Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Switzerland, home of world-leading machine tool manufacturers, is developing the factory of the future by employing a wide network of national and international academic and industry partners. The leading Swiss competence center in such application-oriented research is located in the Switzerland Innovation Park in Biel.
The Swiss Smart Factory in the Switzerland Innovation Park Biel supports the digitalization of manufacturing (© Switzerland Innovation).
Digital transformation
Since its official launch in August last year, the Swiss Smart Factory in this industrial park has become the first test and demonstration platform for Industry 4.0 in Switzerland. It has been designed as a “real supermarket of ideas” where companies of all sizes can learn and define which technology best meets their needs and products. As more and more innovation projects are becoming commercially successful, this testing and demonstration infrastructure is constantly updated.
The Swiss Smart Factory project founded the Association for the Promotion of “Swiss Smart Factory” to speed up the digital transformation in production. One of the advantages of membership is access to exclusive events. This offer has generated a great deal of interest. The Smart Factory already counts over 70 members from industry and research, ranging from big companies, small and middle enterprises, and start-ups to private and state research organizations.
Workshops for partners
Digital transformation workshops offer also non-members the opportunity to benefit from the smart factory’s knowledge and network, and to gain insights into the meaning of digital transformation. Demonstrations introduce collaborative robotics, 3D printing, the service-oriented OPC unified architecture, and the sensor communication protocol IO-Links.
For example, a two-hour workshop takes place at the SSF’s digital drive system. With the help of application-specific training stations, participants first complete a training session on paper and then move on to a digital practical session that introduces the topics of radio-frequency identification, manufacturing execution systems, horizontal and vertical integration, and digital installation instructions.
Exclusive Japan partner
The Switzerland Innovation Park in Biel site is part of the network of a total of five Swiss innovation parks – with centers at the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne as well as other sites in northwestern and eastern Switzerland. The five-story building in Biel houses research facilities and startups for digital solutions in industrial production. Microsoft, for example, is using this facility to demonstrate how cloud solutions can equip industrial processes for the future.
The exclusive partner of the Innovation Park Biel in Japan is the Japan Innovation Park General Incorporated Association. It was established in Tokyo to enhance the innovation between Japan and Switzerland. Among other tasks, Japan Innovation Park supports work on cluster projects and Proof of Concept in Switzerland.
Text: SCCIJ with material of Switzerland Innovation
