Strategic directions as the basis of the White Book, with proposals for research, development and implementation of the Industry 4.0 model in Serbia, which will be presented to the Government of Serbia in the autumn, are the main results of the second day of the international conference held at Fiat Chrysler Automobili (FCA) in Kragujevac, one of the state-of-the-art production facilities within the FCA Group around the world.
“Industry 4.0 is increasingly becoming reality. In our plant in Kragujevac, we are approaching digital production through the development of advanced virtual simulation solutions in the physical environment, including solutions based on data analysis and complete horizontal and vertical integration”, said Alessio Leonardi, CEO of FCA Serbia, at a conference in Kragujevac.
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He underlined that competition and technological advancement required the capacity to manage large production processes in an efficient and reliable way, seeking faster solutions and responses, while continually learning with constant openness for innovation.
“We will draw the Road Map for Serbia, which we will present to the Serbian government,” Leonardi said, adding that Serbia should be more industrialized in order to achieve a higher level of growth.
Leonardi also noted that Fiat has invested over EUR 1.4 billion in the factory in Kragujevac so far and reminded that the FCA facility in Kragujevac was one of the most modern in the Fiat Group, in terms of utilization of the latest, state-of-the-art production instruments.
“FCA factory in Kragujevac has a world-class silver standard in the production according to the World Class Manufacturing and is one of the newest and most modern production plants within the Fiat Group worldwide”, Leonardi added.
Digitalization Manager at Fiat Group, Mauro Bosio said that the digital industry was something that could not be negotiated.
“Our map is clear and we are moving towards full digital control. We are designing the workplace based on 3D models. We use simulations for new equipment and new technologies. In this way, it is easier to check new equipment, i.e. whether it works without mistakes”, explained Bosio and added that 3D simulation was also used in the line design.
New Industrial Policy of Serbia
State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Branimir Stojanovic said at the conference that Serbia was working on devising a new industrial policy, which was one of the key preconditions for the closure of Chapter 20 (industrial policy and entrepreneurship) in the accession negotiations with the European Union. He pointed to the importance of cooperation between the businesses and universities and scientific institutes and working together on technological solutions without which there was no survival in an increasingly competitive market.
Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS) pointed out that the automotive industry has always been a reflection of the overall state of industry in a country. Technological and business trends were almost always implemented first in the automotive industry, and that is why the presence of the FCA Group in Serbia is of great importance. CCIS supports its members in the process of digital transformation and the introduction of Industry 4.0, aware that this is a prerequisite for survival in an increasingly competitive global market. It is precisely the knowledge and practice in the companies like FCA that can accelerate these processes and make them available to a large number of automotive suppliers, as well as universities and research centers in Serbia.
The US Ambassador to Serbia, Kyle Scott said the 4th industrial revolution was “a fusion of technologies that blur the boundaries between the physical, digital and biological world” and that everyone must understand “advanced production”, whether they wanted to apply such techniques, or just to see what is a “competitive environment”.
According to the ambassador, US manufacturers are creating robots which are “aware of their environment and are safe for people”.
The conference in Kragujevac took place under the auspices of the Hi-Tech Knowledge Week organized by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, the commercial department of the US Embassy in Belgrade and FCA Serbia, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, the Ministry of Economy, SANU, and the leading industrial enterprises. Representatives of FCA, Ball Packaging and NCR held special presentations at the conference.
(eKapija, 06.06.2018)
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