Partners

ISQ is a private non-profit making technological association with Public interest status with a turnover of 83M€ in 2013. More than 800 staff members are teamed up with customers, partners and alliances in more than 20 countries worldwide. ISQ has more than two hundred company members and approximately the same number of individual members. It was privately founded in 1965 as the Portuguese Welding Institute. In the early eighties its activities were diversified from welding technology to several other technical and scientific areas, and the services provided now include technical inspection, non-destructive testing, structural integrity, quality assurance, maintenance management, risk based inspection and environmental impact studies and training. ISQ has more than 21 accredited labs accordingly with DIN EN ISO 17025:2005. In addition, ISQ provides specialized technical assistance services, through consultancy, for implementation of individual or integrated management systems certification/accreditation as ISO 9001, QS 9000 and ISO/TS 16949, ISO 17025 (QMS in laboratories), EN 45000 (QMS in Inspection and Certification Bodies), ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 (Occupational and Health MS), SA 8000 (Social responsibility MS).

ISQ headquarters are at Porto Salvo, Oeiras, Portugal with delegations in Oporto, Castelo Branco, Loulé and Sines. At international level ISQ is represented at: Abu Dhabi, Angola, Algeria, Brazil, Cape Verde, China, Cuba, French Guiana, Mexico, Mozambique, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and USA.

INEGI is an interface Institution between University and Industry, oriented to the activities of Research and Development, Innovation and Technology Transfer. It was founded in 1986, as an organization to empower the relationship between the University of Porto and National Industry on mechanical engineering and industrial management knowledge fields. Through more than 25 years of existence INEGI has developed and consolidated its position as an honoured Industry partner, through its participation in R&D under contract and consulting projects. Being a non-profit private association and recognized as being of public utility, INEGI is currently considered an active agent playing a significant role in the development of the Portuguese industry, and in the transformation of its competitive model. INEGI as an industry oriented Research and Technology Organisation. Its organizational structure relies on three pillars of activity in different technology readiness levels, maintaining a strong competence matrix element, namely: Research with a special focus on applied research; Innovation and technology transfer; and Consulting and advanced engineering services. The Research activity covers the areas of new technologies for advanced production processes, experimental mechanics, energy, new materials and the development of new products and systems.

The Institute’s research activity is integrated in the national network of research funded by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. More than 50% of its total turnover of 6.5 million euros comes from R&D and innovation projects funded by industry. From 2008 to 2013 INEGI managed or was involved in 190 projects financed by R&D programs or industry (budget of 12 MEuro) and in 40 European Projects (budget of 3,7 MEuro).

LINKS Foundation is a non-profit Institution operating at a national and international level carrying out applied research in the sectors of engineering and architecture, thus focusing both on information and telecommunication and on territorial and environmental sciences.

The LINKS Foundation was founded in 2016 exploiting and enhancing the experience gained – from the Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (LINKS) and from the Istituto Superiore on Territorial Systems for Innovation (SiTI) – in the first two decades of the new millennium in the field of research applied and technology transfer, adding a fundamental element such as the enhancement of the research result.

As part of the knowledge chain, LINKS aims to boost the interaction between research and the business world towards the internationalization of the local socioeconomic system, promoting, conducting and strengthening innovation, research processes and the technology transfer.

ATB Institute for Applied Systems Technology Bremen GmbH is a non-profit organisation, founded in 1991. Shareholders are the State of Bremen, Bremen University and a group of industrial companies (Daimler AG, KUKA Systems GmbH, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH, OAS AG and OHB Orbitale Hochtechnologie Bremen – System AG). ATB has a research team of around 20 researchers, supported by about 20 researchers working on a temporary or part-time basis. The main strategic business areas of ATB are Systems Analysis & Design, Knowledge Management and Software Systems Technology. In the scope of a number of CEC and industrial projects, ATB has developed advanced systems for decision support and process optimisation in industry. Since several years the energy efficiency in industry grew-up to one of the key topics in the research activities. In the project AmI-MoSES, ATB developed an advanced monitoring system for energy consumption optimisation of manufacturing lines based on a combination of AmI and KM technologies. In the current project LifeSaver a system supporting manufacturing companies in optimising energy performance of their operations is being realised. This support is in the form of a set of ICT building blocks that combine context awareness, ambient intelligence monitoring and standard energy consumption data measurement. ATB works for several years in the area of semantic based knowledge systems, connecting it with Complex Event Processing (K-Net) and since recently with the topics from Internet of Things area (FIspace). In the “…” project ATB will elaborate the topics of the sensor networks as Internet of Things, in the context of the integrated plant management systems as well as the topics related to the decision support systems.

