The new industrial model that is spreading throughout the business world, from the most innovative organizations or early adopters, to the most lagging behind, integrates new technologies into its production processes, with the ultimate goal of being more competitive and adapting to the speed of the new times.

In a connected industry, digital transformation is not the only step forward to take, but this progress that is obtained must be accompanied by added value for the rest of the members of the system, with collaboration as a key point. A future model that will develop the local offer for its worldwide applicability, with digital customer service and a fully flexible supply chain to new demands.

At this point, the support of the administration is essential, with funding for this task through specific programs such as the Coupons for Business Competitiveness of ACCIÓ, the Agència per la Competitivitat de l'Empresa de la Generalitat de Catalunya, aid for the contracting of external services that allow: on the one hand, to carry out a preliminary diagnosis for the implementation of a digital transformation project, or, on the other hand, in case of already having a strategy in this regard, to be able to implement it; As David Marco, ACCIÓ's Technology Advisor and Industry 4.0 Project Manager, explained during the webinar held by the Packaging Cluster on April 27.

The second step to achieve Industry 4.0 is the analysis of the business context to be able to detect the weak points to work on and the strong points to enhance. That is why the cluster took advantage of these ACCIÓ Coupons to start a diagnostic study, together with the Eurecat Technology Center and several associated companies, with which "to identify, prioritize and conceptualize digital transformation initiatives", Circe Serra expressed during the session, Eurecat Technology Consultant.

On the other hand, it is worth studying the point of digital maturity of companies in the sector, in this case packaging, to see where they are and what their long-term objectives are.

The associated companies AIS Vision Systems, Comexi and Enplater, which also participated in the diagnostic study, explained their challenges in terms of digitization and those terms that are gradually incorporating into their day-to-day, such as Deep Learning of systems such as artificial vision, information technologies in your workflow for collaborative creation, or artificial intelligence to respond to decision making automatically.

As a strategy in parallel with collaboration and digitization, the Packaging Cluster proposed to the webinar attendees the creation of a working group for Industry 4.0 to share concerns, common objectives, action strategies and joint activities with which to generate intelligence market.

A tangible example of a space in which the keys to automation will soon be shared is the Industry 4.0 Congress framed in the Advanced Factories, from June 8 to 10. An event in which the cluster will participate as Supporting Partners again, with the aim of sharing with its associates the potentialities that arise, the disruptive advances and the exploration of new data and technologies.