HKMB Hong Kong Means Business

Hong Kong Means Business Hong Kong Means Business
  • Login / Register

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
  • Events
  • My Feed
  • Contact HKTDC
  • Subscribe
  • Subscribe

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research

Languages

  • EN
  • 繁
  • 简
  • HKTDC.com |
  • About HKTDC |
  • My HKTDC |
  • Login / Register |

HKTDC.com About HKTDC My HKTDC

Login Register

Hong Kong Means Business

Section Menu

  • multimedia
  • market spotlight
  • first person
  • Venture Hong Kong
  • heads-up
  • inside china
  • life & style
  • hktdc research

https://hkmb.hktdc.com/en/1X0AER7K

market spotlight
SAVE FOR LATER
SHARE / SEND

"Scan QR Code" in WeChat and tap "..." to share.

Fourth Industrial Revolutionaries Plot Future Form of Factories

Manchester, heart of the First Industrial Revolution, sees how companies ranging from ancient to brand-new are transforming workplaces and labour.

07 August 2018


Factories of the Future Expo
Factories of the future: high on efficiency, low on Christmas party expenditure

The Fourth Industrial Revolution visited the heartlands of the First earlier this year when the Factories of the Future Expo came to Manchester, the 18th century site of the world’s initial steps towards automation and mass manufacturing.

Smart factories, the Internet of Things (IoT), cognitive computing and cyber-physical systems all came under scrutiny at this year’s Factories of the Future Expo, part of the United Kingdom's Industry 4.0 Summit. While, for some, Industry 4.0 – the, reportedly looming Fourth Industrial Revolution – remains something of a nebulous concept, many at the event were only too keen to highlight the transformational potential of current moves to fuse smart technology with the overall manufacturing process.

One such high-tech evangelist was Festo, a Stuttgart-based specialist in pneumatics, electrical parts and robotics. Highlighting the company's innate advantage when it comes to meeting the challenges of the coming revolution, Training and Consulting Manager Gary Fuller said: "Not only do we manufacture industrial automation products that are Industry 4.0-ready, we also understand the change from a manufacturer's point of view. While a lot of people see us solely as a supplier, we actually run a number of manufacturing sites across the world – including a dedicated Industry 4.0 plant in Germany.

"This was built not just to implement our ideas, but also to get an understanding of their likely impact. Overall, 4.0 is not just about technology – it's also about people and about management."

Another of the many forward-looking businesses hoping to take a lead in the 4.0 stakes was Proto Labs, a Minnesota-based custom-parts manufacturer specialising in the use of Computer Numerical Control-machining, 3D printing and injection-moulding. Outlining the company's unique selling proposition, Northern Europe Account Manager Mark Johnson said: "We see ourselves as being at the very forefront of digital manufacturing. Typically, customers upload their design to our website then our proprietary software figures out all the tool-pathing required to actually manufacture the item, allowing us to quote the likely costs within 24 hours, with finished injection-moulded parts deliverable within 15 business days and certain CNC-machined parts capable of being turned around within a single day."

Predictive Maintenance

Robo-resourcefulness ABB Ability
Robo-resourcefulness ABB Ability

Many exhibitors at the event were relatively new, tech-focused businesses but there was still space for a number of the manufacturing sector's true veterans – most notably ABB, the 135-year-old Swiss-Swedish automation and heavy industry equipment giant. Despite – or maybe because of – its lengthy history, the company was keen to emphasise its cutting-edge credentials. To this end, last year it repackaged all its high-end digital solutions under one brand – ABB Ability.

Summarising the thinking behind this, Steve Gornett, a Project Manager with ABB UK, said: "ABB Ability represents where we want to go with Industry 4.0. As an initiative, it unites all our different divisions and all our various areas of activity. The instrumentation side of our business, for example, collects real-time data en masse. From that, we have developed a cloud-based control system and an app with wide applications in the field of predictive maintenance.

"Similarly, our drives and motors division has developed apps for sensors that that can be plugged into the side of motors. These then transmit real-time data, allowing us to implement an effective predictive maintenance regime."

The Proglove
The Proglove: handy barcoding

While ABB was not the only heritage business at the event, the more typical exhibitors tended to be smaller, younger European companies offering Industry 4.0-specific products and services. One such business, with a speciality in the wearables sector, was Munich-based ProGlove.

Championing the role of such technology, Aaron Windmueller, the company's UK Business Development Manager, said: "In our experience, when technology is actually attached to a human worker, this results in huge efficiency gains.

