Socio-Economic and Technical Assessment

To evaluate the impact of the cluster results, it is proposed to perform “Socio-Economic and Technical Impact Assessment” following these approaches based on the time frame of the assessment:

1. Short-term (immediate) Impact Assessment using a questionnaire
2. Long-term Impact Assessment using a unified method

 

A) Impact Assessment (short-term)

Considering the period of implementation at the end of the projects, which is relatively short, an assessment can be performed based on the opinion of the pilots as the industrial users. In addition, in case of new end-user, a preliminary assessment can be performed on the expected impacts.

For this short-term/preliminary IA, a questionnaire is prepared which allows, in a simplified way, raising awareness and stimulating the end-users on the subject of impact assessment, mainly by putting “social, innovation and scientific” aspect next to economic one since the former category of impact is usually in the shadow of the latter.

In this approach, the interviewee is questioned about the key cluster results used (or to be used) by his/her company. Then, he/she is guided through categorised questions to formulate its perception on the impacts (or expected impacts) of each result. Based on the answers, a preliminary assessment on positive/negative aspects can be performed.

Impact Assessment Questionnaire

 

B) Impact Assessment (long-term)

The proposition for a long-term Impact Assessment is based on the definition of customised PIs adapted to the unique characteristics of each project, results, and its users and their type of industry and expectations, instead of usage of pre-defined PIs.  C2NET developed the Impact Assessment method based on the simplified ECOGRAI method which is a method to design and implement Performance Indicator System (PIS) for industrial organisations (Doumeingts et al. 1995). The role of a PIS is to monitor the state of a process in order to evaluate the situation. In a PIS, performance indicators measure the efficiency of the actions to reach the objectives and facilitate the appropriate reaction.

The simplified ECOGRAI method is flexible enough to be adapted and applied particularly to the Impact Assessment in the three aforementioned areas (See Figure below). Here after, the adaptation of this method in the context of Impact Assessment is described. As an example, Manufacturing Industry area is chosen.

Adaptation of ECOGRAI method for Socio-Economic and Technical Impact Assessment

Phase 1: Description of the system and definition of the objectives (expected impacts)

The first phase of the method (See (a) in the Figure) aims to describe the system in which the Impact Performance Indicators (IPIs) will be defined while focusing on the system objectives. In fact, it is quite impossible to determine (IPIs) for any kinds of activity, if we don’t know in which conditions the activity is performed. The systems in our case is in fact the system of the end-user of the cluster which can be Manufacturing System, Scientific/research community, and/or a part of the Society, targeted by the cluster results/propositions. To describe these systems, we need to determine the elements, processes, boundary, objectives and their role in the development and application of the cluster results. The elements can be for instance the industrial companies, used technology (machinery, IT tools, etc.), researchers, developers, customers, and competitors’ solutions.

In the next step, system objectives should be clarified. It should be noted that the objectives should be classified in the three areas of Impact Assessment: 1) Economic Impact on Manufacturing Industry, 2) Technical impact on Scientific/research community, and 3) Innovation impact on Society.

In a simplified example regarding one of the results of C2NET project, the corresponding objective in the first area is “to increase productivity of manufacturing processes”. Regarding the society, work life quality of the individuals can be at stake.

Phase 2: Definition of Impact Drivers

According to the domain of expected impacts (e.g. manufacturing system or a group of workers in the society), the potential actions, called Driver (see (b) in the Figure), on which the end-user system acts to reach its objectives (expected impact), should be defined. In this case, the drivers are the cluster results. Therefore, a list of methods & tools (developed or to be developed) and their functionalities resulted from the projects should be elaborated. The link between the results and the corresponding objective(s) should be also clarified.

For example, “C2NET Optimization component” can be a driver which contributes to the objective “to increase the productivity” mentioned in phase 1.

Phase 3: Definition of Impact Performance Indicators (PIs)

In the third phase, Impact Performance Indicators (IPI) are defined. Generally, a PI is a quantified data which measures the reaching of an objective under the effect of a corresponding driver (see (c) in the Figure). Even though the method promotes the definition of customised PIs, a list of predefined PIs existing in the literature can be inspiring.

For the example mentioned in Phases 1 and 2, the IPI can be the “Ratio of productivity (“number of produced products on resources” in a period of time divided by “number of produced products on resources” in the previous period). In a social context, an IPI can be “the level of worker satisfactions or well-being”. The IPIs should be well defined and measurable with precise periods/procedures of measurement based on the nature of the system (e.g. its evolution pace). In addition, the parameters (i.e. measurement conditions) and their effect on the IPI value should be identified to be able to isolate as much as possible the link between the driver and the IPI.

Before and after the introduction of the project results (drivers) to the system under investigation, the IPI should be measured in different periods. Following a classic approach, based on the comparison of the obtained values (taking into account the fact that the impact of the driver usually happens after a warm-up period), trends should be identified and analysed to assess the impact of a project result. It should be mentioned that the measurement conditions should be well studied to isolate as much as possible the link between the driver and the IPI value.

