Expert Classes 2022

Van Hoecke is a dynamic and innovative family business. As a supplier of functional furniture fittings and market leader in the Benelux, the company has evolved in recent years to become an assembler of pre-assembled drawers. Thanks to a high degree of customer orientation, driven by the principles of 'unburdening' and 'removing complexity' for its customers (carpenters, kitchen builders, etc.), the company has experienced very strong growth in recent years. The company's long-term vision, with a thorough understanding of both people and organisation, combined with continuous investments in innovation and machines, steered it towards achieving 'Factory Of The Future' certification in 2016 and 2019 (and maybe also 2022?). The first certificate was seen as the start of a process of 'constant self-reinvention', in order to always be one step ahead... You can also 'experience' the further well thought out steps and forms of cooperation that have been undertaken to increase service, digitalisation and development in order to remain a leader and a pioneer in a mass customisation environment, where products (lot size 1) are supplied via a product configurator within 72 hours.

During this session, we will guide you through how we at Bekaert have boosted our efficiency on the factory floor by realizing a smart manufacturing apps strategy through a mix of low-code and standard cloud-based collaboration tools. We will share our story to increase the speed of innovation by digitalizing our operational excellence program called Bekaert Manufacturing Systems

In 2018, manufacturing in Terumo Europe started with a new strategic plan to meet their breakthrough goals. Strategic choices came along with the detailed planning of the ‘key improvement initiatives’: technological platforms, talent, excellence systems and new product developments… In this session, Terumo Team will zoom in on some highlights of their transformation such as the development of a flexible machine platform, the use of cobots, the implementation of a datalake collecting the machine data and how this was combined with changes in organization and culture. In 2021, Terumo connected their strategy to the Factory of the Future model to find additional inspiration, momentum and recognition for the teams.

Many companies make use of older machines that still operate, but often do not offer the capabilities allowing for a digital transition. They often have limited sensors and in many cases lack connectivity or computing power. Many companies are therefore wrestling with the question of whether these machines are still sufficient to achieve the required quality, flexibility and economic return. Instead of simply replacing them, it can sometimes be more cost-effective to bring those machines up-to-date by a digital upgrade. This presentation will address the challenges and opportunities involved with machine upgrading 4.0: How to start this process? What is the business case? What to upgrade? How to implement the upgrade?  

Research centre Flanders Make supports companies to be competitive in a context where customisation at the cost price of mass production is becoming the norm. Full commitment to digitalisation and sustainability is the key to success, and also necessary to survive. Flanders is strongly committed to the relance and Flanders Make, together with 6 leading companies, has taken the lead in order to make a difference and to turn a challenge into an opportunity by defining an accelerator programme that was approved by the Flemish government in July 2021. CEO Dirk Torfs explains how Flanders Make is supporting 6 leading companies - Van de Wiele, Picanol, Atlas Copco, CNH, Crops and Sabca - to fully and sustainably digitalise their production in a record time of 5 years, with a focus on automation and workable work for their employees. These 6 cases will become the reference in Flanders for the realisation of end-to-end digitalisation. In the coming years, other production companies will also be given ample opportunity to learn from these cases how they too can take the necessary steps to remain competitive, organise production in our country, combining both efficiency and sustainability.

Most of the AI news these days is focussed on ever increasing datasets and extremely large AI models, that are virtually impossible to create and use. And yet, for most companies and practitioners, the true value lies in quickly iterating on data, models and deployments while getting useful models into production from day one.