One of the most effective ways that companies can acquire and organize the knowledge needed to expand competitiveness is by simulating industrial processes. By using digital models that emulate real steps, it is possible to provide bases for virtual experimentation, train administrators and forecast the effects caused by the wide variety of alterations possible in production and factory design. In search of excellence, simulators have been used in companies from various fields, generating optimal results for competitiveness.

In fact, the simulation of industrial processes is one of the indispensable tools of Industry 4.0 and in 2018, the Gartner consulting company  identified it as one of the 10 main technological trends that would be improved in the near future.

Simulators are virtual versions of equipment or processes, precisely reproducing their real correspondents and to which can be integrated various technologies that are applicable to advanced manufacturing, such as:

Electronic devices

• Electronic devices
• ICT;
• Big Data;
• Cloud computing;
• New materials;
• Nanotechnology;
• Photonics;
• 3D printers;
• Cyberphysical systems;
• IoT;
• Automation;
• Renewable energy;
• Simulation and modeling;
• Interoperability;
• Cybernetic security;
• Intellectual property.

Using a group of methods applied to represent a real system, processes simulation allow creating scenarios and projecting the impact of changes. This helps to implement strategic solutions in the context of Industry 4.0, reducing costs – and increasing the competitive potential – by foreseeing the problems and advantages presented in a certain production chain.

In Brazil, industry still has a long route to travel in the adoption of simulators of industrial processes. According to the National Confederation of Industry (CNIA) in 2016, only 63% of Brazilian companies used some of the technologies of Industry 4.0. Although there has been a 10% increase in these numbers according to the 2018 data, there is still a large gap to be filled.

LabFaber and industrial processes development stimulus

Attentive to this need by industry, CERTI created LabFaber, the first platform for development, dissemination and training that is completely dedicated to the industry´s digital transformation. It is a solution designed to contribute to the development and competitiveness of companies using, among other technologies, the simulation of industrial processes.

Created with federal government funding, in partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and inaugurated on November 22nd of  2019, LabFaber is a, first of its kind, laboratory-factory of excellence for the digitalization of factory floor information. The initiative involves:

• Processes technological command;
• Innovative solutions´ development in production virtual planning and costs in real time;
• Production sensoring and information digitalization;
• Factory processes intelligent automation;
• Production chain integrated management.

The lab-factory therefore emulates the installation of a real factory in detail, completely monitored by sensors that are especially developed and instrumentalized to act as an industrial facility.

This generates knowledge that is shared through the observation of methodologies and indicators.

What can LabFaber do for your company?

By creating a virtual copy to simulate productive processes, LabFaber precisely reproduces the real operating conditions, guaranteeing foreseeability and providing data in a secure and assertive manner. The data can be used strategically in all phases of the production chain, including pre- and post-production.

LabFaber can do a lot for companies that use it as a solution for the simulation of industrial processes, providing competitive advantages such as:

• Resources optimization: when we simulate a productive process it is possible to determine in advance the budget needed to implement a project. Thus, only initiatives that generate effective results are placed in practice.
  
• Increased productivity: the use of a digital simulator makes the company aware of the potential risks and makes it capable of minimizing problems and wasted resources. This makes the processes more productive and allows the establishment of new goals.
  
• Interruption´s reduction: it is possible to precisely simulate the performance and capacity of the production line yield, detecting when there are interruptions and avoiding them in real time.
  
• Long term planning: allows visualizing consequences and results of conducting a production process, making viable future actions real planning.
  
• Intelligent innovation: by providing a precise notion of the possibilities for income and return from that which is tested, the processes simulation makes viable the improvement of products without the need for tests in the market.
  
• Automation of actions: the processes simulation also allows administrators to identify which processes can be automated, reducing spending for human labor when possible and generating effective returns to the business.

CERTI partnership with Siemens

In addition to the inherent benefits of using a simulator for industrial processes, with LabFaber, a company not only obtains advantages from simulation, but also gains the expertise offered by partners such as Siemens, which is a global reference in industrial digital end-to-end solutions.

The German multinational company dedicated to industry 4.0 – Siemens Digital Industries Software – signed an agreement with CERTI for technological exchange of digitalization. Tests and training of digital systems are planned at LabFaber. 

This is an example of a project that can be developed. From the factory floor to production data monitoring and managing, LabFaber offers clients the certainty that the needed technology will be developed in a controlled environment, which is capable of foreseeing multiple variables and customizing the ideal solution to each one.

Successful Processes Simulation Cases

At LabFaber, companies find a complete solution in which they can develop products from the initial idea, thus obtaining something that is not only efficient from the perspective of functionality, but also in terms of competitiveness. Products developed in an unique environment like the LabFaber are apt to be inserted both in the regional market and in the global market, as demonstrated by

cases of success, like the work conducted with Exatron.  

With Exatron, a sequence of projects had been developed that at first focused on conducting a diagnosis of the company’s needs from the perspective of  providing technologies that would help to increase its competitiveness.  The result was the creation of a completely new model, whose results included a 40% production increase  and a 60% decrease in rework.

This improved performance prepared the company to develop  products that are capable of competing as equals with the large players of the global market – in some cases at prices 15% lower than their international equivalents – without reducing quality.

How to count on a partnership with CERTI to increase productivity at your company

A company often needs support to understand which tools to use in order to obtain improvements in its processes, aware that it must urgently improve productivity, efficiency and flexibility. LabFaber allows certifying that the technology needs will be developed in an environment that is capable of simulating industrial processes with maximum efficiency.

Implementing the improvements obtained through the analysis of results produced virtually in the real factory environment, it is certain that the project will be ready to compete in the context of Industry 4.0. By counting on the integration of physical and digital technologies – in all the steps of product development – a company that uses the processes simulation is heading towards excellence.

CERTI – through initiatives such as LabFaber – is a partner capable of offering conditions for a company to truly become an intelligent installation.

A contract with CERTI will guarantee that your business will have the latest technology and be capable of entering and remaining in the new paradigm of industry.

Contact us and learn more about the benefits of adopting a factory laboratory as a solution for simulating industrial processes.