Fundamental principles for a successful collaboration between university and metalworking industries

The gap in research between universities and industries is commonly considered to be fairly wide. Especially in metalworking industries, where the production volumes are huge, it seems very difficult for universities that operate with small-scale laboratories, to have a successful collaboration. On one hand, it is impossible to have the same equipment and installations of the industry inside universities, and to carry out the exact simulation of a certain industrial condition becomes challenging. On the other hand several advantages emerge and are directly related to laboratory investigations. Thanks to the experience that our research group gained over the years with the continuous collaboration with companies, it has been possible to underline and develop the fundamentals of a successful collaboration with an industrial reality. In this work two real cases of collaboration will be presented: an aluminum foundry and a mechanical industry. Company and university are members of the same team, they have to be able to communicate and joint efforts to reach the same goal.