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    About

    About

    I hold a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Faculdade Lusíada de Famalicão (1994). Joining INESC TEC in May 1995, I progressed from Senior Researcher to Coordinator of the Centre for Enterprise Systems Engineering (CESE), leading teams and projects for over two decades. I am now a researcher at the Centre for Industrial & Systems Engineering and Management (SYSTEM), deepening the connection between research and real-world industrial impact.

    My research focuses on flexible production systems, industrial balancing and planning, operations digitalisation (MES, Industry 4.0, IT/OT) and sustainable value chains, applied across the footwear, textiles, cork, food processing and automotive sectors. I hold two European patents from the FIT4U project and have published in Computers & Industrial Engineering and Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing.

    Over 30 years, I have led R&D and technology transfer projects, from proof-of-concept to full industrial deployment, working with companies such as Kyaia, Corticeira Amorim and IKEA Industry. I currently lead the BioShoes4All project, focused on circular bioeconomy applied to the footwear industry.

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    • Name

      Rui Diogo Rebelo

    • Role

      Area Manager

    • Since

      01st May 1995
    110
    Publications
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    2025

    Boosting Governance-Centric Digital Product Passports Through Traceability in Footwear Industry

    Authors
    Moço, H; Sousa, C; Ferreira, R; Pinto, P; Pereira, C; Diogo, R;

    Publication
    INNOVATIVE INTELLIGENT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND LOGISTICS, IN4PL 2024, PT II

    Abstract
    Since supply chains have become complex and tracking a product's journey, from raw materials to the end of it's life has become more difficult. Consumers are demanding greater transparency about the materials origins and environmental impact of the products they buy. These new requirements, togeher with European Commission Green Deal strategy, lead to the concept of digital product passport (DPP). DPP could be seen as an instrument to boost circularity, however the DPP architecture and governance model still undefined and unclear. Data Governance in the context of the DPP acts as the backbone for ensuring accurate and reliable data within these passports or data models, leading to flawless traceability. This article approaches the DPPs and it's governance challenges, explaining how they function as digital repositories for a product's life cycle information and the concept of Data Governance. By understanding how these two concepts work together, we will explore a short use case within the footwear industry to show how DPP governance architecture might work in a distributed environment.

    CloseRead Abstract

    2025

    Industry 4.0 Technologies Revolutionising Footwear: Paving the Path to Circularity Through Innovative Services

    Authors
    Monteiro, L; Simoes, AC; Baptista, AJ; Rebelo, R;

    Publication
    HUMAN-CENTRED TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE, VOL 2, IAMOT

    Abstract
    The footwear industry, a sub-sector of textile industrial sector, faces increased pressures towards higher levels of sustainability and circularity along all the value chain. Along the last decades, shoe products have become more complex products, integrating a greater number of components, materials diversity and often long supply-chains related to cost reduction and production or sourcing delocalization strategies. Full value-chain digitalization, as a cornerstone of Industry 4.0 paradigm, plays a key role for leveraging more sustainable and circular products, namely by traceability operationalization and forthcoming instruments such as Digital Product Passport. This research studied, via a state-of-art framing of the challenges followed by qualitative approach, how Industry 4.0 technologies can support the development of new services that contribute to sustainable and circular practices in footwear companies. An interview-based survey was conducted to 6 footwear companies, to map the adoption level of Industry 4.0 technologies and cross-linking to circular services business models.

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    2024

    Energy-efficient Manufacturing Scheduling of Footwear Industries with Onsite Photovoltaic Energy and Storage

    Authors
    Gomes, I; Paulos, J; Bessa, RJ; Sousa, M; Rebelo, R;

    Publication
    2024 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, SEST 2024

    Abstract
    The footwear industry is energy-intensive and, consequently, a source of large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions every year. Issues related to climate change and growing conflicts on a global scale that impact the prices of raw materials and energy prices have led companies in the footwear industry to take actions to mitigate these impacts. Among these actions is the growing focus on producing its energy from energy systems based on renewable sources and battery energy storage units. This paper addresses the energy-efficient manufacturing scheduling in footwear industries with onsite energy production from a photovoltaic system with batteries. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming problem. Different objectives are presented, depending on the priorities of the entity that owns the footwear factory, namely, minimizing operation costs, minimizing CO2 emissions, or both. The case study is footwear factory located in Portugal that uses a manufacturing process based on injection molding. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, with active demand side management playing a fundamental role in shifting periods of higher energy consumption to periods of lower prices or lower CO2 emissions. Also, Pareto fronts are depicted to make the trade-off between CO2 emissions and operation costs. As expected, the reduction of CO2 emissions promotes an increase on operation costs. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on the increase in photovoltaic capacity and battery capacity. The results show that increasing photovoltaic and battery capacity promotes reductions in costs up to 30% and in the emissions up to 37%.

    CloseRead Abstract

    2024

    Digital Product Passport Architecture for Boosting Circularity in Footwear Industry

    Authors
    Sousa, C; Ferreira, R; Pinto, P; Pereira, C; Rebelo, R;

    Publication
    Procedia Computer Science

    Abstract
    This paper discusses the Digital Product Passport (DPP) as a key tool for achieving a circular economy. An architecture of the DPP is presented built upon the principles of data spaces and W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs). By leveraging data spaces, the DPP enables secure and controlled data exchange among stakeholders, fostering transparency, traceability, and collaboration throughout the product's lifecycle. The use of decentralized identifiers ensures the uniqueness and verifiability of product-related information, facilitating seamless access and sharing of data. The DPP architecture offers a promising framework for realizing the circular economy by promoting resource efficiency, sustainable practices, and informed decision-making. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

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    2024

    Industrial Data Sharing Ecosystems: An Innovative Value Chain Traceability Platform Based in Data Spaces

    Authors
    Freitas, J; Sousa, C; Pereira, C; Pinto, P; Ferreira, R; Diogo, R;

    Publication
    GOOD PRACTICES AND NEW PERSPECTIVES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, VOL 3, WORLDCIST 2024

    Abstract
    Considering the great challenge of implementing digital tools to improve collaboration in the value chain and promote the adoption of circularity strategies, as is the case with digital traceability tools and digital product passports. This paper presents an innovative proposal for implementing an industrial data sharing ecosystem, namely an architecture and platform for digital traceability between entities based on Data Spaces. To validate our proposal, a use case scenario was implemented as part of the BioShoes4All project.

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