Hybrid computing systems in Industry 4.0

A13 Engineering moved from plasma cutting to laser cutting in October 23 with the installation of a Bodor 12kW Laser and Lantek Expert software. Harry Hodgetts, Managing Director at A13 Engineering says, “With high-definition plasma, we found that it was not suitable for about 10% of our production, driving us to invest in a laser cutter giving higher accuracy and automatic part etching for easy component identification.”

Covid-19 has highlighted that, without the digitization of processes, it’s difficult to maintain business continuity, that supply chains are fragile and information is unreliable, exposing a digital divide between more or less digitized companies. Those who fail to cover this gap fall by the wayside, which means that accelerating transformative processes planned in the medium and long term is essential in order to adapt to this new disruptive reality, where everything happens at breakneck speed.

What do we ask of our factories? Efficiency and maximum quality. To do this, we need a plant data collection program at the operator’s post, the objective of which is the monitoring, control and validation of each one of the manufacturing processes, from reception of the order to the completion of production. And all of this, of course, in real time and automated, so that production can be performed with greater agility and optimization. Without administrative tasks that cause delays and can even lead to mistakes.