Standard mass-production is a well-known manufacturing concept. To make small quantities or even single items of a product according to user specifications at an affordable price, alternative agile production paradigms should be investigated and developed. The system presented in this paper is based on a grid of cheap reconfigurable production units, called equiplets. A grid of these equiplets is capable to produce a variety of different products in parallel at an affordable price. The underlying agent-based software for this system is responsible for the agile manufacturing. An important aspect of this type of manufacturing is the transport of the products along the available equiplets. This transport of the products from equiplet to equiplet is quite different from standard production. Every product can have its own unique path along the equiplets. In this paper several topologies are discussed and investigated. Also, the planning and scheduling in relation to the transport constraints is subject of this study. Some possibilities of realization are discussed and simulations are used to generate results with the focus on efficiency and usability for different topologies and layouts of the grid and its internal transport system.
From the article: Abstract. This exploratory and conceptual article sets out to research what arguments and possibilities for experimentation in construction exists and if experimentation can contribute towards more innovative construction as a whole. Traditional, -western- construction is very conservative and regional, often following a traditional and linear design process, which focuses on front-loaded cost savings and repetitive efficiency, rather than securing market position through innovation. Thus becoming a hindrance for the development of the sector as a whole. Exploring the effects of using the, in other design-sectors commonly and successfully practiced, “four-phased iterative method” in architectural construction could be the start of transforming the conservative construction industry towards a more innovative construction industry. The goal of this research is to find whether the proposed strategy would indeed result in a higher learning curve and more innovation during the - architectural- process. Preliminary research indicates that there is argumentation for a more experimental approach to construction.
From a circular standpoint it is interesting to reuse as much as possible construction and demolition waste (CDW) into new building projects. In most cases CDW will not be directly reusable and will need to be processed and stored first. In order to turn this into a successful business case CDW will need to be reused on a large scale. In this paper we present the concept of a centralized and coordinated location in the City of Utrecht where construction and demolition waste is collected, sorted, worked, stored for reuse, or shipped elsewhere for further processing in renewed materials. This has expected advantages for the amount of material reuse, financial advantages for firms and clients, generating employability in the logistics and processing of materials, optimizing the transport and distribution of materials through the city, and thus the reduction of emissions and congestion. In the paper we explore the local facility of a Circular Hub, and the potential effects on circular reuse, and other effects within the City of Utrecht.
Client: Taskforce for Applied Research (SIA), part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW)Funder: RAAK (Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation)This research is co-funded by the Taskforce for Applied Research (SIA), part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), under the RAAK scheme.Project SASTDes aimed to resolve key issues in the sustainability assessment process of tourism destinations, with the objective to reduce the costs of assessments both in time and money, and to use the results of assessments for destination branding and marketing. The project’s core research question was: ‘How can sustainability assessments effectively and efficiently contribute to the sustainable development of tourism destinations and tourism products?’ All 7 work packages of this project were ultimately geared towards the construction of the SASTDes tool, an application enabling all elements of a destination sustainability assessment, with which DMOs can integrate sustainability into their strategic and operational management. All the project’s accomplishments are described in the Project Overview report that can be downloaded on this page. See under Research Output for individual reports.The consortium was led by BUas’ Centre for Sustainability, Tourism and Transport (CSTT). Knowledge partners were BUas’ associate professorships Sustainable Business Models (SBM) and Leisure and Tourism Experiences, Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR), part of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), and the associate professorship Data Science & ICT of Avans University of Applied Sciences. The municipalities of Breda, Goeree-Overflakkee and Schouwen-Duiveland, as well as Visit Zuid-Limburg, joined as destination partners. Tourism industry partners and NGO’s were Green Destinations, Follow, TUI Benelux, SeaGoingGreen, Fair Sayari, ECEAT, Treinreiswinkel, and bookdifferent.com.
In recent years there has been an increasing need for nature inclusive solutions in the construction sector. The practice asks for new solutions contributing to the development of sustainable, resilient and liveable cities. Under the guidance of the Dutch government, greening of the cities has become one of the aims of municipalities in the Netherlands and the focus of some emerging companies and design offices. In cities, quay masonry walls, thanks to their close contact with water, have the potential to be ecologically engineered to favour vegetation, thereby contributing to the renaturing of urban areas. By building a prototype of an innovative masonry building system, this project aims to investigate the potential for improving the integration between masonry quay walls and vegetation. The set-up consists of a dry-stacking system for brick masonry: strong polyamide elements interconnect the bricks, providing strength to the masonry without the need for mortar. The space in between bricks, traditionally filled with mortar, is to be filled with compost material, providing an ideal substrate for plant growth and a buffer for water storage (figure 1). In addition to improved integration between masonry walls and vegetation, the proposed dry-stacking system allows for easy reuse of bricks, thereby contributing to circularity and sustainability of the building industry. The project broadens and strengthens the national network in the field of urban ecology by bringing together expertise from the fields of architecture, ecology and the construction sector, from both academia and practice.
The building industry is a major target for resource-efficiency developments, which are crucial in European Union’s roadmaps. Using renewable materials impacts the sustainability of buildings and is set as urgent target in current architectural practice. The building industry needs renewable materials positively impacting the CO2 footprint without drawbacks. The use of wood and timber as renewable construction materials has potentials, but also drawbacks because trees need long time to grow; producing timber generates considerable waste; and the process from trees to applications in buildings requires transportation and CO2 emission. This research generates new scientific knowledge and a feasibility study for a new wood-like bio-material - made of cellulose and lignin from (local) residual biomass via i.e. 3D printing - suitable for applications in the building industry. It contributes to a sustainable built environment as it transforms waste from different sectors into a local resource to produce a low carbon-footprint bio-material for the construction sector. Through testing, the project will study the material properties of samples of raw and 3D printed material, correlating different material recipes that combine lignin and cellulose and different 3D printing production parameters. It will map the material properties with the requirements of the construction industry for different building products, indicating potentials and limits of the proposed bio-material. The project will produce new knowledge on the material properties, a preliminary production concept and an overview of potentials and limits for application in the built environment. The outcome will be used by industry to achieve a marketable new bio-material; as well as in further scientific academic research.
