Smart Factory Hub network project
Digitization for everyone
SMEs must also face up to Industry 4.0. The international Smart Factory Hub network project investigated how companies are preparing for the digital revolution and what can help them do so. X-Rob, a development from Profactor, is regarded as an example of best practice.
The publication with showcase projects from ten European countries was published in March 2018. It lists solutions that can be implemented by SMEs. The X-Rob from Profactor is a platform with which robot systems can be flexibly programmed and used - even for small quantities such as those produced by SMEs. It is also affordable for small workshops and can be used for different tasks.
The Smart Factory Hub project was carried out as part of the EU's Transnational Danube Program - Interreg. 278 SMEs in ten countries took part in a study to determine how prepared companies are for smart manufacturing topics such as 3D printing, flexible robotics and automation. "The SMEs are also aware that the topic will not just touch on them, but will hit them hard," says Christian Wögerer, who is responsible for international networks at Profactor. "And two things are worrying everyone: the costs, which are estimated to be very high, and the issue of skilled workers."
On the one hand, companies are worried about whether they will be able to find the staff for digital technologies and, on the other, expect resistance from employees who are afraid of the upheavals. Wögerer: "This is all to be taken seriously. However, with more than 60 best-practice examples from the ten countries, we clearly show that digital technologies are also possible for SMEs and that the technologies are not the devil's plaything." as
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