Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory
Inception at the Hanover Messe
In 2011, at the Hannover fair, the German term Industrie 4.0 was coined to indicate an extensive programme to introduce new technologies and new business models in the industrial sector.
Industry 4.0 is the English translation of the German term Industrie 4.0 and has now become the universally recognized expression for defining the "Fourth Industrial Revolution".
Revolutionizing the methods for producing (and offering to the market) arises from the western manufacturing sector's need to recover competitiveness compared to emerging countries, using technologies whose potential has not yet been exploited.
Mobile devices, wearable technology and the Internet of Things are just some examples of technologies already available and already exploited in the consumer market, which allow great progress if they are applied within a production environment.
These are precisely the technologies Adgenera employs daily in its solutions, finding the most cost-effective and sustainable way of offering them to its Customers.
Industry 4.0 Enabling Technologies
- Advanced Production Systems: autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics and "cobots".
- Additive Production Systems: all 3D printing applications.
- Augmented Reality: addition of new content "overlayed" on the real images.
- Simulation: technologies for the simulation of processes and products.
- Integration (vertical and horizontal): active exchange of data between all the elements of a process.
- Internet of Things: use of Internet connectivity for all devices.
- Cloud: storage and computing distributed among remote, connected and always accessible servers.
- Cyber security: IT security of data and connections.
- Big Data: management and analysis of large amounts of data using Machine Learning techniques.
Advantages for the Company
- Increases production efficiency.
- Allows greater flexibility (alternating several products in the same line).
- Improves the ergonomics, quality and safety of the work environment.
- Enables the production of small lots in a cost-effective way.
- Eliminates stoppages of plants through preventive maintenance.
- Provides more value to the services that are marketed with the products.
This means that any business function - from Production to Sales, from Quality to Human Resources - is actively involved in "Smart Manufacturing" and benefits from this new paradigm.
Sustainability
Implementing Industry 4.0 does not mean building new plants or revolutionizing the existing ones. On the contrary, it is a matter of analysing in depth the areas of improvement in a production process and intervening in a smart and targeted way.
The analysis phase makes it possible to focus on the technologies which really create more value for the company that will include them in its production process.
Often the greatest benefits come from the application of Industry 4.0 to a few critical aspects of the production flow, through minimal investments and a very high ROI.
Adgenera supports its Customers in analysing the process, identifying areas for possible improvement and estimating the benefits that Industry 4.0 can provide.
Once this phase is over, Adgenera uses its specialized skills to implement the most appropriate solution, following its integration, validation and commissioning in the plant.
