ANNUAL REPORT 2017

Ana Aranzabe García Technology Director - Fundación TEKNIKER The first year of the 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, 2017, was the starting point to address our strategic challenges that have allowed us to achieve higher levels of excellence. It is also allowing us to carry out our activities under the umbrella of a rigorous scientific culture backed by solid technical knowledge to provide added value for our technology. These challenges, moreover, have made it possible to gear our specialisation towards the industrial sector to further its development based on tangible goal connected to growing more in terms of the knowledge, resources and equipment currently demanded in our environment. Specialisation and growth linked to a major challenge focused on generating assets to be transferred to the industrial sector in the short and medium term. As in recent years, the 2017 annuity has given rise to numerous activities connected to Production Resources and Processes. More specifically, approximately 106 projects addressing activities such as non-conventional manufacturing processes linked to the development of a micro laser drilling system for large titanium panels in the aeronautical business with capacity to drill more than 500 holes per second; mechatronic developments requiring high degrees of accuracy for large components (such as the construction of the LSST telescope) and smaller parts related, for instance, to various devices used in the medical sector. Precision manufacturing is linked to measuring things accurately. Specifically, an automatic self-calibration system has been designed for the metrology sector which, in a matter of minutes runs an error verification check so a machine can recalibrate itself to carry on machining as accurately as possible. I must underscore IK4-TEKNIKER’s international reputation in the field of metrology. Our organisation has been chosen to carry out two projects under the EMPIR call (European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research). As regards the simulation line linked to Additive Manufacturing, work has focused on developing a hybrid and nimble modelling platform to allow machine manufacturers and, especially, their users, to drastically optimise (cost and time-wise) their processes in relation to design, ramp-up, production life cycles and adaptation to new requirements, simultaneously improving their quality and reliability ratios. Our strategic commitment in terms of robotics and industrial automation has also been reinforced during this period. Under the EUROC project (www.euroc-project.eu ) in which several European research teams have been competing against each other to meet a number of technological challenges, IK4-TEKNIKER has made it to the final (winner to be declared in 2018) in both the challenges in which our organisation been involved: ‘Reconfigurable Interactive Manufacturing Cell’ and ‘Shop Floor Logistics and Manipulation’. Work has also started on three new European projects in the field of robotics: (1) PICKPLACE, addressing picking logistics, an area in which IK4-TEKNIKER is an international reference, (2) GREENPATROL, approved under the H2020-GALILEO call whose aim consists in using robotics inside greenhouses to minimise the use of pesticides, and (3) ESMERA, a project aimed at setting up competence centres in 04 TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT INDEX 01 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR 02 REPORT BY THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT 03 MARKET MANAGEMENT 04 TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT 05 THE VOICE OF OUR CUSTOMERS AND COLLABORATORS 06 REVENUES AND BOOK BALANCE 07 COLLABORATING ORGANISATIONS & GOVERNING BOARD 08 IK4 RESEARCH ALLIANCE