A one-day event – to highlight future developments in British manufacturing – proved so successful that it was twice oversubscribed and was extended to a second day to meet demand.
The Future Manufacturing Event, organised by industrial automation specialist Mitsubishi Electric and hosted by the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at Sheffield University, combined seminar sessions with a carefully focused exhibition. It brought together practising engineers and leading technologists to discuss practical implementations of the current trends in the manufacturing and processing industries.
“Topics covered by the seminar speakers focussed on two key issues namely; Energy Legislation and Solutions and Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Mitsubishi Electric’s Garry Lewis. “The seminars and complimentary exhibition area focused the discussions very much on issues of the day. The exhibition area showcased many examples of integrated solutions from complimentary suppliers, which included vision systems, vibration monitoring and energy management.”
Mitsubishi Electric also used the event to launch their iQ-R series PAC controller and the iQ-F compact PLC series. The centre piece of the exhibition featured the Mitsubishi Electric product demonstration wall, which showed Mitsubishi’s total integration capability, from Low Voltage Switchgear (LVS) through robot and motion integration of the iQ PLC platform, the new iQ-F and iQ-R series CNC control, MAPS SCADA and the iQ Works engineering suite.
Kafai Wu of Wallwork Heat Treatments commented: “We have been using Mitsubishi equipment for 30 years and we are here to see how we can save energy which is big part of our spending. It’s been a worthwhile event that has shown us that Mitsubishi can deliver solutions to a range of issues.”
Dr Steve Lloyd of Remote Utility Monitoring & Management (RUMM) presented one of the seminars, explaining about the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) that is a mandatory energy assessment scheme due for implementation in December 2015. Many of the delegates took the opportunity to improve their understanding of this scheme and the ways in which Mitsubishi could help in achieving improved energy savings.
Lewis again: “Judging by the enthusiasm for this event, it is clear that today’s engineers are very keen to develop their knowledge of the latest technologies and also learn how to apply this to the automation environment. The constructive discussions over the two days demonstrate that people are committed to developing smart manufacturing solutions that will lead to constantly improving productivity and quality, combined with energy efficiency.”
Exhibitor partners: Copadata, RUMM, Brook Crompton, Radicon, Schaeffler/FAG, Pepperl & Fuchs, Power Quality Management, Cognex, Rittal, E Plan, Lutze, Wittenstein and CLPA.
