Within its services in support of innovation, CNA Emilia Romagna – CNA HUB 4.0 has set up a service of technology transfer, acting as an interface between companies and research centers, supporting companies from the identification of their innovation needs to the actual implementation of the research project, and to the introduction of the necessary technologies.
This activity of technology assessment has a double aim:
- Guiding companies in understanding which technologies, among those belonging to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0), can lead to an improvement of the production process;
- Identifying the technologies which can be implemented on the products that companies manufacture, in order to enhance their competitiveness or widen their offer to customers.
This activity includes the following phases:
1) Identification of the priority objectives of companies: brainstorming meeting with their management aimed at understanding their motivations and business strategy;
2) Structured Interview with questions regarding:
- The present situation of their company: their current products, their reference market, their customers’ needs, their internal processes.
- The future of their company: their future products, their tomorrow market, their future customers’ needs, their industrial strategies, their evolution of processes.
3) Analysis of the processes and identification of the development opportunities offered by technologies: detailed visit to the production facilities and focus on the interesting processes. Follow-up interview aimed at identifying possible opportunities of improvement of the production process, coherently with the technology evolution described in the Industry 4.0 scenario, and position of that company in relation to the Smart Manufacturing Technologies.
4) Analysis of products and identification of the development opportunities given by technologies: Detailed visit to the facility and focus on the products developed, possibly with a demo. Follow-up interview aimed at identifying possible opportunities of products improvement, coherently with the technology evolution described in the Industry 4.0 scenario, and in positioning products in relation to the Smart Manufacturing Technologies.
OUTPUT
The analyzed companies receive a report including the elaboration of the information collected during the Assessment activity, with the indication of the strength points, the identification of the opportunities of improvement and the actions to implement.
