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WORLD STEEL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
exponentially and computing costs were going down. That said, industry is illprepared to capitalise on these trends and that is because there is a need to close the ‘university-industry’ innovation gap, she argued.
“Technology is advancing at an incredible pace. Big data is getting bigger, computing power is growing exponentially and computing costs
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are going down.
Nowinski Collens
robotics and the circular economy – and, where policy and regulation are concerned, there has been a shift towards ‘re-regulation’. While pro-growth policies have been introduced there are still unclear rules for innovations. Stability, argues Remes, brings with it great uncertainty and she suggests that the best way to react is to join forces. “Companies, policy makers and universities must work together to build the capabilities needed to compete in the new environment,” she argued. For sustainable growth in manufacturing to be achieved, Remes calls for greater investment in advanced manufacturing technologies, the development of critical supply networks, advanced manufacturing skills and an alignment of national and local government policies, incentives and actions. The changing workplace PwC’s Michael Tomera carried on the hitech theme and asked ‘are we changing fast enough?’ Innovation, he argued, is changing the workplace and the worker, highlighting what he called the ‘next manufacturing toolbox’ in which can be found artificial intelligence, ‘big data’ and analytics, autonomous drones and robotics, 3D printing, the ‘internet of things’ and virtual and augmented reality. In a survey published last year on disruptive manufacturing innovations, PwC asked what will be the biggest impact of robotics on the USA’s manufacturing workforce. 35.2% of respondents said new job opportunities to engineer advanced robots and robotic operating systems, while 27.6% believed it would mean the replacement of workers and 25.7% said it would mean more demand for talent to manage the robotic workforce. Only 9.5% believed it would create more jobs as a result of increased manufacturing. October 2015
CONFERENCE REPORT world steel.indd 3
Tomera argued that 3D printing (a disruptive technology) means quicker product launches – months, not years – as there would be just one step between having the idea and producing the end product. Nearly 30% of respondents to PwC’s aforementioned survey said that the most disruptive effect of 3D printing on US manufacturing would be the restructuring of supply chains and the threat to intellectual property (almost 28%). 13.8% of survey respondents pointed to changed customer relationships while just over 10% said it would weaken the economic viability of traditional high volume production. Increased competition for talent and a reduced need for transportation and logistics both received a 9.3% response. ‘Pervasive connectivity’ Tomera argued that the ‘internet of things’ had ushered in an era of ‘pervasive connectivity’ characterised by deepening data connectivity, more data-driven products and strategies and a ‘dataenabled’ workforce. He said that the Internet of things was characterised by monitoring, control, optimisation and autonomy, with sensors monitoring product condition, embedded software controlling product function and optimised product usage through greater monitoring and control. Putting it all together leads to autonomy and interconnectivity with others systems. Tomera touched briefly on cyber security, saying that there were more global security incidents this year than there were mobile phone users, according to another PwC survey, with the number of organisations adopting an information security strategy jumping from 77% in 2013 to 81% today. UI Labs’ Caralynn Nowinski Collens said that technology was advancing at an incredible pace. Big data was getting bigger, computing power was growing
Academia and commerce There is a strong need, she said, to bring academia and commerce together to enable a technology transfer from university to the private sector and thereby transform industries through collaboration. With this in mind, Nowinski Collens said that UI Labs offered a new model for innovation that can transform entire industries through collaboration. UI Labs, she said, was a neutral convenor, a deal maker, an incubator and a returns-driven manager rolled into one. According to Chicago-based UI Labs’ website, the mission of the company is to solve large-scale societal challenges by forming industry-driven consortia to close the gap between innovation and commercialisation. It is currently developing a portfolio of applied research and commercialisation labs that it believes will lead to a return on investment for its partners as well as improve local, regional and national competitiveness to transform entire industries. Collens discussed the US Department of Commerce’s initiative known as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, which aims to bring together US industry and academia to solve industry-relevant problems. So far, seven NNMI institutes have been established, including the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute based in Chicago and founded in February 2014. Smart manufacturing The DMDII is managed by UI Labs and, said Collens, aims to transform American manufacturing through the adoption of digital manufacturing technologies, such as intelligent machining, advanced analysis and cyber physical security. Smart manufacturing has been on the steel industry’s radar for some time. Some experts in the field argue that all the bricks are in place, but there is currently a lack of ‘connectivity’. In the Q&A session that followed the above presentations, Steel Times International asked PwC’s Michael Tomera, “What is your view on ‘Industry 4.0’ – or ‘smart manufacturing’ – and heavy industrial processes such as steel production? It has been said that the steel industry has all the bricks of smart manufacturing, but not the connectivity.” In response, Tomera said: “The steel industry has been slower to adopt smart manufacturing, but it’s happening.” t www.steeltimesint.com
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