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Metal Processing

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Plant of the future: a revolution in progress

The manufacturing industry, veritable mainstay of national wealth, is currently undergoing profound changes. These changes are aimed at attaining the 4.0 plant of the future, that is more in tune with consumer needs, more flexible, more environmentally friendly, capable of producing tailor-made products and creating jobs. FIM and UNM disclose their view of this revolution that is currently underway!

This issue is on the agenda of many conferences and was at the forefront of the debates organised by the UNM (The French standardisation office for mechanical engineering) during its general meeting in June 2014.

At this event, Michel Athimon, the general manager of FIM, pointed out the importance of this major project for the professional organisation of the mechanical engineering sector.

“The plant of the future is a generic concept of the ideal plant which falls within a general awareness of the important role played by the manufacturing industry in the nation’s wealth, explained Michel Athimon. This is conveyed through a political commitment to preserve and develop, a strong, innovative and exporting industrial sector that creates wealth and jobs, in France and by way of extension in Europe.”

This new technological change is characterised by full interconnection of the machines and systems within the production sites, between the sites and with the outside.

“Customers’ requirements are evolving and there is currently a shift from a mass market to an individualised market and therefore from large scale production to small or medium series production that can be easily reconfigured and is adaptive”, continued Michel Athimon.

The 4.0 plant is more environmentally-friendly. It takes into account the life cycle analysis of products and integrates all the concepts of circular economy as from the design phase.

The FIM, in conjunction with its technological partners such as Cetim, Institut de soudure or the AFM (French association of the mechanical industry) and its professional partners, the FIEEC (French federation of electrical, electronic and communication industries) and the Gimelec (French association of electrical equipment, instrumentation and control industry and associated services), has set up a major uniting project centred around the theme of the plant of the future.

The first aim of this project is to draw up a common frame of reference for the sector that outlines the origin of the approach, the basic principles and the scope of the concept and the social, environmental and technological challenges. Each challenge will be broken down into generic sections that will refer to more specific technical sheets describing the various components of the plant of the future in terms of new technology, methods of organisation or special equipment.

This frame of reference will be provided to company managers, to guide them in gaining a firm understanding of the topic and to assist them in implementing the various components of the plant of the future whenever they decide to build a new plant or to upgrade an existing workshop. Philippe Contet, technical and innovation manager at FIM, general manager of UNM and the “plant of the future contact” at FIM is responsible for putting together this document.

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