Fraunhofer FIT has a long history of successful participations in international projects ranging from integration of heterogeneous systems and devices over to systems and application engineering in a user-centered manner. The fields of activities include smart factories (with the projects ebbits as well as BEMO-COFRA), energy-efficiency in public spaces and smart buildings (projects: DIMMER, ALMANAC, IMPReSS, Adapt4EE and SEAM4US).

Fraunhofer FIT brings in technical competences in integrating heterogeneous systems and devices via the LinkSmart middleware that was successfully initiated via the EU-funded project HYDRA in FP6. Another major technological focus of Fraunhofer FIT is the design and development of mobile applications that adapt to the context of the user and his/her environment.

Fraunhofer FIT brings in knowledge and methods for designing software architectures that supports the integration and organization of existing (sub-) systems and their extension with novel technologies. Furthermore we support engineering functional and non-functional system requirements and aligning them with demands coming from end-users. A user-centered design (UCD) approach helps to satisfyingly analyse the domain of smart factories, workers’ tasks and methods as well as applied procedures in order to first understand the domain, its peculiarities as well as the end-users’ tasks and environments. From this analysis, challenges and potential for improvement are iteratively indicated and evaluated via a rapid prototyping approach that continuously involves representatives from the domain of smart factories.

University of Cambridge is one of the world’s oldest universities and leading academic centres, and a self-governed community of scholars. The University comprises 31 Colleges and over 150 departments, faculties, schools and other institutions.

Based within the Engineering Department, the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) takes a cross-disciplinary approach, bringing together expertise in management, technology and policy to address the full spectrum of industrial issues. The IfM combines industrial engagement and competence in research areas which are key to the issues of sustainability. The Centre for Industrial Sustainability (CIS) works collaboratively with other research centres across the IfM and with other universities and industrial partners. CIS coordinates the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability which is a collaboration between four leading universities with a track record of success in the core elements needed in sustainable manufacturing and a host of businesses and organizations who are committed to meeting the challenge of industrial sustainability. This engagement with industry ensures that manufacturing businesses both help set the research agenda and actively participate in projects. The Centre conducts research to deliver practical solutions to meet these challenges and developing future leaders for the sector. It has a vision to create a strong and resilient manufacturing sector that creates high-quality jobs, a balanced economy, and addresses social and environmental needs while being competitive in a global, low-carbon, resource-efficient economy.

Lean Enterprise Institute Polska (LEI Poland) is a private legal entity registered in Poland. LEI Poland is a spin-off company from Wroclaw University of Technology (WUT). LEI Poland was created in 2006; however its roots date back to 1999 when the Lean Manufacturing Program of WUT was started. LEI Poland is a legal successor to this program. LEI Poland activities include: training (approx. 2000-2500 managers and engineers trained per year); publishing management workbooks; organization of conferences; implementation-oriented research projects; and Lean implementation in industry. LEI Poland is regarded by Polish industry as the principal focal point on lean management knowledge. It also has extensive experience in other central European countries. The list of customers includes: Akzo Nobel, Synthos, KGHM, Bahlsen Lorenz, Cadbury, Carlsberg Polska, Danone, Gilette Poland, LU Polska, MARS Polska, Oriflame, Philip Morris Polska, R. Twining & Company, SCA Hygiene Products, Wedel, 3M Medical Systems, Aesculap-Chifa as well as many SMEs. LEI Poland is one of 17 partners within the Lean Global Network.

LEI Poland will lead the Work Package 2: Management System, which defines the system itself as well as motivation strategy, ways of standard communication, visualisation and management. LEI Poland will be also involved in integrating improvement methods with the platform and adjusting the existing low cost eco improvement methods to the process industries and developing new tools if there is a need for them.