"To that end, one of our key products is the ProGlove, a smart bit of hand-wear with an integrated barcode-scanner. Often, when you're working on a production line or in logistics, you have to scan hundreds of items every day. If you are continually picking up a scanning pistol and then putting it back in its holster, you're losing four seconds every time you scan. Across your whole workforce, that's hundreds of thousands of seconds every month – time that the ProGlove gives you back."

Smart Vision

Another company looking to weaponise wearable tech in the coming battle to find success in the post Industry 4.0 world was Brittany-based AMA, manufacturer of the XpertEye. Originally focused on the entertainment sector, the company has now branched off into delivering smart-glasses software solutions across a range of industrial and medical applications.

Commenting on the evolution of the product, Managing Director Etienne Guillemot said: "The XpertEye no longer really resembles a pair of glasses at all. It's now more of a head-mounted camera and an instantly accessible display screen. This allows the wearer to share exactly what they are seeing, enabling them to collaborate remotely with a third party.

"We took our initial inspiration from the medical sector after observing that it would often be a nurse that went to see a patient, while a doctor delivered his diagnosis from afar. Realising that we could repair machines using the same protocols, we devised a system that allows an onsite operative to wear our glasses, while a remote expert can be called upon to immediately give input into any emerging problems."

Although the company was founded in 2004, it focused almost exclusively on smart entertainment applications until 2013. Realising the huge potential of smart glasses and the scope for developing booster apps, the company changed direction after a chance meeting with an orthopaedic surgeon proved a Damascene moment.

Explaining how this drastic change in priorities came about, Guillemot said: "At the time, the surgeon was instructing newly qualified Japanese doctors on how to carry out a certain kind of shoulder operation. After we had integrated our existing technology with his diagnostic and treatment approach, it became clear to us that we should sideline our entertainment activities and focus more on real-world applications."

The Factories of the Future Expo 2018 took place from 28 Feb-1 March at the UK's Manchester Central Convention Complex.

Related Link
Industry 4.0 Summit

For more market opportunities, please visit: http://research.hktdc.com

BACK TO TOP ^
CONTENT PROVIDED BY
    Topics:
  • Computer & Peripherals,
  • Electronics & Electrical Appliances,
  • Engineering,
  • Machinery,
  • Technology,
  • United Kingdom,
  • Hong Kong,
  • Western Europe,
  • trade fair,
  • iot,
  • AI,
  • automation,
  • event
  • Computer & Peripherals
  • Electronics & Electrical Appliances
  • Engineering
  • Machinery
  • Technology
  • United Kingdom
  • Hong Kong
  • Western Europe
Home

Article Topics

ARTICLE TOPICS

COMPUTER & PERIPHERALS24637
ELECTRONICS...24646
ENGINEERING24649
MACHINERY24712
TECHNOLOGY24757

ARTICLE TOPICS

COMPUTER & PERIPHERALS24637
ELECTRONICS & ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES24646
ENGINEERING24649
MACHINERY24712
TECHNOLOGY24757
UNITED KINGDOM36245
HONG KONG36026
WESTERN EUROPE36222
TRADE FAIR80146
IOT76776
AI121011
AUTOMATION80941
EVENT94548

interest_article

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

22 June 2022

Implementation Strategy for the New US Forced Labour Prevention Act

17 June 2022

Operational Guidance for the New US Forced Labour Prevention Act

06 May 2022

Big data brings machine earning

28 April 2022

Fintech Development: The Global Scene

Related Events

RELATED EVENTS

5 - 8 July 2022

HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) 2022

7 July 2022

Smartening up your space – IoT Automation beyond home

25 July 2022

Webinar on Leveraging RCEP Preferential Tariffs to Explore ASEAN Market Opportunities

13 - 16 October 2022

HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2022 (Autumn Edition)
FIND AN EVENT

Social Share

FOLLOW US

GET WEEKLY UPDATES

newpaper-img

GET OUR WEEKLY EMAIL UPDATES

banner-img


I acknowledge that the above information may be used by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) for incorporation in all or any of its database for direct marketing or business matching purpose (and may therefore become available to the public within and/or outside of Hong Kong for use by them), and for any other purposes as stated in the Privacy Policy Statement; I confirm that I have the consent and the authority of each individual named in this form to release their personal data for the purposes stated herein.


*For non-EU/EEA customers, please skip this box which is solely for EU/EEA customers as required by the relevant data protection law in the EU.

THANK YOU

Thank you for registering.

SHARE THIS STORY

EMAIL
LINKEDIN
WeChat
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
WHATSAPP

ID: HKTDCofficial

Don't have an account?

Create An Account

successfully added on your preferences.