Collaboration around production capacity provides greater flexibility and increased security
: 09.05.2025
Collaboration around production capacity provides greater flexibility and increased security
: 09.05.2025
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Collaboration around production capacity provides greater flexibility and increased security
By Astrid Helene Mortensen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: AAU
A new approach to production is being developed - one that breaks with traditional methods and offers businesses much greater flexibility.
MAASive is a groundbreaking project coordinated and managed by Aalborg University, specifically grounded in the Mass Customization research group at the Department of Materials and Production. The project is carried out in collaboration with universities and companies across Europe.
The project introduces the concept of Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) – a new approach where resources are offered as services. MaaS allows businesses to connect to a distributed network of providers, enabling rapid responses to changing needs, disruptions, or custom requirements without large investments.
"It's not just about streamlining production – it's about rethinking the entire value chain so it can withstand crises while becoming more sustainable," says Ann-Louise Andersen, Associate Professor at the Department of Materials and Production at Aalborg University.
Traditional Methods Challenged by Disruptions
Traditional ways of producing and delivering goods are not flexible enough to adapt to unstable markets, changing customer demands, and external factors like political unrest and climate change. These issues lead to higher costs, unreliable deliveries, and lost sales. MAASive helps address these challenges by promoting flexible and scalable networks that are more robust and sustainable.
With MaaS, manufacturers can:
- Access production capacity exactly when and where it's needed
- Pay only for what they use – similar to a subscription model
- Quickly adapt their supplier network in response to changes in the external environment
- Grow without needing to own factories or machinery
MAASive enables companies to utilize shared resources through a digital network. This reduces dependency on individual suppliers and fixed factories, resulting in greater flexibility, improved resilience, and more efficient use of resources.
It's not just about streamlining production – it's about rethinking the entire value chain.
Fakta
Scope and Impact of the Project
The MAASive project spans three years, involves 12 partners from across Europe, and is supported by a €4.56 million budget under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
The main objectives are:
- Modeling as a foundation: Developing the necessary models to describe production as a service, match processes and products, generate and simulate potential value chains, and easily implement new services.
- Impact simulation: Analyzing consequences under various disruption scenarios and evaluating possible response strategies.
- Network coordination and operation: Developing optimal methods for managing and coordinating distributed production networks.
These initiatives culminate in an industry toolkit that combines existing technologies with new frameworks developed by the MAASive team. The project’s approach addresses strategic, tactical, and operational aspects of transforming value chains.
Consortium
MAASive is a collaboration between leading universities and industrial players:
- Academic partners: Aalborg Universitet (DK), Politecnico di Milano (IT), École Centrale de Nantes (FR) og Technische Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Industrial partners: Kamstrup, Arçelik, Arctic, Ilpea (IT & RO), SmartOpt, TXTgroup og ETKems
A vision for the future
MAASive paves the way for a more flexible and sustainable industrial production. The project helps companies navigate uncertainty, reduce waste, and use resources more efficiently across networks.
For companies looking to help shape the future of production, MAASive offers a strategic platform for innovation and resilience.