SINERGIE Soc. Cons. a r. l. (SINERGIE) is a VET provider and a centre for Research Development and Innovation. It is authorised by the Emilia Romagna Region for the management and delivery of higher, vocational, continuous and distance training. SINERGIE Quality Management System is certified in conformity with UNI EN ISO 9001: 2008, in relation with the provision of training and research services. The company is also registered to the National Register of Research Centres of MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) and accredited to Questio, the official database of technology transfer and research centers of the Lombardia Region. SINERGIE has been founded in 2001 with the aim to foster knowledge and skills development in the field of education and RTD, in particular for the following sectors: ICT, Energy, Environment, Safety and Security, Health, Social Sciences. Thanks to its experience in ICT sector SINERGIE developed an E-learning Platform through a Learning Content Management System which is used to deliver training modules.

Main activities of SINERGIE are:
– development and management of projects in the field of vocational training and higher education;
– organisation, technical and financial administration of projects funded by private and public funds;
– promotion of projects and events for stakeholders;
– collaboration with local authorities, private and public entities in the field of RTD and education;
– support to spin-off and new enterprise creation;
– technological transfer and results dissemination.
As VET provider, SINERGIE adopted the system implemented by Region Emilia-Romagna for the recognition/certification of qualification to assess the final learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, competences and skills. For the project implementation, SINERGIE will also involve staff members from its affiliate company Vill@ge Srl. SINERGIE is a ltd. consortium composed by 2 companies, Vill@ge S.r.l. and Aren S.r.l., which hold respectively 89, 68% and 10,32% of the share capital. Vill@ge S.r.l. is a founding member of the consortium and provides  services related to the environmental and socio-economic fields.

IZNAB Sp. z o.o. (IZNAB) is an engineering-consultancy SME, focused on Cost-Effective processing technologies for Energy-efficient Buildings, Smart & Green Transport, Clean & Green Energy, Environmental and Nano-Bio-Technology applications. The company headquarters are located in Warsaw, Poland.
IZNAB is capable of providing a specialized service in this field involve precise identification of our customers’ needs: from the selection (and supply) of promising raw materials & innovative techniques/processing technologies, optimized design & integration, up to the application and complete execution of solutions.
The goal and strategy of IZNAB is to apply a whole new analysis technique in order to improve High-performance materials, Energy-efficiency and to reduce GHG emission from overall industrial/building facilities. IZNAB Team have high expertize in design, optimization and integration of new compatible eco-innovative cost- and energy-efficient manufacturing technologies and processes, by using the latest tools for Finite Element Analysis (FEA) & Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA/LCCA) and applying it to understand the behaviour of innovative materials/complex structure, characterizing them, as well as application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) into the modelling of industrial processes and equipment, as well as in buildings. We achieve this using simulation programs, such as TRNSYS, and SimaPro.
IZNAB invest on Research and Development which enhances the creation of new products and services by expanding the scope of applications in the various areas and build common standards.
The guarantee of succeeding in IZNAB solutions is based on the Polish engineering acumen and the enhancement of technical know-how progress through close cooperation with the Academic world.

The Microprocessor – Digital Systems, s.a. is a company founded in 1979 by a group of teachers linked to Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto. Since then the company has evolved with various transformations in its shareholder structure having belonged mostly to large national groups such as the Sonae and Efacec. From 2007 we get autonomy shareholder and recovered the status of SMES. Throughout this journey, the company remained always faithful to your DNA, basing their products and solutions in a strong component of R&DI and with high added value. This is how, and naturally, the Microprocessor, S.A. becomes national leader in its field of activity, which builds globally on two strategic lines of action: Automation and control systems and Electronic Panels of information to the public. This R&DI base that as well features Microprocessor allowed for 20 years, we have placed outside our products and solutions. This bet on export which started something timid and intermittent has been revealed in recent years as the company’s strategic imperative. That’s how in the year 2011, and in line with 2010, with a turnover of around 6 million Euros, about 20% comes from the export to countries of various continents. In the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, with a very difficult macroeconomic environment in Portugal, we strengthened our export component even further to the point that currently represent about 50% of the turnover of the undertaking which is at the moment (2014) in approximately 6.5 million Euros. In Europe we export to Spain, Poland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece, United Kingdom, France, etc. In Africa we have the Angolan market as big bet but also with references on South Africa and Maghreb countries. We also have references in Japan, Canada, Macau, Malaysia and other countries, and we’re making strategic bets on Brazil and India.

