The growing trend toward mass customization and the global focus on sustainability are pushing manufacturing companies to increase product variety on the market and introduce increasingly innovative offerings. This requires a reduction in time-to-market to continue meeting these demands.

In this context, METABRAKE comes into play—a three-year project launched in November 2023. The consortium includes Brembo, Politecnico di Milano – Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Consorzio Intellimech, and MADE - Competence Center Industria 4.0.

The project aims to explore and test the feasibility of co-designing, co-engineering innovative products along with their production processes and systems leveraging Industrial Metaverse.

METABRAKE is not just a pioneering project in terms of product innovation for the automotive industry; it extends beyond that by exploring how technologies such as Digital Twin, Virtual Reality, and the Internet of Things can be integrated within the Industrial Metaverse. The goal is to enhance efficiency in the design and engineering of new products and production systems in the manufacturing sector.

The Politecnico di Milano, through the Department of Management, Economics and Engineering, is ready to make a significant contribution to this project with the creation of a Proof-of-Concept at the Manufacturing Group’s Industry 4.0 Lab .

The usage of various software and hardware solutions will enable comprehensive system integration, starting from the virtual model of the product all the way to its production system, including factory layout and assembly line with each station in detail with embedded PLC as well; all will be collaboratively accessible to several users, even located remotely and in different places.

This step is crucial to exploring and testing the possibilities and challenges of product-production system co-design within the Industrial metaverse in a controlled environment.

The expected outcomes include both technical/technological and methodological solutions, aiming to develop a 360° solution that meets the needs of manufacturing companies.

“Accordi per l’Innovazione” grant with the Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy