NORMAN - Norwegian Manufacturing Future

I en ustabil global verden er det avgjørende å fortsette å utvikle konkurransekraften til den Vareproduserende industrien. I forskingssenteret Norwegian Manufacturing Future (SFI Norman) har bedrifter og forskere fra NTNU og SINTEF forsket fram resultater for å bidra til styrket konkurranseevne for norsk vareproduserende industri. Forskningen har fokusert på å skape bærekraftige løsninger for norsk industri. Den overordna utfordringen som har blitt adressert er evnen til å skape fleksible og automatiserte produksjonssystemer, støttet med moderne styring og god logistikk og som tiltrekker seg dyktige medarbeidere gjennom attraktive arbeidsplasser. Gjennom workshops og aktiv deltagelse fra bedriftene settes den enkelte bedrifts innovasjonsbehov sammen til felles, forskbare problemstillinger. Dette skaper et sett av forskningstema, og resultatet fra forskningsaktivitetene omsettes til innovasjoner i bedriftene. Dette siste skjer ofte gjennom tilknyttede innovasjonsprosjekter og EU-finansierte utviklingsprosjekter. Forskningshøyde demonstreres gjennom utstrakt internasjonal vitenskapelig publisering.

Norwegian manufacturing has a unique potential in the global economy, but its success will depend upon continuous innovation of products and processes. The Norwegian Manufacturing Future (NORMAN) Centre is based on the assumption that Norwegian manufactur ing has a promising future, especially in the manufacture of high-value and technology-intensive products. The availability of skilled labour, competence-intensive products, high levels of productivity and the capacity to innovate, combined with very stro ng infrastructure, will continue to give Norwegian companies an advantage. The vision of the NORMAN centre is to: Develop new and multi-disciplinary research on next-generation manufacturing, and create theories, methods, models, and management tools th at enable Norwegian manufacturers to thrive in global competition. The research in the CRI will be performed at NTNU/SINTEF within the following areas: product development, manufacturing systems engineering, operations management, decision support syste ms and innovation management. Based on industrial challenges identified by the 16 industrial partners in NORMAN and the state-of-the-art knowledge, NORMAN will collaborate in the following three research areas: * Collaborative Product and Process Develop ment - From emerging ideas to manufacturing with high profit margin * Adaptive Factory - Improving manufacturing efficiency, adaptability and flexibility * Transparent and Robust Manufacturing Networks - Streamlining operations in manufacturing networks and global value networks. The research areas are based on utilisation of ICT enablers such as wireless communication, sensors, modelling and simulation, and collaborative technologies. Since these areas involve a wide range of research fields, the work will be carried out in a transdisciplinary context. The objectives of the Centre are to develop new management principles, methods, system tools and industrial demonstrators.