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Strategic Research Alignment: MARC Team Visit to Alfa Laval
The team from Mälardalen University’s Automation Center, Research Area 1 (RA1), visited strategic partner Alfa Laval in Lund on April.
“This is a strategic alignment with all partners involved in the ongoing research work in RA1, although meetings between the research team and companies happen frequently. Visiting a partner company brings us closer to real use-case scenarios, which is crucial,” says Jessica Bruch, Research Leader of RA1, following the factory visit at Alfa Laval.
The visit was hosted by Maike Klöckner, Operations Development Specialist, Automation and Robotics, who coordinated the day’s program. In addition to the factory tour, the partners and research team took the opportunity to exchange pre-investigation insights gathered from MARC kick-off and the ongoing case studies. During the meeting, partners presented recent findings and engaged in discussions around industrial needs and potential solutions.
RA1 focuses on Portable and Smart Automation in industrial environments, working with strategic partners Alfa Laval, ABB, Hitachi Energy, and Volvo Construction Equipment. The research is organized around three key directions:
- Portable automation solutions
- Solutions reducing perceived complexity
- Servitisation of manufacturing assets to enhance the availability of automation
“Our experience shows that grounding development work in academic research brings real value to industry, particularly when it comes to avoiding redundant efforts and focusing on what has already been proven to work,” said Nathalie Agerskans, who presented the initial literature review during the meeting. “By reviewing existing research and state-of-the-art technologies related to our research questions, we help ensure that company use cases are built on solid, evidence-based foundations.”
All research within RA1 aims to answer the central question: how can automation be made smart and portable? This is pursued through close collaboration with industry, ensuring that research outcomes translate into practical applications. The goal is also to showcase examples of smart and portable automation at MDU, both for visiting partners and students.
Jessica Bruch introduced the ongoing demonstrator development at MDU. These demonstrations are designed to:
- Show how automation systems can safely move between different stations and perform tasks without requiring CE-marking.
- Present intuitive interfaces that can be configured, programmed, and operated without expert knowledge.
- Display a smart interface that can be configured/programmed/operated without being an expert.
- Display real-time data on screens, showing how the system analyzes and /improves performance.
The key benefit is to get new insights and new perspectives based on the latest research and other companies' experiences that enable competitive and sustainable solutions for Alfa Laval". said Anna Wenemark, Technology Office Manager at Alfa Laval.
To conclude the day, Jessica Bruch discussed the upcoming activities and plan with all the participants. To ensure continuous alignment and co-creation between academia and industry, physical project meetings with RA1 are planned to take place at least three times throughout 2025. These meetings serve as key milestones for strategic dialogue, sharing progress on research activities, validating findings with industry partners, and jointly shaping the direction of ongoing and future work.