The Smart Factory Cluster of which IMPROVENET is partner has a webinar scheduled for September 20th in collaboration with Siemens.
During the event it will be possible to talk about simulation technologies, PLM and MOM/MES, real pillars of the factory of the future.
These technologies allow in fact to make the factory of the future more sustainable towards all its stakeholders, resilient and reconfigurable, allowing to integrate the supply chain and to interact with all the companies of the supply chain in an efficient way, effective and maximising economic value.
Siemens, world leader in these technologies, and recently become a pathfinder of the Smart Factory Cluster, will participate in the webinar, and there will be the testimonies of three interesting industrial experiences: AEC, Prima Industrie and Robopac.
The topics covered will be: Digital Twin Product, Digital Twin Process and Digital Twin Production Performance.
The Project Horizon2020BonsAPPs launched a new call for reusable, safe and reliable AI solutions capable of revolutionising European communication networks, in order to help European SMEs in their digitisation process through the platform “Bonseyes Marketplace”.
The call is aimed at 30 talents in the field of AI to develop, integrate and apply an Ai@edge solution, through the use of the tools and services of the Bonseyes Marketplace, to solve one of the 10 challenges proposed in the following areas:
• Robotics • Manufacturing industry • Motor vehicle industry • Health and safety
Who can participate?
The beneficiaries of the call are entrepreneurs, doctoral researchers (alone or in teams of up to 5 people), SMEs, Mid Cap and research and technology organizations.
How much is the funding?
You can receive up to €70,000 for the development of an Ai@edge solution and up to €10,000 to access the HPC Cloud infrastructure.
What other opportunities are offered?
The winners will become certified users of the Bonseyes Marketplace Platform, thus being able to obtain rights to reuse and market AI solutions. They will also receive support to define the business strategy from some mentors.
When is the deadline?
The deadline for submitting applications is 28 October 2021.
Fabiano Benedetti, CEO of the company, tells us the story of beanTech and we understand that the company is ready to accept the new challenges related to digital transformation and Industry 4.0.
Who is beanTech?
beanTech is a computer reality that supports companies by offering 360-degree solutions ranging from data acquisition to IT architecture, from customized software developments to internal process management, from business analysis to the implementation of sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms.
The company’s mission is to help manufacturing companies in the digitization process, offering end-to-end solutions through technologies such as AI, machine learning, cloud, data collection and analysis.
beanTech offers both solutions to optimize the process within the factory (MES, MOM, IoT, data collection from the factory) and solutions to innovate machinery and plants (predictive maintenance, monitoring, data analysis from a qualitative perspective).
Why and when did you decide to join the IMPROVENET Network?
Fabiano tells us that everything started after a project meeting with Prof. Alessandro Beghi of the University of Padua. “The competitive advantage of joining IMPROVENET was immediately clear, as the activities promoted are completely in line with the ones achieved by the company,” he continues.
In addition, the willingness to join IMPROVENET is also linked to the interest of creating new networks and knowing better some regional realities, combining different skills both from the solution providers and from pilot cases.
“It is necessary to know new partners and promote open innovation exchange”
What is the role of beanTech within the VIR2EM Project?
beanTech is collaborating with the company SIPA, which designs and produces plants for the packaging chain (drinks, food, cosmetics), in order to create a digital system for their machines distributed around the world, of high added value based on
• Asset monitoring system
• Predictive maintenance
• Remote control of installations
The idea is to improve the performance of machinery (thanks to remote management and predictive maintenance) and to change the nature of the relationship between the supplier of the machine and the user, enhancing a proactive collaboration. The ability to react to problems and changes is a competence that must be provided by the manufacturer of digitized machines, which however enjoys a preferential channel in terms of consulting, training and spare parts. All this with a view to improve the service and the after-sales.
What benefits will beanTech receive from the project?
Without doubt, the project will strengthen relations with an important customer, offering an end-to-end technology. This project will be an excellent starting point for testing new technologies in a sector such as packaging.
Furthermore, through the project it will be possible to design and implement architectures for web and mobile applications, with a particular attention to data management and processing on AWS platform.
What are the main challenges that a SME can face in the digital transformation process?
“We are witnessing an increase of Industry 4.0 technologies, but the main difficulty is to bring value and use these technologies consciously,” Fabiano says. For this reason, beanTech thinks that training and customer involvement are at the basis of the digital transformation process of a company. For that reason, beanTech guides its customers in the strategic choices to be adopted through its Academy.
Fabiano Benedetti: CEO & President
Fabiano Benedetti is the CEO of beanTech, an IT company with over 160 employees and 15 million turnover, which supports companies in the challenges of Digital Transformation and helps them to achieve the opportunities of Industry 4.0
The Smart Factory Cluster with its Xfactory – together with the Lighthouse Plant Wärtsilä – offers a new Open Innovation Challenge for code developers and apps that want to interface with real production plants.
