EUROPEAN MARI4_YARD PROJECT ACTIVITY BEGINS

Mari4_YARD is the new EU-funded project for flexible and modular manufacturing in small and medium-sized shipyards.

GHENOVA is one of the 18 entities that constitute the international consortium that will carry out the Mari4_YARD project.

Mari4_YARD, the new EU-funded project, started its activity in December 2020. With an estimated duration of four years, it is expected to be completed by 2024.

GHENOVA is part of the international consortium that will carry out this project focusing on the development of user-oriented solutions for flexible and modular manufacturing in small and medium-sized shipyards, which need to remain competitive and overcome the current cost problem in their own market segments.

The competitive advantage of European shipbuilding is based on the complexity, quality, high level of customisation, delivery time and life-cycle services of the manufactured vessels. But the process of technological globalisation has advanced the technological capabilities of competitors who sometimes also benefit from lower labour costs.

To avoid a worsening of the existing competitive disadvantage, small and medium-sized shipyards need to improve their productivity and manufacturing capabilities (cost, lead time, quality), taking advantage of the latest developments in the digitalisation of production: advanced robots and cobots, machine vision, internet of things, flexible production systems, 3D printing, multi-site supply chain integration, skills development and deployment strategies.

Mari4_YARD will foster the improvement of manufacturing processes in shipbuilding through the following main technical objectives:

1. Developing intuitive human-robot collaborative solutions, enabling the integration of operators’ skills and abilities into flexible and reconfigurable solutions in shared workspaces.
2. Develop portable and handheld AR/MR tools to assist shipyard workers.
3. Develop AI-assisted exoskeletons to reduce fatigue and physical stress.
4. Implement a portfolio of worker-centric tools that assist in the execution of labour-intensive tasks while preserving the specific knowledge and skills of industry workers.
5. Demonstrate the Mari4_YARD approach at real scale, both in shipbuilding and repair in medium and small shipyards, fostering the exploitation of the results and enabling the adoption of manufacturing across the EU.

The Mari4_YARD consortium

Mari4_YARD is a project funded by the EC’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101006798.

The consortium of this project, launched in December 2020 and with a duration of four years, includes 18 entities belonging to 9 different European countries:

• AIMEN, Asociación de investigación metalúrgica del noroeste (Spain. Project coordinator).
• GHENOVA Ingeniería S.L. (Spain)
• TUHH, Hamburg University of Technology (Germany)
• Canonical Robots S.L. (Spain)
• Gizelis Robotics (Greece)
• Luvo srl (Italy)
• LMS, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation – University of Patras (Greece)
• TTPSC, Transition Technologies PSC spolkaz ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia (Poland)
• INESC TEC, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência (Portugal)
• SSSA, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy)
• BALance Technology Consulting GmbH (Germany)
• CMT, Center of Maritime Technologies gGmbH (Germany)
• NMTF, Stichting Netherlands maritime technology foundation (The Netherlands)
• Deep Blue srl (Italy)
• EWF, European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (Belgium)
• Foundation WEGEMT – A European Association of Universities in Marine Technology and Related Sciences (Netherlands)
• Nodosa S.L. (Spain)
• BIS, Shipbuilding industry Split, joint stock company (Croatia)

Contact

Project Coordinator	Mr Diego Pérez Losada, S3M Unit, AIMEN Technology Centrediego.perez@aimen.es
Communication Officer	Ms. Micol Biscotto, Deep Blue srlMicol.biscotto@dblue.it