AI and cutting-edge technologies working alongside people and improving processes.
We have Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, to thank.
During this rapid growth, it has allowed us to achieve significant process automation, improved working conditions, and increased productivity.
A study by Boston Consulting shows that Industry 4.0 is largely based on so-called enabling technologies: some are pre-existing knowledge, concepts that in the past never bridged the gap between research and actual production systems.
Today, however, thanks to the extraordinary interconnection and collaboration between systems, it is possible to concretely speak of mass customization, with strong resonance in the manufacturing sector.
This process has also brought us once-futuristic technologies like Artificial Intelligence and real-time data analysis, elements that make a difference on an industrial level, but like all revolutions, they can be scary.
At the top of the list of clichés is certainly the fear that AI could somehow eliminate the need for human labor, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Its true purpose and benefit is to enhance the skills and potential of the human mind, which, instead of being absorbed in repetitive and boring processes, can be dedicated to higher goals, making room for creative thinking, planning, and a more rewarding working life.
The incorporation of major artificial intelligence projects into MPC has resulted, for example, in the purchase of a large robotics cell that has allowed us to improve the efficiency of dimensional inspections, moving them from 30% manual to 100% with Renishaw control systems. We have also implemented a major automated tracking system via marking on each individual part.
Furthermore, if a manual control system is used, operator errors can occur, while with automation it is not possible to make mistakes since each single value is recorded and the dimensions are changed based on the differences detected.
The result is an ever-higher operating standard, where machines and humans work side by side.