FLASH-COMP on show at transforming industry event in Bilbao

FLASH-COMP partners LORTEK, MSI and AIMEN take the project on tour to BIEMH32, one of Europe’s largest manufacturing events with a dedicated track focused on the digital transformation of industry

FLASH-COMP coordinator LORTEK, along with partners MSI and AIMEN have been attending BIEMH32, the International Machine Tool Biennial, one of the largest industrial events of the year in Spain. The impressive conference has brought together 1,500 exhibitors from more than 29 countries and has been taking place from June 3rd until June 7th in six pavilions at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.

This year, BIEMH32 incorporated three other events linked to industry – ADDITƐD, BeDIGITAL and WORKinn Talent Hub – making it Europe’s leading fair in advanced manufacturing, and a perfect platform for showcasing FLASH-COMP’s advances in developing its digital solutions for zero defects manufacturing (ZDM) and its plans for the implementation and testing of these solutions.

The FLASH-COMP partners were able to meet companies from many industries across the spectrum, including those from manufacturing and distribution, robotics and automation, tools and accessories, industrial digitalisation, mechanical components, production and business services, and additive and 3D manufacturing and metrology.

LORTEK, MSI and AIMEN were principally focused on the BeDIGITAL Transforming Industry section of the conference, which became a forum dedicated to the industrial application of digital technologies and brought together more than 80 firms in its exhibition area.

As well as this forum, the spaces for robotics, automation and digitalisation, a new addition to the event, provided with plenty of scope for the partners to interact with relevant industries looking to adopt ZDM solutions as well as network with complementary projects and companies in the same sector.

“Our main focus has been to promote FLASH-COMP and the novel ZDM solutions we have been developing,” says project coordinator Janusz Poplawski of LORTEK.

“Along with MSI and AIMEN, we have been particularly focusing on showcasing the project’s inspection and monitoring tools and there has been a lot of interest in how these novel tools help optimise manufacturing processes and lead to products being made right first time,” he continues.

“We have also been able to discuss our approach to digitalisation in general as well as interoperability and multi-factories for heavy and metal industries. We have found that there is a lot of interest from stakeholders across a wide spectrum of industries in sustainable manufacturing and the role ZDM can play in moving towards that goal.”

Many of these stakeholders were from sectors such as software development, big data, AI, cybersecurity, augmented reality, IoT, blockchain, hardware, software engineering, telecommunications and 5G, information technologies and robotics, among others, which, like FLASH-COMP are developing the solutions being used by industry as it digitalises its processes.

As such, the FLASH-COMP partners were also able to attend the event’s Startup Village area, which was a dynamic space for the presentation and exchange of innovative proposals, the sharing of ideas and general networking.

“Overall, this has been a very exciting time for our three FLASH-COMP companies,” concludes Poplawski. “We have been able to showcase the project’s progress towards a viable ZDM solution, while we have all learned a lot from others in this space as well as connect with industries who are looking to use our technology.”