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Production of made-to-order of complex machines, such as steam generators consisting of many custom elements – bent pipes, sheet metal involves working within complex value chains. Manufacturers outsource individual elements to companies offering metal fabrication as a service (FaaS).

With metal fabrication being a low margin activity, the price is not the main factor - contractors are chosen based on their ability to deliver according to the individual design (technical capability) and the expected lead time (operational capacity). Traditionally, customer contacts several FaaS companies and each of them assesses feasibility of the design, checks the production schedule, and replies to the customer, who needs to make the final decision. This process is time-consuming (as it involves manual verification, phone calls and emails, and several iterations to agree on details), inefficient (several companies analyse the same design individually) and costly (only one company is going to be directly paid for the effort, which seriously affects the average margins).

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CaCaMat solution is to automate the following pre-purchase inquiry process steps:

• extract the technical requirements needed to fabricate the part,

• match them with the capabilities of the machine park of potential suppliers,

• check the availability of machines,

• estimate the lead time,

• communicate it to the potential customer.

This will reduce both the lead time of the assembly and the pre-order effort – benefiting both the final product manufacturer and their subcontractors. However, the information on designs of parts, machines capabilities and capacities are confidential, and sharing them needs to be done in an environment ensuring full safety and security. The IDS-based Market 4.0 provides ideal conditions to achieve our objectives which is development of application supporting capacity and capability driven selection of custom metal fabrication subcontractors.