by spreading them over the imme
 nse number of identical fabricated products. In batch-size 1 production th
 is is no longer possible\, eliminating processes which require expensive t
 ooling. Manufacturing processes must further be able to adapt themselves q
 uickly and show a very high flexibility. Even process optimization becomes
  a real challenge.\n\nAmong these challenges post-processing technologies 
 take a prominent place. Manufacturing of a product is never achieved in a 
 single step\, even upon using technologies as additive manufacturing (AM).
  AM parts require post-processing in terms of surface finish. However\, as
  printed parts are generally complex (much more complex parts can be produ
 ced by AM\, reducing needs for assembly\, driving costs down) methods for 
 surface finishing become difficult to identify. Currently few processes ex
 ist\, which are all very labor intensive.\n\nThese considerations show tha
 t suitable manufacturing processes for batch-size 1 production must be hig
 hly flexible and have little overhead (in particular the need for tooling)
 . As such\, electrochemical processes are very promising. Such processes r
 equire little to no specialized tooling and are able to handle virtually a
 ny shape\, including inner surfaces. In the present seminar\, it is shown 
 how electrochemical processes can be used to design new manufacturing proc
 esses for industry 4.0. Some examples are discussed in the field of hard t
 o machine materials\, post-processing technologies and surface functionali
 zation.\n\nBio: Rolf Wuthrich is an associate professor at the department 
 of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from Concordia University\, Montr
 eal since 2006. He is leading a research laboratory on advanced manufactur
 ing with special focus on electrochemical technologies meeting the demand 
 of Industry 4.0. Among others\, together with Posalux SA\, his group devel
 oped a novel glass micromachining technology allowing the lean production 
 of ultra-customized glass parts. He is as well very active in the field of
  3D printing were he develops post-processing technologies able to handle 
 complex shapes including narrow inner surfaces. Another domain of activity
  is electrodeposition and electroforming and surface functionalization.\n\
 nAt Concordia\, he recently imitated the research Center for Advanced Manu
 facturing (CAM). CAM’s mission is to integrate the advanced manufacturin
 g specializations into a world class “Industry 4.0 smart factory” envi
 ronment. CAM integrates expertise in manufacturing\, computer engineering\
 , material science\, industrial engineering and metrology. Specializations
  include green electrochemical manufacturing processes\, laser machining\,
  additive manufacturing\, micro-devices and computational mechanics. CAM w
 ill develop new design rules and flexible processes for manufacturing high
 ly customized products economically and efficiently and spawn spin-off com
 panies.
LOCATION:ME D2 1124 (Co-Viz 2)/MC B0 302
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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