Wärtsilä Italia is an integral part of the Finnish Wärtsilä Corporation, World leader in the supply of technologies and solutions for marine propulsion and energy generation designed for the entire life cycle of plants for both the marine and terrestrial sectors.
The challenge sees recognition by the MIUR for the competitiveness of the national manufacturing 4.0 and is aimed at start-ups, scale-ups, Italian MPMI and research institutes.
The selected companies will be able to collaborate with a team in a cutting-edge project and measure the effectiveness of the new product with the actual production data and enter into a supply contract with a prestigious company from January 2022.
In addition, those who pass the first selection phase at the beginning of October, will still have visibility through the media channels of the CFI and will be able to participate in a trade show meeting other possible customer.
The 1st Deployment Voucher Open Call of the project Change2Twin is OPEN!
Who can participate?
Manufacturing SMEs who are interested in developing a digital twin solution for their business.
The project is aimed at all those manufacturing SMEs that are in search of finding solutions to digitise their processes and are established in an EU or other eligible country.
When is the deadline?
Until the 30th September 2021, interested manufacturing SMEs can fill the online application.
What are the benefits?
For winners it is possible:
to access to an 11-month support programme with top-class technical experts to mentor the implementation of a digital twin solution;
to obtain a 90 000 Euro lump sum to cover the costs to deploy the digital twin solution;
to be part of a publicly funded programme specialised in providing access to digital twins solutions for manufacturing SMEs and mid-caps all over Europe;
to work with a set of top, target oriented Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs);
to be part of a cutting-edge project and to increase networking at EU level.
Check out the Open Call microsite and getting for more information, eligibility criteria and applications:Click here!
Galdi designs and manufactures complete food paper packaging solutions. The company is predominantly present in the international market, exporting over 80% of its turnover abroad and having subsidiaries in Russia, North Africa and the United States.
With over 800 machines installed around the world, Galdi supports its customers by offering them technology, training and technical assistance services to help them achieve maximum production efficiency.
Food safety is one of the greatest strengths of Galdi solutions, which package products such as milk, eggs, water, fruit juices but also dry products such as flour and cereals. The acquisition of Artema Pack S.r.l. has completed the possible packaging solutions that Galdi can offer, including the engineering and optimization service of the production line, also managing the subsequent stages of the process.
What are the expectations of joining IMPROVENET?
Antonella Candiotto, CEO and President of the company tells us the reasons that led the company to join the Network.
“We immediately believed in the project of the Regional Innovative Networks as a tool to support industrial development policies in industry 4.0 of the territory. The commitment to build an ecosystem of partners to share innovative technological projects with, is strategic.
Thanks to IMPROVENET, it is possible to establish a continuous cooperation with the network partners, which are universities, research centers, manufacturing companies. All of them can contribute to accelerate the process of mutual learning, raising the level of skills and improving the quality of the solutions adopted. The sharing of experiences also serves to spread knowledge and create greater value for all, even for those who did not participate directly in the project”.
What innovations is GALDI implementing within the VIR2EM Project?
The project involves the implementation of some enabling technologies, in addition to those already used by the company, both to allow the “dematerialization of products and services” and to make accessible the information and digital models developed, regardless of their geographical location.
The expected outputs are:
1. the realization of a Digital Twin of own products through the virtualization of the Engineering;
2. the remote and virtualization of after-sales services, through the implementation of a new IIot architecture and multimedia platforms for remote support;
3. artificial intelligence, to increase the part of predictive maintenance and anomaly detection.
With which other RIR partners are you collaborating on the project?
In order to realize the innovations described above, Galdi is collaborating with Statwolf (for the part related to artificial intelligence) and with the University of Verona (for the realization of the Digital Twin).
How do you see the company at the end of the project?
Galdi has always focused on people and innovation, the continuous updating of skills and the attractiveness of the best talents are essential to maintain and develop the competitiveness of the company.
Furthermore, the respect for environmental resources and the constant dialogue with the territory are important priorities for the company that for years has invested in environmental and social sustainability projects.
With the Project VIR2EMGaldi aims to become a Smart Factory, implementing the transformation of the company from a place of physical spaces to a virtual one, in which software platforms, products, services, projects and people are connected in synergy through a digital flow of information.
In addition, the project will enable the company to achieve quality and speed in product development and an improved after-sales support service for customers.
Antonella Candiotto, CEO & President
A second-generation entrepreneur, she became President and CEO of the family business, Galdi, in 2020. Oriented to innovation and growth, of the company and of people. She is stimulated by team work and by involving the team to overcome its limits.
