InDEx – Industrial Data Excellence

InDEx, the Industrial Data Excellence program, was created to investigate what industrial data can be collected, shared, and utilized for new intelligent services in high-performing, reliable and secure ways, and how to accomplish that in practice in the Finnish manufacturing industry.InDEx produced several insights into data in an industrial environment, collecting data, sharing data in the value chain and in the factory environment, and utilizing and manipulating data with artificial intelligence. Data has an important role in the future in an industrial context, but data sources and utilization mechanisms are more diverse than in cases related to consumer data. Experiences in the InDEx cases showed that there is great potential in data utili zation.Currently, successful business cases built on data sharing are either company-internal or utilize an existing value chain. The data market has not yet matured, and third-party offerings based on public and private data sources are rare. In this program, we tried out a framework that aimed to securely and in a controlled manner share data between organizations. We also worked to improve the contractual framework needed to support new business based on shared data, and we conducted a study of applicable business models. Based on this, we searched for new data-based opportunities within the project consortium. The vision of data as a tradeable good or of sharing with external partners is still to come true, but we believe that we have taken steps in the right direction.The program started in fall 2019 and ended in April 2022. The program faced restrictions caused by COVID-19, which had an effect on the intensity of the work during 2020 and 2021, and the program was extended by one year. Because of meeting restrictions, InDEx collaboration was realized through online meetings. We learned to work and collaborate using digital tools and environments. Despite the mentioned hindrances, and thanks to Business Finland’s flexibility, the extension time made it possible for most of the planned goals to be achieved.This report gives insights in the outcomes of the companies’ work within the InDEx program. DIMECC InDEx is the first finalized program by the members of the Finnish Advanced Manufacturing Network (FAMN, www.famn.fi).</p

Optimising process efficiency during remote laser cutting of CFRP by utilisation of a double-scan-head

A double-scan-head was developed combining two pairs of galvo-mirrors into one device. One pair controls the laser beam's position, while the other in this setup is used for a pyrometer. Thus, a pyrometer's optical path can be controlled independently from a laser's path as well as being locked to the same geometrical path during CFRP processing. Using such a double-scan-head, a comparison between locked pyrometry and independent scanning pyrometry is performed during multi-pass laser cutting on multiple geometries. Carbon fibre reinforced epoxy and PPS are cut with pre-selected threshold surface temperatures ranging from T = 80-120°C to interrupt and optimise the process in order to reduce the material's thermal strain. Both locked and scanning pyrometry are compared based on total processing time, heat affected zone, and the influence of fibre orientation. The study shows a double-scan-head allows improved process monitoring strategies leading towards more efficient laser material processing in terms of quality and time