This study focuses on SME networks of design and high-tech companies in Southeast Netherland. By highlighting the personal networks of members across design and high-tech industries, the study attempts to identify the main brokers in this dynamic environment. In addition, we investigate whether specific characteristics are associated with these brokers. The main contribution of the paper lies in the fact that, in contrast to most other work, it is quantitative and that it focuses on brokers identified in an actual network (based on both suppliers and users of the knowledge infrastructure). Studying the phenomenon of brokerage provides us with clear insights into the concept of brokerage regarding SME networks in different fields. In particular we highlight how third parties contribute to the transfer and development of knowledge. Empirical results show, among others that the most influential brokers are found in the nonprofit and science sector and have a long track record in their branch.
Massafabricage in de (MKB) maakindustrie is aan het veranderen in flexibele fabricage en assemblage van kleine series, klantspecifieke onderdelen en eindproducten. Hiervoor zijn nieuwe systemen voor het MKB nodig, waarin robots en mensen samen kunnen werken en die zich snel kunnen aanpassen aan nieuwe productieomstandigheden met lage opstartkosten. De ambitie van het project ?(G)een Moer Aan!? is om het herconfigureren van een robotsysteem voor een nieuwe taak in een productieomgeving net zo eenvoudig en snel te maken als het gebruik van een smartphone. Zo?n benadering biedt kansen om de skills van de operator te benutten. De operator kent immers zijn processen en de robot wordt zijn hulpje. Op vraag van betrokken mkb partners is de focus gelegd op een repeterende productiehandeling die in veel sectoren voorkomt en die relatief veel arbeidstijd kost: het indraaien van moeren en bouten in een object. De centrale onderzoeksvraag van het project luidt: Hoe kan een operator een robot eenvoudig, snel en veilig inleren om assemblage handelingen te verrichten voor het snel en robuust verbinden van bouten, moeren en ringen met objecten? Resultaat van dit praktijkgerichte onderzoeksproject is een algemeen bruikbare en gevalideerde ontwerpmethodiek voor de opzet van een gebruiksvriendelijke user interface van een boutmontagerobot op de werkvloer. Door slim gebruik van geïntegreerde inzet van CAD productinformatie, vision technologie en compliant (meegaand) gripping en placing wordt de robot zo veel als mogelijk vooraf automatisch geconfigureerd. Het projectconsortium dat het onderzoek gaat uitvoeren bestaat uit: " 13 bedrijven (12 mkb) actief als toeleverancier, system integrator of gebruiker op het terrein van industriële robotica (Yaskawa, ABB, Smart Robotics, Hupico, Festo, CSi, Demcon, Heemskerk Innovate, WWA, Van Schijndel Metaal, Van Beek, Tegema en Zest Innovate); " Hogescholen Fontys (penvoerder), Avans, Utrecht en NHL; " Kennisinstellingen TNO en DIFFER; " Coöperaties Brainport Industries, FEDA en Koninklijke Metaalunie; " De gemeente Eindhoven is betrokken als partner in de klankbordgroep. De gemeente ondersteunt het belang van dit project voor behoud en verbetering van arbeidsplaatsen in de maakindustrie. Er zullen circa 20 (docent)onderzoekers van de hogescholen en ongeveer 80 studenten betrokken worden bij dit project, die in de vorm van stages en afstudeeronderzoeken werken aan interessante vraagstukken direct afkomstig uit de beroepspraktijk. Naast genoemde meerwaarde voor het bedrijfsleven beoogt het project een verdere verankering van kennis en kunde in onderwijs en lectoraten en een vergroting van de kwaliteit van docenten en afstudeerders.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
Denim Democracy from the Alliance for Responsible Denim (ARD) is an interactive exhibition that celebrates the journey and learning of ARD members, educates visitors about sustainable denim and highlights how companies collaborate together to achieve results. Through sight, sound and tactile sensations, the visitor experiences and fully engages sustainable denim production. The exhibition launches in October 2018 in Amsterdam and travels to key venues and locations in the Netherlands until April 2019. As consumers, we love denim but the denim industry, like other sub-sectors in the textile, apparel and footwear industries, faces many complex sustainability challenges and has been criticized for its polluting and hazardous production practices. The Alliance for Responsible Denim project brought leading denim brands, suppliers and stakeholders together to collectively address these issues and take initial steps towards improving the ecological sustainability impact of denim production. Sustainability challenges are considered very complex and economically undesirable for individual companies to address alone. In denim, small and medium sized denim firms face specific challenges, such as lower economies of scale and lower buying power to affect change in practices. There is great benefit in combining denim companies' resources and knowledge so that collective experimentation and learning can lift the sustainability standards of the industry and lead to the development of common standards and benchmarks on a scale that matters. If meaningful, transformative industrial change is to be made, then it calls for collaboration between denim industry stakeholders that goes beyond supplier-buyer relations and includes horizontal value chain collaboration of competing large and small denim brands. However collaboration between organizations, and especially between competitors, is highly complex and prone to failure. The research behind the Alliance for Responsible Denim project asked a central research question: how do competitors effectively collaborate together to create common, industry standards on resource use and benchmarks for improved ecological sustainability? To answer this question, we used a mixed-method, action research approach. The Alliance for Responsible Denim project mobilized and facilitated denim brands to collectively identify ways to reduce the use of water and chemicals in denim production and then aided them to implement these practices individually in their respective firms.
