EU to Launch Lasers4MaaS Laser Welding Project

Funded under a European Union HORIZON grant, the Lasers4MaaS (Laser-as-a-Service) project is set to commence next month. The project targets the integration of advanced laser welding technologies with digital platforms to enable flexible, scalable, and sustainable production solutions. Its over-arching goal is to increase the technological readiness level (TRL) from TRL 4 to TRL 6.

Lasers4MaaS aims to address the pressing need for sustainable and efficient manufacturing solutions. Key innovations include the deployment of dynamic beam shaping, AI-driven manufacturing, digital manufacturing platforms, and sustainable and decentralized manufacturing, which offer benefits like enhanced flexibility and precision, seamless data integration for real-time monitoring, quality control, and predictive maintenance.

WMG, The University of Warwick will host an open-day event on Jan. 28, 2025, focusing on dynamic beam shaping for high power laser beam welding, one of the core innovations of Lasers4MaaS. Courtesy of EPIC.

“The deployment of dynamic beam shaping within laser welding has an immense potential for servitization. Manufacturers will be able to build products on-demand, without the need of re-investment in new equipment, thereby enabling rapid repurposing,” said Pasquale Franciosa, Lases4MaaS Project Coordinator and Head of the Laser Beam Welding Group at WMG, The University of Warwick

Coordinated by the WMG, The University of Warwick, the project brings together an international consortium of leading academics from the University of Stuttgart IFSW, TU Wien, University of Leiden, and industry experts from Civan Advanced technologies Ltd., United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, ECOR International SPA, IL Sentiero International Campus SRL, Officine Metallurgiche Cornaglia SPA, FFT Produktionssysteme GmbH & Co. KG, Futurice GmbH, and the European Photonics Industry Consortium. The project is also supported by an industrial advisory board and is seeking and accepting new members.