A partnership has been formed between Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), Swinburne University of Technology and Sleep Corp to boost advanced manufacturing in Australia.
The partnership is to analyse Sleep Corp’s business and see what improvements can be made as they move towards Industry 4.0, with a view to move to fully automated manufacturing.
Over two years, researchers from Swinburne will work closely with Sleep Corp to set up a Virtual Manufacturing System (VMS) that connects robotics-based machinery to a digital twin that will attempt to provide a faster and more flexible manufacturing approach to address changing customer requirements while maintaining cost competitiveness for the company’s range of products.
“Swinburne is at the forefront in delivering to Australian industry using transformative augmented and virtual reality tools,” said Dr Ambarish Kulkarni, who is a senior lecturer in computer aided engineering at Swinburne.
“Industry 4.0 has been implemented previously in manufacturing industries by Swinburne with sustained productivity and quality gains.”
Researchers will connect and integrate all manufacturing operations ranging from tailoring, cutting and sewing to packaging in one VMS application which then will be linked to SleepCorp’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and data analysis/analytics to provide enhanced visibility across the manufacturing value chain.
“This is another great example of how smart companies can collaborate with Australian Universities to undertake joint Industry 4.0 research and development programs that deliver real world outcomes,” said David Chuter, the CEO and managing director of IMCRC.
Sleep Corp, headquartered in Melbourne, is the home of the Protect-A-Bed brand as well as others including Buddies, Moonshadow, Dreampad and SnoreBeGone.
“Sleep Corp’s goal is to continue to be a proud Australian-owned and made manufacturer, exceeding retailers and consumers expectations alike, on a world stage, with an extraordinary offer that is delivered as efficiently and as cost effectively as possible,” said David Kaplan, founder and managing director of Sleep Corp.