To guide the IPI definition, implementation, and measurement, purpose, a specification sheet is also proposed (see the Table below). This template can be used for detailing IPI information and to gather its main characteristics. The specification sheet is initially proposed by the ECOGRAI method and was (Doumeingts et al, 1995).

 

Impact Performance Indicator (IPI) Specification Sheet

 

IPI	ID – Title (e.g. Productivity)
Evaluation mode	Depending on the nature of IPI and the significance of its definition, one or both of the below evaluation modes will be chosen. 1.To study the IPI absolute value: IPI values during period “1” to “n” 2.To study the IPI evolution: Ratio: e.g. Note: It is assumed that both the initial and the final values are positive (larger than 0). If the IPI initial value (IPI value during period X) is not applicable (e.g. implementation of a new system) or equal to 0, only IPI absolute value will be studied.
Purpose	Why the measure is performed or why this IPI is important? This must be discussed between the enterprise and system responsible.
Expected Impact	The end-user objective connected to the IPI. (e.g. To increase the Productivity, to hold the market position and to be more competitive)
Target audience	To whom (service / person) the value of IPI is addressed. (e.g. To be presented to the production/marketing management and the system responsible).
Driver	Solutions (IT applications / methods) to be implemented in the system allowing reaching the objectives. In Cluster case, the drivers are the solutions proposed by the projects which have been implemented in their pilots.
IPI nature	Quantitative or Qualitative
Information source	The information (data) source(s) needed to calculate the IPI.
Processing (Formula)	The formula, including the parameters and variables, to calculate the IPI.
Collect Procedure	How to collect the data? who collects the data? where the values are registered?
AS IS Value	Value of the “IPI” during a period before the Driver implementation (e.g. 90%)
TO BE Value	Value of the “IPI” during a period after the Driver implementation (e.g. 92%)
Required evolution (Target)	The value of the IPI which is necessary to reach. (e.g. 13 (an increase of 2 percent))
The owner (Who measures)	The person who is responsible of the domain in which the IPI is implemented (organisation of the measurement: Definition of the tasks of everyone), (e.g. responsible of the system)
Period	The interval of time to evaluate the value of the IPI. This interval should be significant according the evolution of the system. The period depends on the evolution of the system (if the evolution is important, the period of evaluation decreases). (e.g. one month)
Horizon	The interval of time during which the system is analysed. (e.g. one year)
Description mode	Representation of the IPI wished by the future user (s) (e.g. Histogram)
Actions to react depending on the IPI value	Action (on the concerned driver) that the owner takes to evolve in the right direction.

 

 

References:

• Doumeingts, G., Clave, F. & Ducq, Y., 1995. “ECOGRAI – A method to design and to implement Performance Measurement Systems for industrial organizations· Concepts and application to the Maintenance function” in A. Rolstadås (ed.), Benchmarking — Theory and Practice © S. In: A. Rolstadås, ed. Benchmarking — Theory and Practice. New York: © Springer Science & Business Media.
• Doumeingts G., Fensterbank S-A., Pirayesh A., Barthet E., “C2NET D7.10 – 2nd Socio-economic Impact Assessment”, January 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st CREMA – C2NET Industrial Workshop – 24/11/2016 – Gipuzkoa (Spain)

The 24th of November it took place in Orona Fundazioa, Basque Country (Spain) an Industrial workshop, organised by CREMA and C2NET H2020 EU projects, intended to present future trends of European Industry especially those related to digitalization technologies applied to manufacturing. High levels speakers from the Basque Government and the Industry sector will give their expert vision about the manufacturing industry substantial transformations due to the proliferation of Information and Communication (ICT) and Internet Technologies.

 

All the presentations and videos are available here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acronym	Title	Website
C2NET	Cloud Collaborative Manufacturing Networks	http://c2net-project.eu/
ADALAM	Sensor based adaptive laser micromachining using ultrashort pulse lasers for zero-failure manufacturing	adalam.eu
COMBILASER	COMbination of non-contact, high speed monitoring and non-destructive techniques applicable to LASER Based Manufacturing through a self-learning system	http://combilaser.eu/
CREMA	Cloud-based Rapid Elastic MAnufacturing	http://www.crema-project.eu/
MASHES	Multimodal spectrAl control of laSer processing with cognitivE abilities	http://www.mashesproject.eu/
PREVIEW	Predictive System to Recommend Injection Mould Setup with Process Optimisation in Wireless Sensor Networks	http://preview-project.eu/
RADICLE	Real-time dynamic control system for laser welding	http://www.radiclelaser.eu/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C2NET Project Brochure Projet Poster & Technical Poster Newsletter Videos	COMBILASER Project Brochure Poster Roll-up Flyer	PREVIEW Project Brochure Leaflet Roll-up Poster
ADALAM Project Brochure Poster	CREMA Project Video Newsletter 1, 2 and 3	MASHES Project Roll-up Flyer
RADICLE Project Poster Roll-up Flyer 1 Flyer 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To receive more information or contact the cluster administrator: sophie.fensterbank(a)interop-vlab.eu