Innovation hub - The Swiss Smart Factory
The Swiss are globally recognised for chocolate, cheese, neutrality, the Swiss army knife, watches and now they are developing an Innovation Hub, a centre of excellence for technology. The Swiss Smart Factory is a non-profit hub of expertise – progressive digitization in all areas of society will lead to permanent changes in industrial value creation. The current transformation is referred to as “Industry 4.0” which is the transfer of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Human-Machine Interaction into industrial practice.
The focus of “Industry 4.0” will be on the design of smart factories – highly flexible, efficient production systems and their connection to the Internet of Things and services.
Important questions that swiss smart factory are asking
How can even the smallest components (products, field devices, tools, etc.) be enhanced with computing power, communication capabilities and sensor technology so as to facilitate their integration into the Internet-of-Things?
What will the industrial workplace of the future look like? How will digitization and the “sharing economy” change the working environment? What kind of jobs will (still) be necessary in the future?
How can cobotics and autonomous robots be used to the benefit of employees and companies? What are the technological, organizational and legal framework conditions?
How can AI improve transparency and decision-making in modern production systems?How can one create transparent insights and opportunities for people to intervene in heterogeneous, interconnected production systems?
How to get ahead with technology
It’s all moving fast and organisations are finding it challenging to get ahead. A new approach is required, and in addition to the technological basics, an understanding of the applications, business models and other relevant factors is required. The Swiss Smart Factory offers a platform for precisely these interdisciplinary issues and promotes much-needed collaboration between industry, research and politics to proactively promote this digital transformation.
Connecting our clients
This is not our core business, but it is the core of many that we work with and they are all grappling with the same transformation challenge.
So, we are connecting these UK, European and Global companies with the Swiss Smart Factory and their partners like Smarter Chains (another Swiss company that rapidly moves a manufacturing facility towards industry 4.0) – several of our clients have benefited already. It’s a value-added partnership – we are going to the International Smart Factory Summit in November and will report back with more information after that visit.
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