4.0 Made Real for the Belgian industry by Sirris Interview with Mr Herman DERACHE, Managing director of Sirris
© Sirris
of data that will be generated may also be used for the benefit of production processes. This is why we launched our 4.0 Made Real Pilot Factory, in which smart, digital solutions can be developed and demonstrated, to help companies discover the possibilities and opportunities of Industry 4.0 in practice.
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hat is the task of Sirris and what are its key figures? With a wealth of experience of 70 years, Sirris is the collective research and innovation centre for the technological industry in Belgium. Established on 8 high-tech sites (Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Kortrijk, Charleroi, Leuven, Hasselt, Liege), it gathers together 2,500 member companies and has a network of more than 200 partners. Each year, our 150 passionate experts support 1,500 companies in the realisation of their innovation projects (individual innovation projects or collective research projects). Our task is to help companies to make the right technological choices and to implement innovations to guarantee their sustainable economic growth and prosperous future.
Lastly, digital technology is affecting the way we do business. Digital-based innovation often has an impact on the product and the business model. Sirris helps businesses to combine the technological possibilities and the opportunities linked to the business models of the digital era which will be the foundations of tomorrow’s innovation. In your opinion, what are the main challenges that await industrial companies in the years to come? March 2020 was an uppercut for our economy. COVID-19 brought about a tsunami of global changes. Consumer behaviour changed and key trends such as digitisation and the need for sustainability shifted up a gear. Disruptive times - the corona crisis, but also the Brexit, changes due to globalisation, climate change - bring enormous challenges, but also offer unique opportunities. Opportunities to do things differently, develop new products, produce more efficiently and sustainably or even develop new business models. New technologies based on data, automation and AI will be crucial to bring resilience to the Belgian manufacturing industry and safeguard our welfare.
What are your fields of expertise? Businesses who want to innovate can count on the expertise of Sirris in 3 major fields: “the business of the future”, “the product of the business” and “the factory of the future”. Every day, 150 engineers, scientists and technicians explore the possibilities of over 20 innovative technologies. Thanks to Sirris, the combination of the right experts with a high-tech infrastructure opens up the path to innovation.
The main challenge for manufacturing companies today is adapting to the new reality of COVID-19. This is why Sirris has developed the Crisis Code Cracker, which is a thorough and pragmatic company screening to estimate its crisis resistance.
What services do you offer to companies along the 3 main lines which are “Product of the Future”, “Factory of the Future” and “Business of the Future”? At disruptive times like these, while competition is still raging on the world stage, product innovation can take place by adding new functionalities and characteristics to products, making the products smart(er), connecting them, using other materials or entirely redesigning the products. Sirris focuses on these needs with a view to manufacturing the products of today and tomorrow hand in hand with businesses. Beyond new products, other factors lie behind the drastic transformation of tomorrow's production: everything needs to go faster, be more and more accurate, smaller, customised, cheaper, more ecological, more complex etc. The integration of different (new) technologies is therefore essential within the production line. Operators will be supported in their role by cobots, vision systems, wearable solutions, tablets etc. The enormous amount
Making the shopfloor transparent demonstrator in the 4.0 Made Real Pilot Factory of Sirris in Hasselt
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