THE NORTHERNMOST UNIVERSITY
of Technology in Scandinavia
The Faste Laboratory
A VINNOVA Excellence Centre for Functional Product Innovation
ltu.se/faste
ltu.se/faste
Vision
New methods and tools are developed enabling functional products
with optimized lifecycle cost and customer value and enabling the
industry partners to take lead in functional product businesses.
The Faste Laboratory is a VINNOVA Excellence Centre focusing
Functional Product Innovation
A functional product is much more than hardware. It is a
solution that integrates hardware, software and services
which is a base for future development. In this context,
a new development process based on simulation driven
design will be applied in an environment which includes
distributed engineering methods and tools.
The profile of the Faste Laboratory has its roots in a
longstanding commitment to use modelling and simulation
methods and tools to predict product/process properties
and behaviour. Additionally, Faste Laboratory partners
have extensive experience in developing, evaluating and
using tools and methods for collaborative engineering in
geographically distributed teams. In recent years, it has
become quite obvious how important these capabilities
are when introducing a Functional Product Innovation
perspective.
The Faste Laboratory links the traditionally separated areas of
business and technology. Based on the partner companies’
strategic business development and the capabilities of Luleå
University of Technology the projects address the following
perspectives:
· Functional Product Development
· Simulation Driven Design
· Distributed Collaborative Engineering
The programme highlights the demands on a cross disciplinary
approach. It also adds competence within computer science,
manufacturing, production, materials, business, organisation
and human work science.
Functional Product
Innovation
Functional
Product
Development
Materials
Organisation
Innovative Capability
Computer
Science
Distributed
Collaborative
Engineering
Sustainability
One important trend in reaching a sustainable society is that
Manufacturing
Production
Human
Work
Science
Extended Enterpris
e
cle Commitment
Life-Cy
Total
Simulation
Driven
Design
industries are expected to provide functions throughout the lifecycle
of the products rather than the product itself. The product provider,
or many companies in a network, will then be responsible for all costs
to develop, manufacture, support and upgrade the product. This will
force companies to cooperate as early as possible in the product
development to minimise the risks.
Business
Market Needs
Results
For some industrial partners, participation within the
Faste Laboratory has led to actions towards a change
in business direction. These companies move from a
hardware-oriented situation towards a more service
oriented situation with new business models strongly
related to functional product provision.
Results from the Faste Laboratory are today related to
internal processes of change. Several partners have also
adopted results related to analysis of monitored data in
order to optimize the operation of the Functional Product.
The participation has further provided an easy transition of
employees from academia to industry which, besides the
workforce itself, gives a knowledge transfer without any
intermediaries.
The results have also been used for business decisions,
for instance, to manage risk and availability issues.
Key results divided into the Faste Laboratory capability areas includes
Functional Product Development
• A framework for a development process coupling all the constituent elements of FP
based on previous research and partner company interviews has been derived.
Distributed Collaborative Engineering
• Methods for how to collect and analyse diverse data from distributed sources to
be used for evaluation of the providers perception of the customer needs have been
developed.
Developed Simulation Driven Design
• Several tools enabling rapid convergence on optimal FP solutions have been developed.
VINNOVA Excellence Center
VINNOVA is the Swedish govern­mental agency for innovation systems. They promote
sustainable growth by funding needs-driven research, and by developing effective innovation
systems. VINNOVA, in partnership with industry and academia, is funding VINNOVA
Excellence Centres at a selected number of Swedish universities. VINNOVA is staking up
to 7 million euro in each centre and the other co-players are investing at least the same
amount over up to a ten year period. The VINNOVA Excellence Centres builds internationally
competitive research environments and networks.
THE NORTHERNMOST UNIVERSITY
of Technology in Scandinavia
Industrial partners
Gestamp HardTech AB Hägglunds Drives AB
Infrafone AB LKAB
AB Sandvik Coromant Volvo Car Corporation AB Volvo Construction Equipment AB
Contact persons
ltu.se/faste
Magnus Karlberg
Centre Director and member of executive committee
+46(920)492418, [email protected]
Mats Näsström
Deputy Centre Director and member of
executive committee
+ 46(920)491241, [email protected]
Staffan Lundström,
Member of executive committee
+46(920)492392, [email protected]
Lars-Erik Lindgren
Member of executive committee
+46(920)491306, [email protected]