Smart & Sustainable Manufacturing Systems LABoratory

Learning factory for "Aquaponics 4.0" directed & founded by Dr. Rafiq Ahmad. The Aquaponics Learning Factory (AllFactory), started in 2016, provides a unique Factory-in-a-lab transdisciplinary research, training, and learning environment to investigate Aquaponics 4.0 systems. Aquaponics is a vertical farming method and is a new sustainable farming technique that uses stacked layers of plants to improve plant yield per unit area while also reducing required resources. Compared to conventional farming, vertical farming can result in a 70% reduction in water and fertilizer consumption per plant produced. Aquaponics is a combination between aquaculture (farming of fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil), being a technique to grow plants with the aquaculture effluent. This technique claims to have a high water efficiency, is pesticide-free, and reduces the use of fertilizers. All in all this technology is considered green and sustainable.