The Up-Skill Team

Mälardalen University (MDU) is the Up-Skill project coordinator who will work closely with partners ARU and UMIL in Work Package 2 and will lead the research effort in the Mӓlardalen region of Sweden, where the case studies of Helekopter and Alfa Laval are situated. MDU is a progressive and collaborative university and one of Sweden’s largest institutes of higher education. The University is characterised by its close partnerships with international companies in the public sector such as ABB, Volvo and Bombardier.

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), as Work Package 2 leaders, will coordinate the ethnographic research effort over the life of the project and will also lead on the writing of related cross-case study reports, the literature review, interim reports and final report. ARU is one of the top 350 universities in the world and one of the top 40 universities in the UK. The Faculty of Business and Law at ARU is a full-service business school and host to four research centres.

Università Degli Studi di Milano (UMIL) will lead the research effort in the Milan region of Italy with a focus on small and medium sized companies, characterised by their level of skilled craft, involved in the styling, design and prototyping of industrial design products in a diverse range of sectors, including furniture and furnishings, interior design and yacht design. UMIL is a leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity with experienced researchers in the fields of organisational behaviour and organisational studies. Their research focuses on the nature of contemporary workplaces and the ambivalence surrounding job transformation and alternative forms of work arrangements.

TWI are leaders of Work Package 1 – Enabling Technology Assessment and will assess, capture and implement the hardware requirements for the case studies. TWI is one of Europe’s largest independent, membership-based research and technology organisations with a multidisciplinary team of consultants, engineers and technicians dedicated to the development and application of advanced inspection techniques, structural integrity assessment and risk management.

Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center AB (MITC), as Work Package 4 leaders, are tasked with extracting the training needs identified from other work packages and translating them into training programmes that can be applied across a broad range of industrial sectors. MITC works directly with the manufacturing industry and SMEs with the area of focus being manufacturing, industrialisation, and product development with digitalisation and sustainability as cross-sectional areas.

Lancaster University lead Work Package 3 – Use Case Development: Skills vs Quantified Products – and will be supporting the ethnographic study with researchers based at end user organisations. They will also develop and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning across the use cases. Lancaster University is among the best in the UK, ranked amongst the country’s top 20 universities.

IRIS will act as designer and developer of the digital tools as well as provider of AI algorithms associated with the Decision Support System and Up-Skill Platform developed and deployed in Work Package 5. IRIS is a Deep-Tech Engineering company specialised in Real Time Monitoring and Industrial Artificial Intelligence Solutions for driving improved process quality and efficiency for industry.

Kneia, as Work Package 6 leaders, are responsible for the exploitation, dissemination and communication activities of the project. KNEIA deploys a multidisciplinary approach in order to satisfy clients and partners in the fields of exploitation and dissemination consulting, innovation-based scale up, training, and technical direction and assistance.

Helekopter AB is one of the case studies being investigated and will assist in the assessment capture and verification of the interface change between SMEs´ administrative work and business orientated work, driven by new customer behavior and digitalisation. Helekopter AB is a company creating, developing and building company structures around SMEs aiming to minimise administrative work, risk, and time to market.

Alfa Laval will make up one of the case studies investigated and is a leading global provider of first-rate products in the areas of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. Alfa Laval undertakes a variety of engineering activities and are keen to advance their level of industry 4.0 capability and automate where possible.

Webber are a case study in Up-Skill and have been developing and supplying gas burners for industry, commercial devices and household appliances for 45 years. Webber wants to integrate emerging technologies in their production processes to fill a specialist skill gap no longer being taught to apprentices

Ford has launched multiple Industry 4.0 initiatives to support their business from the initial installation to the ongoing running of operations.