What distinguishes us on the market is the high level engineering service that we are able to offer and which allows to respond with competence and flexibility to the various challenges that are posed by customers. In short: we innovate (continued investment in R&DI), we are solid (30 years), we are flexible (customer “tailor made” projects). By believing that we are a company that is governed by the principles of excellence, with innovative solutions and entrepreneurial skills, and contributing to the development of the country, we meet all the conditions to make a positive contribution to this project.

MCG mind for metal, a Portuguese private owned company, has been a metal component and assembly manufacturer for over 60 years. With a global turnover of 38 M€ (2015), 418 workers and 5 manufacturing units, all located in Carregado, MCG has a long experience in the automotive industry but also in other industries pursuing a diversification strategy in the last few years, mainly in European markets. Thus MCG’s activity is supported by five different business units: MCG automotive (series production for automotive industry), MCG tooling (stamping tools and dies for automotive industry), MCG laser (diversified business unit for design, development, manufacturing and assembly of components and assemblies of diversified goods, like stainless steel waste containers, pellets stoves, e-kiosks, cabinets and other technical equipment and furniture, etc.), MCG solar (solar thermal product development and production) and MCG transportation (railway and bus systems and assemblies).

With its 5 manufacturing units, MCG has a complete offer in sheet metal technologies going from tool design and production, with years of experience in the development of progressive and transfer tools, sheet metal forming processes with a wide variety of presses with different dimensions and tonnages (up to 3.300 ton), and also with Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing capabilities, being able to develop and produce metal components and assemblies or complete systems and turn-key solutions. With ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 9001 certification, and experience in a wide range of products, MCG has a number of long term relationships with Tier 1 and OEM companies.

MCG works alongside with its clients to adapt processes to product cost, quality requirements and working life of the project. The knowledge acquired is continuously updated in new activities dedicated to the development of sheet metal solutions.

GLN is a dynamic company geared towards the injection of plastic parts, we guarantee the execution of projects in thermoplastic injection. Supported by more than 15 years’ experience covering the most demanding industries, such as electronics, automotive, electrical and packaging. We offer a range of value-added services (e.g. assembly, packaging) thus increasing the value chain of the customer. We make continuous investments in diverse equipment to meet the requirements of each project, such as the addition of a Laser process, automated solutions for inspection, production of hybrid parts through automation and integrated robotics in processes as well as the integration of mounted components for turnkey products. The investment in more efficient and technologically advanced production units guarantees us the experience and know-how that we apply today in a wide variety of productions. Our facilities were designed and built to efficiently accommodate our 36 injection machines in a serial production environment certified by the most demanding quality standards of our customers. It is in this environment of serial industrial production that more than 150 professionals work 24 hours a day in the production of plastic parts, aiming to deliver to the customer the production volume that the market requires.

J.W. Ostendorf (JWO), based in Coesfeld/Germany, is Europe´s market leading specialist in the production of paint and woodcare for own label retailer brands, now into it’s third generation of JWO family ownership. In addition to the product development and management of customer brands JWO has created its own brand portfolio including the designer brands Signeo and colourcourage by Lars Contzen. JWO is a full service provider for DIY retailers in more than 20 countries and has set up Europe´s most modern production facilities (capacity of 500 million litres p.a). Brand, Innovation and Sustainability development are key to JWO’s entrepreneurial processes, with the focus to provide added value for the consumer. The French subsidiary Renaulac, which is specialized in the DIY and Professional segment, is part of JWO’s European strategy.

OAS is privately owned SME with headquarters in Bremen, Germany, with 150 employees in 5 plants distributed over Germany. OAS is a company developing turnkey solutions for food and chemical industry. Focus of the company is on the process control and management systems for highly automated processes. Besides food and chemical industry (plastics, rubber, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics), OAS systems are applied in different branches such as building material (e.g. concrete industry, chemical building products etc.), environmental technology, etc.

OAS’ main products include:

• Turn-key solutions for food, concrete, chemical and other process industries
• Process control systems and process visualisation systems
• Continuous and discontinuous dosing and weighing technology
• Weighing data processing systems

Under the umbrella of the Worlée group, three business pillars in the areas of chemical, natural and cosmetic raw materials have each established themselves in their very own market segment.
The family company has been active in the international market for raw materials since 1851.