FLASH-COMP is an EU-funded project we have been part of for the last few years as the dedicated communication, dissemination and exploitation partner. The aim of the project is to develop a fast and reliable quality control solution that uses artificial intelligence to help identify and remove defects during composite manufacturing processes. This zero-defect manufacturing approach will help reduce waste by more than 30% and help Europe’s planned transition towards climate neutrality
Before the FLASH-COMP solution is implemented at the two use-case sites at IAI and Azimut, the existing processes at the sites must be measured to assess their baseline eco-efficiency. Project partners INEGI have recently finished this assessment, which will ultimately enable them to accurately calculate the benefits that the FLASH-COMP solution provides.
The process behind this work first involved collecting data from the use cases related to the operational hours and the number of people working on different steps of the process. This was important as it allowed the researchers to work out which steps would involve the FLASH-COMP solution. They then analysed all the resources – materials, energy, and costs – related to those steps, which enabled them to see which steps had the most influence on the process in terms of each of these resources.
These data were also used to determine the environmental impact of each process step. This analysis was conducted using the SimaPro© v9.2.0.2 software using the ReCiPe 2016 method to quantify the environmental impacts of the input data and the information inherent to the extractive and transformative processes in the Ecoinvent 3.7.1 database.
“This is the first step of working out the baseline,” says Flávia Barbosa of INEGI. “After the implementation of the FLASH-COMP solution, we will analyse it again and find the improvements that the technology provides to the processes.
“Completing this stage of the work has not been without its difficulties,” she continues. “It is very difficult to collect data on these processes because resin infusion is a complex, manual process. We have had lots of talks between different people at INEGI to work out ways we can help the use cases measure things accurately, but it’s very complicated because it depends on the product. A lot of materials are wasted, but it’s difficult to measure the exact quantity of the material that is wasted. So we have a good idea about which steps have the highest impact on the process, but it is an estimate.”
“We had a methodology – multi layer stream mapping (MSM) – that we wanted to use, but the fact that we didn’t have reference values for this baseline meant we were not able to use it. So we had to collect this data and use it as our reference values. At the end, we will use the MSM methodology to understand the efficiency of the process, and ultimately the benefits brought by the FLASH-COMP solution.”
The next steps for Flávia and her colleagues at INEGI will be to provide some guidelines to the use cases to help them to collect the data as accurately as possible. They will also be working with another team at INEGI which is working on the test bed to help them collect data.
“We will also be working with Gorka Alvarez from MSI to create some dashboards to be able to show eco-efficiency maps during the process of infusion in terms of eco-efficiency and operational efficiency.”