Hosted at the company’s 5,500 sq metre facility in the West Midlands, the ‘Smart Machines for the Future’ event featured a day of talks on Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) and virtual reality.
B&R discussed Industry 4.0 and its impact on factories and machines of the future, while ePLAN spoke about innovative engineering processes and how to significantly reduce engineering and project design time.
In addition, Lutze focused on the importance of reliable power circuits in supporting the IIoT concept, and PP Control & Automation explained how the benefits of strategic outsourcing can lead to increased growth and profitability.
Delegates also had the opportunity to see a firsthand demonstration of collaborative robots from Comau and the increasing role they can play in securing greater process efficiencies.
John Armstrong, sales director of PP Control & Automation, said: “There has been a lot of talk about Smart Factories, but very few people actually fully understand the concept, and more importantly, what it will involve for manufacturers in all parts of the supply chain.”
“We wanted to help change that by offering a detailed insight into what it could look like on the shop floor, and the only way we could do this was by assembling some of our technical partners who are experts in their field.”
He continued: “It appeared to be a line-up that really worked, with some delegates confirming that, as OEMs, they are being driven by their customers to provide not only highly automated, but connected machines that can drive productivity and achieve the agility required.”
