product to trial its transition to Industry 4.0 and aims to expand from there. Last year the firm embarked on a research partnership with the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) and DataThings, a Luxembourg artificial intelligence startup.
APRIL/MAY 2019
“Firstly, this project aims at significantly optimising our production and supply chain processes in order to reach the satisfaction of clients who are more demanding, in terms of technical specs, quality and lead time,” according to Paul Elvinger, a member of Cebi’s executive board. “Secondly, we need to better serve our own employees, making their work more efficient, less laborious, while enabling them to increase their digital competences [in order] to keep → the Luxembourg site competitive.”
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Laurent Federspiel Assistant manager in charge of Industry 4.0 Ceratizit
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“ The jobs you know today will probably not be the jobs we will have in the future.”
“For implementing the Industry 4.0 project, we decided to work on our flagship product, i.e., temperature sensors, as it is a widely used and customisable product in terms of shape, weight, specifications, etc.,” he explained. “The project will cost several million euros in the upcoming years. By starting a research project with our partners, Cebi obtained a financial aid from the Luxembourg state, which highly encourages initiatives related to digitalisation, especially in the industrial sector.” While it is trialling new technologies at its other sites, “the main focus of the Industry 4.0 project is at Cebi Luxembourg as we are expecting to develop the global architecture from there.” Training, data challenges
Automatisation does not automatically mean shedding staff, stressed Federspiel. He cited the example of banks, which have collectively added headcount since the introduction of ATMs. But tomorrow’s workforce needs to be “much smarter and efficient”. “The jobs you know today will probably not be the jobs we will have in the future. People need to be [trained] to adapt to the new work environment. It’s a long-term process.” Ceratizit is “constantly scouting” for training courses. “What is new for us and other companies is that Industry 4.0 is becoming a challenge in the treatment of the amount of data,” reckoned Federspiel. Currently, quality is judged on the finished product, he said. But the software is collecting reams of data about individual machines, such as a temperature, energy consumption and process time. There’s value in that data, but it’s not always easy to find it. For example, “if a machine consumes too much energy, there might be a problem. If a machine needs more energy to produce [a piece], it might be that a tool is worn out” and needs replacing. “Machines provide more data” but the numbers need to be distilled down to “a layer where we, as humans, × can interpret this data”. words
Aaron Grunwald
ECONOMIC WEIGHT “With more than 32,000 employees, the manufacturing sector in Luxembourg represents 8.3% of total national employment and 4.6% of the national added value,” Luxinnovation, the statebacked economic promotion body, said in a January 2019 report.
DIGITAL CHAMPIONS A survey of 1,155 manufacturing executives in 26 countries, including Luxembourg, found there are four types of firms when it comes to the Industry 4.0 evolution. Outfits were classified as “digital novices”, “digital followers”, “digital innovators” or “digital champions”. “Just 10% of global manufacturing companies are digital champions, while almost two-thirds have barely or not yet begun on the digital journey,” according to the “Global Digital Operations Study 2018”, published by the consulting firm PwC’s Strategy& unit. “The automotive and electronics industries have the most digital champions, with 20% of automotive and 14% of electronics companies implementing innovative solutions across their marketplace and facilities.” Geographically speaking, the Asia-Pacific region led the way, with 19% of manufacturers classified as digital champions, stated Strategy&. That compared to 11% in the Americas and just 5% in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
PUBLIC SUPPORT European funds The EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme provides €80bn in research and prototyping funds, including Industry 4.0 projects. ↳ www.ec.europa.eu/research/
Luxembourg funds The economy ministry provides several different types of support grants to SMEs and larger enterprises. ↳ www.guichet.public.lu