PTC, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Deloitte announced the opening of the Connected Factory, an Industry 4.0 exploration facility, located at the AMRC’s Factory 2050, Sheffield.
The new facility makes use of digital manufacturing technologies – including PTC’s ThingWorx ® software suite – to demonstrate benefits of both specific solutions and of their integration and resultant business value.
Located on the shop floor of the Factory 2050, the Connected factory provides an environment for manufacturers to explore the impact of Industry 4.0 in relation to key manufacturing functions such as Inbound Inventory, Shop Floor Management, Process Technologies & Methods, Asset Maintenance, Quality, and Environment, Health and Safety.
The facility supports discussions on benefits in terms of improved agility, transparency and optimisation of manufacturing processes – as well as practical demonstrations of supporting technologies, and insight into how organisations are successfully navigating digital disruption in manufacturing.
“Our collaboration with the AMRC and PTC is a really exciting development, the result of bringing together global leaders in advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0 software solutions and digital transformation.” said Nick Davis, Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT lead for Deloitte. “The Connected Factory provides an innovative format to help organisations explore what Industry 4.0 means for them, where they might start and how to successfully move ahead.”
“Deloitte is an important collaborator as we continue our focus on developing innovative IoT solutions and bringing them to market for our customers – and the AMRC’s Factory 2050 is the perfect environment for anyone wanting to learn more about Digital Transformation in manufacturing” said Paul Haimes, vice president Pre-Sales at PTC.
“According to IDC, the industry forecast to make the largest IoT investment is manufacturing. Partnering with Deloitte on this new facility at the AMRC, will give manufacturers a ‘hands-on’ environment to explore digital manufacturing.”
“The AMRC is excited to be working together with Deloitte and PTC and for Factory 2050 to be the home of the Connected Factory,” said Ben Morgan, head of Integrated Manufacturing at Factory 2050. “The collaboration and resultant shop floor demonstration is giving companies from OEMs to SMEs the chance to explore and understand what the Fourth Industrial Revolution can do for them.
The AMRC is well placed to de-risk and prove business cases for these potential solutions before they can be realised in production through Deloitte and PTC.”
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