This partnership marks a significant step forward and sets a new standard for efficiency, sustainability, and innovation in the composites industry
London, UK, March 1st, The National Composites Centre (NCC), a world leading research and development facility that provides access to state-of-the-art engineering capabilities and technology , has announced the next step in its partnership with Plataine, a leading provider of AI-based optimization solutions for advanced manufacturing. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in the NCC’s commitment to enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of composite material management through digital transformation.
Established as the UK’s centre of excellence for composites research and development, the NCC’s mission is to spearhead collaborative innovation and evaluation of cutting-edge composites and integrated digital technology to deliver positive impact on the UK industry.
Plataine’s Time-Sensitive Material Manager (TSMM), combined with RFID sensors, offers a comprehensive solution to help achieve the NCC’s goals. Plataine enables real-time tracking of materials from the receiving step throughout the entire production process, ensuring optimal in-factory management and reporting of time-sensitive materials while minimizing material expiration and scrap. RFID antennas pick up signals from tagged composite material items and automatically update their status and location. When fully integrated with other NCC systems, the solution has the potential to fully digitize material management and tracking, employing AI based approaches to optimize selection for jobs based on properties, status and quality of material data to further reduce errors and waste, and enhance sustainability levels. In addition, real-time visibility of material location and status leads to efficient inventory management, enhanced quality control and compliance with the aerospace composites industry standards.
Looking forward, consistent monitoring and management of an asset or material across its entire lifecycle and across supply chains is critical for making optimal circularity decisions and performing life cycle analysis, a focus of the NCC’s combined digital and sustainability service. Plataine’s Digital Thread technology uses cloud-based technology that enables manufacturers to log the complete genealogy of a product, stretching across multiple sites and organizations, from raw material to finished part and could be a part of this developing system.
Marc Funnell, Head of Digital Engineering Technologies at the NCC, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership: “As one of our flagship digital transformation projects, our new time sensitive material tracking will enable us to produce parts more efficiently and with reduced material waste, while still upholding the highest quality standards. Our growing partnership with Plataine allows us to showcase and leverage expanding IOT, data science and AI technology, further developing the NCC’s commitment to be a digital exemplar and learning factory for the industry.”
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine said: “As we embark on this new phase of our partnership with NCC, we’re excited by the opportunity of playing a pivotal role in enhancing the sustainability and innovation of the NCC’s operations. Our collaboration aims to propel the NCC into the forefront of digitalization and automation within their manufacturing processes. By integrating our AI-driven solutions, we’re committed to significantly reducing material waste, thereby making a substantial positive impact on the environment. This venture is more than just a collaboration; it’s a commitment from Plataine to elevate the NCC to the status of a state-of-the-art standard for the entire UK industry. Through this long-term partnership, we aspire to showcase the imperative value of advanced technologies in making industries more efficient, responsible, and sustainable.”.
Plataine is exhibiting at JECWORLD 2024, March 5-7, Hall 5, Booth P74. Stop by our booth to learn how to increase sustainability and efficiency with AI solutions at your factory.
NCC is exhibiting at Hall 6, Booth T62.
About Plataine
Plataine is the leading provider of Industrial IoT and AI-based optimization solutions for advanced manufacturing. Plataine’s solutions provide intelligent, connected Digital Assistants for production floor management and staff, empowering manufacturers to make optimized decisions in real-time, every time. Plataine’s patent-protected technologies are used by leading manufacturers worldwide, including Airbus, IAI, Triumph, MRAS (an ST Engineering company), Alestis, Kineco-Kaman, IFS, Light & Strong, Kanfit and Ethan Allen. Plataine partners with SAP, Microsoft, Siemens PLM, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, and CTC GmbH (an Airbus Company), and is also a part of the UK National Composites Centre (NCC) membership network, to advance the ‘Factory of the Future’ worldwide. For this work, Plataine has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2021 Global Technology Innovation Leadership Award for its AI-Based Digital Assistants for Manufacturing, and Innovation Awards from the JEC. Plataine Received the SME 2021 Excellence in Composites Manufacturing Award and awards from CompositesUK organizations. Plataine is ISO 27001 certified for compliance with information security management requirements. For more information, visit: https://www.plataine.com.
About the National Composites Centre
The National Composites Centre (NCC) is a world leading UK research and development facility that provides access to state-of-the-art engineering capabilities and technology. Collaborating to address the most complex engineering challenges of our time, we accelerate the development of new products across advanced materials, digital engineering, sustainability and hydrogen. Delivering pioneering innovation to drive industrial transformation, NCC works across a diverse range of sectors to deliver benefits to the UK, investing in the talents of our current and future workforce.
Part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, it collaborates with innovators to SMEs, the supply chain and OEMs, providing businesses with a de-risked environment to design, develop, test and scale their ideas and get to market fast. For more information, visit: https://www.nccuk.com/
