On 16 March, the Smart Factory Event took place in the SKILL building in Drachten. The aim of this event was to inform SME companies about the Smart Factory concept, enabling them to define their strategy to keep pace with the rapid developments in production technologies, the digitalisation of production processes, a growing shortage of skilled workers and the continuous training of employees. 

Interactive programme

During a plenary session in which the concept was explained, inspiring presentations were given by, among others, Ytsen de Boer of Kornelis Caps & Closures on how to involve people in the developments towards a Smart Factory and that people are key in this process; how can we support employees with technology in the best possible way.

TNO talked about the various technologies and ways to support Operators. They highlighted future developments in which a CAD model can automatically generate a work instruction and make it adaptive based on the situation or person involved. 

After lunch, TNO and Arkoni explained how companies can get started with data that is already largely present in their company in order to earn money. There were also presentations in which, among other things, the HRM Smart Industry tool was explained by Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Parallel to this, a start was made on demonstrating cobots and an automatic assembly cell in the robot lab, with a MIR driving around there. Full house of spectators and robots!

Arkoni demonstrated the creation of a (low code) app that allows information from their integration platform to reach the right person in a quick and targeted way.

In addition, participants could attend a number of workshops of their choice. At the demonstrator market, there were 16 stands of various companies from the Northern Netherlands where participants could learn more about their services and products. Also, representatives of several knowledge institutions showed the possibilities for training in the Smart Industry.

Many participants and visitors complimented the professional organization and content of this event. Many useful contacts were therefore made between various parties in order to take further steps in the field of Smart Factory as a result of this event. All in all a successful afternoon!