Refurbishment and re-manufacturing of large industrial equipment (IA)

This topic is for demonstration projects to establish the feasibility of lifetime extension of large industrial equipment of the kind used in manufacturing, including modernisation of equipment for data collection and interfaces. Proposals should cover one or more of the following areas:

• refurbishment and/or upgrading of large industrial equipment;
• re-manufacturing and re-use of equipment;
• inspection, functional diagnosis and in-situ repair of damage;
• maintenance and optimised utilisation of large industrial equipment.

These measures can improve the return on investment from major capital items. The scope covers large-scale electrical and/or mechanical machinery in plants rather than electronic equipment, which earlier projects have already covered. Demonstration activities need to take place in real industrial settings and include validation of at least two industrial demonstrators in different sectors, enabling the integration and scale-up of the parameters to other industrial environments.

Activities should start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 at the end of the project.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU between EUR 12 and 15 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

In line with the circular economy, lifetime extension can limit high replacement costs of major industrial infrastructures. This can be achieved through refurbishment, re-manufacturing, re-use, upgrading, in-situ repair, improved maintenance and more conservative utilisation of large industrial equipment of the kind used in manufacturing. These actions can significantly extend the useful life of heavy machinery, and improve the return on investment from major capital items.

• Material and resource efficiency increased by at least 10%;
• Life time extension of the targeted large machinery and plants by at least 20%;
• Increased return on investment from major capital items.

Relevant indicators and metrics, with baseline values, should be clearly stated in the proposal.