Production Automation & Control, Networking Innovation in Europe

Authors:	Colombo Armando Walter, Schneider Electric, Germany Hoepf Michael, Fraunhofer IPA, Germany
Topic:	5.1 Manufacturing Plant Control
Session:	Research and Developments Challenges and Open Issues in Manufacturing Automation
Keywords:	Production Control, Automation, Agile and Flexible Manufacturing, Agents, Reconfigurable Manufacturing, Human-Machine Interaction.

Abstract

In October 2004 the European Commission started a Network of Excellence to co-ordinate the Research and development for Production Technology on Europe. One of the four clusters of this Network is dedicated to Control & Automation Technology. This contribution presents the Network with emphasis to this Automation cluster. It describes the composition of the core consortium, the objectives and the activities of the network. The contribution also pictures the benefits of interaction with the network and how this can be achieved.