LANTEK SHOWS THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR THE WAY TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The metal sector is experiencing a crucial period regarding digitalisation which will mark its near future. The technological advances that many companies have been introducing contribute new and alternate ways to organise production processes so that factories can better adjust and respond to market needs at any time by managing resources more efficiently. We are talking about industry 4.0 and smart factories.

To make this possible, companies need specific advanced manufacturing solutions that enable them to make the leap to that digital transformation and to keep up the pace, maintaining at all times an advance view of all production processes, as Lantek argued after participating in MetalMadrid 2017, an event which last 15-16 November gathered more than 450 exhibitors, 10% of them international.

At that fair the firm presented its proposed path toward digital transformation of the metal sector, awakening a great deal of interest among the participants (24% more than the previous fair), due to its offering of specific industry 4.0 solutions. Not surprisingly, industrial sector innovation, smart factories, application of the internet of things (IoT) to processes, predictive maintenance and challenges in industrial robotics and automation were the main thematic axes around which this MetalMadrid revolved.

“The metal industry should not and cannot continue to ignore the phenomenon of digital transformation, because it can convert plants into smart factories, allowing them to substantially streamline production processes and gain in efficiency,” explains Lantek CEO Alberto Martínez, evidently very satisfied with the results obtained at that recently-held specialised professional gathering.

How to take the leap to digitalisation

As part of its commitment to promoting and assisting the digitalisation of sector companies and factories, supporting them in that transition, Lantek has developed a set of advanced manufacturing solutions that can be adjusted to the different stages of companies’ digital maturity.

Owing to Lantek, the metal industry now counts specific and versatile solutions that are adjusted to its needs, providing opportunities to integrate, manage and control all processes in a faster and simpler manner, connecting factories around the world and ensuring a 360º view of the business. All this results in better decision-making based on quality data, enabling better knowledge of the business.

“The companies of our sector will start introducing these technological advances in their structures, but above all they must understand the need to change their mentality in order to prepare for this huge transformation, which is changing everything,” stresses the Lantek director.

The digital economy and the ‘everything connected and intelligent’ phenomenon are putting a great deal of pressure on organisations from all sectors to speed up their digital transformation. They face the risk of being left out of the market if they fail to do so and haven’t adjusted.

“This makes things complicated for companies when they have to work out plans to instil that transformation in their organisation,” Martínez states. “At Lantek we can respond and show step by step the path whereby changes from the traditional model to the industry of the future can be simple and not traumatic.”

In this regard, with its new technological proposal Lantek resolves the problem associated to the existence of heterogeneous and relatively unautomated systems, often isolated from each other, as well as the need for correct and automated data analysis that can boost efficiency, foresight and coordination of ecosystems and platforms that seamlessly work together, making the factory smarter, with the resulting improvement in productivity and significant cost savings.

In this regard, and to offer a more in-depth explanation of the details associating digital transformation and connectivity, Lantek’s commercial and marketing director, Juan José Colás gave a presentation about “Sheet metal transformation” during the technical conference cycle on “Technological innovation in the industrial sector” held in the exclusive Innovation Zone of MetalMadrid 2017.