DG CONNECT together with DG RTD launched the “Manufacturing our Future” survey, which aims to gather information from stakeholders on manufacturing sector priorities in the near future.
This survey is an opportunity to gather the views of the wider European manufacturing community on future priorities towards 2030 and to engage in the co-creation of future work programmes, based on the strategic research and innovation agenda of Made in Europe and the EIT Manufacturing programmes.
To learn more about Horizon Europe’s “Digital, Industry and Space” Cluster 4 funding opportunities, visit this link.
The survey will gather expertise and opinions on the next priorities of manufacturing in Europe, as well as expressions of interest to participate in the workshop scheduled for 25 October 2021.
You can access the online survey, which will be open until 15 September 2021, at this link:
The Veneto Region has approved the Call for funding “process innovation” and “innovation of the organization” promoted by enterprises, or “innovation or digital transformation” promoted by professionals, professional associations and other organizations.
Applications must be submitted: for the self-employed: from 5 to 12 July 2021, for companies: from 19 to 26 July 2021.
Responsible structure: Research Directorate Innovation and Energy through Veneto Sviluppo Spa Intervention nature: grants and public tender financing Resources involved: 8 million of which 5.6 million for businesses and 2.4 million for the professions Beneficiaries: Large, Medium-sized, Small, Micro Enterprises, freelancers Type of funding that can be activated: in capital account and in the form of funding to support research and innovation projects with estimated expenditure of between 30,000 euro and 1 million and with a project duration of up to 18 months.
The Department of Informatics (DI) was founded in 2001 and promotes numerous educational and research activities based on skills ranging from mathematics to physics through computer science.
In DI there are 70 structured professors, and about 250 people among Professors, Researchers, Phd students and Administrative Technical Staff.
DI as a Department of Excellence
Since 2018 the DI is recognized as a Department of Excellence thanks to a computer engineering project for Industry 4.0.
The aim of this project is to target specific skills towards the industrial world by closing the current gap linked to digital transformation and by making available the figure of the IT engineer, which took on an increasingly central role with the advent of Industry 4.0.
The Role of the Department within IMPROVENET
The role of the University of Verona within IMPROVENET is linked to the promotion of research activities related to Industry 4.0, where computer engineering is precisely at the center.
Among the initiatives there is the ICE Laboratory (Industrial Computer Engineering), which aims to design solutions and computer methodologies to automate and optmize the different production lines. The lab was created to raise the current industrial standards and increase the adoption of high-level engineering technologies in different production contexts.
The ICE Laboratory was realized with 2 million euro investment and it is a real small production line, able to completely simulate real environments, where all computer tests are carried out.
What is DI developing with project VIR2EM?
Within the project VIR2EM the Department provides an environment where you can develop the IT techniques applied to the industrial sector with pilot tests. The production line is standardized and fully reconfigurable according to the needs.
The methodological approach used is in line with the needs of Industry 4.0, linked to the transition from large batch production to modular batch production focused on the customer.
This setting allows you to easily change the recipes and the respective configuration of the production line.
Moreover, among the lines of research within the project VIR2EM we find the Digital Twin (the double digital of a system). To realize the digital twin is fundamental for making prediction, for reconfiguring the production process, for the virtual commissioning (virtual predisposition of my machine) and for the optimization of the production.
On this topic DI is currently working with:
Galdi to realize a part of digital twin product, so as to develop a replicable methodology
Sperotto Rimar, together with Unipd to put together the most classic techniques of physical production processes with techniques related to the functionality of the machine.
What other collaborations have been activated?
Through the PREMANI Project, DI has collaborated with Edalab, a company that manufactures Iot devices. Together they joined IoT and IIoT, developing an architecture for data collection from the production line that unifies data from the surrounding environment.
What is the advantage of participating in these projects in partnership?
The DI is very involved and engaged in the projects promoted by RIR IMPROVENET. VIR2EM is a very beautiful example of excellence, functional to empower computer engineering in the industrial sector. The next investments are directed to the design and implementation of protocols and networks to convey data on the cloud.
Prof. Franco Fummi, Department of Computer Science
Information Processing Systems
Research Area (ERC) Computer architecture, pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing Computer systems, parallel/distributed systems, sensor networks, embedded systems, cyber-physical systems
The “100 cases of Industry 4.0 and sustainability” is a project of Confindustria Veneto, partner of IMPROVENET, born with the aim of mapping the companies to see concrete examples of sustainable applications and Industry4.0. The cases of member companies can be consulted on the dedicated website: 100luoghi.industria40veneto.it.
After the success of previous editions, the Roadshow continues in webinar mode, with the aim at knowing the excellent cases in the area through networking events and sharing of best practices.
The next event will be held on Tuesday, June 29th at Galdi, a company in Treviso partner of IMPROVENET, which designs and develops automatic food packaging machines.
