The partnership between Bosch and the University of Minho opened a new path in relations between industry and educational institutions. The first project in partnership - HMIExcel (2013-2015) had a great national and international impact, and the results, applications and innovations are at the level of what is best in Europe and the world. The partnership between Bosch and the University of Minho has allowed developing a high degree of innovation technologies with extreme relevance to the Multimedia Automotive sector, including the development of new processes, products and solutions that enable the strengthening and entry into new markets, production solutions tailored to each client.
The partnership between the two institutions showed innovation culture exported by Bosch, actively contributing to the construction of reputable technology developed and produced in Portugal, to ensure greater international competitiveness.
The HMIExcel enabled the increase of various levels of technical and scientific know-how, which produced added value for all involved and the results achieved validated the road traveled, promoting new developments state-of-the-art, which formed a solid foundation with enhanced knowledge for future collaborations. The HMIExcel project also allowed the Bosch unit in Braga performs its first patent applications at the National Institute of Industrial Property, reaching an important milestone in the company's history in Portugal.
After the success achieved with the HMIExcel program (2013-2015), the partnership of RDT between the Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal and the University of Minho came forward with a new program called iFactory.
The iFactory program includes the development and generation of scientific and technological advances that result in a set of processes, systems and tools that will give a high level of flexibility and quality combined with competitive costs, the main operations related to the different phases of projects industrialization at Bosch. Thus, efforts will contribute to the design and development of:
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materials and devices for quality control, processing, manufacturing and factory management;
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quality control tools;
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prototyping and manufacturing processes;
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logistics systems;
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management systems of production and maintenance;
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business intelligence systems and project management.
Starting date: July 2015
Completion date: July 2018
Budget: 22.350.581,45€
Contacts:
António J. Pontes – Programme Director UMinho and Bosch-UMinho partnership coordinator (pontes@dep.uminho.pt)
Eduardo B. Pinto - Programme Manager UMinho (eduardo.pinto@eng.uminho.pt)
Consortium: Universidade do Minho, Bosch Car Multimédia Portugal
Location: Braga, Portugal
