Throughput-time reduction and First Time Right production for the thermoform industry by introducing a predictive mould design and manufacturing system SMEs Contract No: COLL-CT General Project Overview Contract COLL-CT (T-ForM)

2 Agenda of the meeting 10h00 Introduction (Dirk De Moor, Agoria) 10h10 Overview of the project and of the work achieved (J.Lecomte, CRIF) 10h30 User interface of the T-FORM simulation software. Characterisation tests on the materials (Robert Hick, CRIF) 11h00 Open discussion over the questions raised at the last meeting. Questions and answers. 11h45 Administrative issues 12h00 End of the meeting

3 Content History and project summary T-ForM approach Industrial involvement Know-how and dissemination Project organization How you can participate

4 Definition Collective Research: Research carried out by RTD performers, on behalf of Industrial Associations, to improve the knowledge base and competitiveness of large Groupings of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Available budget: 2-5 Million Euro Participation of an excellent consortium is requested Industrial Associations are owners of developed knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights

5 History + 5 YEARS Duration Possible audit 2013 Preparation Stage 1 3 YEARS End Preparation 12 M Waiting 10 M Start

6 Project Summary Consortium:6 IAGs, 13 Core-SMEs and 7 RTDs Start:1 st September 2005Duration: 36 Months Budget: 4.58 M€Grant: 2.85 M€ Objective: Development and dissemination of know-how in order to reduce Throughput Time and achieve First Time Right Production for the thermoform industry by introducing a predictive mould design and manufacturing system

7 Pre-production State of the art : Product design Mould design Production Mould manufacturing Thermo- forming What about possibilities and limitations material & process? Design geometry different from / usable for CAD design? Time consuming step and what about data exchange? Production Market requires improvements (cost-effective, leadtime, properties and dimensions) What about (optimized) process settings? Result not satisfactory? a magic touch is required !

8 Digital Machine information Material Part requirements Mould design Simulation Process settings (T03) Design guidelines (T01) Product design Digital T-ForM module (T02) Thermoforming Mould manufacturing Production Mould

9 Machine information Material Part requirements Mould design Simulation Process settings Design guidelines Product design Digital T-ForM module WP1 Modelling theory WPL Univ. Stuttgart WP2 Algorithms PMS WPL TNO WP3 Pred. Mould Syst. WPL ASCAMM WP4 Validation WPL CRIF WP5 Diss. And Exploitation WPL GTMA WP6 Training WPL RAPRA WP7 Cons. Management WPL TNO Algorithms for predictive thermoform settings Algorithms for predictive mould design Prototype software tool proving the predictive mould design and thermoform setting algorithms Validation of prototype software tool by performing 4 real life case studies Modelling theory Implementation of modelling theory in adapted Production Simulation software Guidelines for the design of thermoformed parts T-ForM methodology for industrial use Predictive mould design software tool enabling the T- ForM approach Validate the new costs, throughput time and energy consumption. Proof of meeting the technical objectives; compare the results with existing data on product and mould development time, cost analyses etc.

10 Benefits to participants Preferential access to new thermoforming process knowledge and technical developments in form of: Best practise guidance Training Software tools Collaboration with highly regarded and authoritative research establishments Company exposure at exhibitions

11 Industrial involvement Real industrial cases Extensively produced thermoforming parts used for validation Representative thermoplastics chosen by core SMEs Proof of research results In depth analysis of different cases driven by European Thermoforming Industry Comparison of conventional methodology Validation of the software using a range of SMEs Considerations Throughput time and cost analysis Full thermoforming process chain is covered

12 Dissemination activities Quarterly National dissemination meetings Latest project results presented Opportunity for participating SMEs to have their say Yearly dissemination days Report on achievements of project Demonstration facility Each country will have a demonstration facility Training Training modules will be developed, which will be used to train company staff

13 Work achieved today WP1: Report on process settings and materials properties: Still to be finished (take into account plug-assist cases) WP2: Algorithms for predictive mould settings: Choice of the platform, first software prototype (skeleton) WP4: Check list for the choice of the six validation cases. Research ongoing on existing software tools.

14 Project partners IAGs: KC (AU) PVT (NL) FEAMM (ES) GKV (DE) GTMA (UK) AGORIA (BE) Core-SMEs: Jacob Kunststoffe (DE) Unipa Kunststoffe (DE) Accuform (CR) Batelaan Kunststoffen (NL) Haarlemse Modelm. (NL) Linecross (UK) Midas (UK) Omniform (BE) Sabert Europe (BE) Decorchapa (ES) Plasvina (ES) Missler software (FR) Marcus Pammer (AU) RTDs: University Stuttgart (DE) TNO (NL) ASCAMM (ES) CRIF (BE) RAPRA (UK) AIMPLAS (ES) PERA (UK)

15 Jacky Lecomte CoordinatorScientific Officer Jan Willem Gunnink Yves Maisonny