sps ipc drives Italia: the intelligent factory

Preview and new features at SPS Italia 2016 (24 - 26 May 2016, Parma) where a demonstration area will help people understand what “Industry 4.0” actually is.

Preview and new features at SPS Italia 2016, where a demonstration area will help people understand what “Industry 4.0” actually is.
The Italian domestic automation market is showing development (one of the few sectors to have re-attained the pre crisis rates of 2009) and the SPS IPC Drives Italia fair, organized each year at Parma by Messe Frankfurt, also continues to show growth.
Now in its sixth edition, it has now made a name for itself as the main segment show and this year registers a considerable increase in the number of sign-ups. This is due to the combination of factors, including the direct involvement of the industry in planning the show and the consequent focussing on topics that truly interest the companies.
In May we will at any rate be able to discover the latest new features, that were previewed in a pre Christmas press conference, hosted by the Milan Samsung District. After the opening salutations of the Messe Frankfurt Italia CEO Donald Wich, Messe Frankfurt Italia Marketing & Events VP Francesca Selva presented this year’s project of the event, placing a particular emphasis on the interactive area “Know How 4.0”, conceived and realised in cooperation with the Milan Polytechnic.

Mind-boggling applications. Dedicated to the Internet of Things, to Industry 4.0 and robotics, the “Know How 4.0” area at the entrance of hall 4 will be structured in such a way to give first hand experience of actual or virtual workstations, where current themes will be broached and clarified. Industrial software exhibitors will also feature in the same area, along with the young engineers of the world of university and the start-ups, and the most interesting projects will be placed on show in the form of prototypes, applications and products.
Know How 4.0 will feature Professor Giambattista Gruosso of the Milan Polytechnic, who anticipates: «With the objective of opening the mind and at the same time to favour the sharing and pooling of ideas and experiences, we will present mind boggling applications, offering the visitor the possibility of reflecting and wondering as to the role that the technology of automation 4.0 will take in the process of changing the manufacturing industry. If in fact, all things told, the technologies are known, it is often difficult to understand how to use them to generate added value».

From the Internet of Things to the Internet of Everythings. The encounter scheduled during the opening conference of the fair, May 24, when the experts of Cisco Italia will develop the theme “IoE Talks: the digital factory” is indeed  forecasted as stimulating. Agostino Santoni, CEO of the multinational previewed the sense of the same in a talk during the December conference, that we can sum up as follows: in the future of industry each element of the chain of values is evermore interconnected to the others, thanks to web technology. Cisco will hence try and highlight the scope of this change, but also the effects that are still not perfectly clear. As a consequence of the democratisation of Internet concerning data management, in a world in which in 5 years we will go from 12 to at least 500 billion connections, with a traffic that triples each year also and aboveall due to the progressive involvement of productive and manufacturing activities (40% of cellphone traffic will concern factories).
«Integrated business innovation will start up a new industrial revolution hinged on the conception of product as service - the manager states - as an exchange of ideas and experiences with the innovators of all types of industries».

Round tables and scientific conferences. The cooperation with Cisco and with other particularly authoritative players is emblematic of the attention that SPS Italia dedicates to training and information.
This year will also feature the round table discussions “Food&Beverage”, “Pharma&Beauty” and “Automotive”, along with the scientific conferences dedicated to mechatronics and robotics (24 May) and Big Data (25 May).  As part of the round table on the automotive Roland Berger will present “Industry Observatory 4.0: the new frontier of industrial competitiveness” with a focus on the automotive sectors, cyber security, electromechanics, food, pharma & beauty. «Industry 4.0 is a great opportunity for Italy - anticipated Roberto Crapelli, CEO of Roland Berger Italia - for the great manufacturing strength of the country and the presence of so many companies, world leaders in their respective fields». Not only that: by its very nature, Industry 4.0 favors speed over size, and creativity over power, or that is the typical characteristics of an industrial fabric still mostly made up of SMEs. But beware, Crapelli warns: “The digitization of all activities from production to distribution, without a clear vision and a great planning at the level of national economy, will not be sufficient to impart the necessary impetus to turn market potential into results».