Inspiration book 2020 - Factories of the Future - 12 use cases

FACTORIES OF THE FUTURE
12 specific cases
Geert Jacobs - Expert Innovation
INSPIRATION BOOK

2 FactoryoftheFuture2020
FOREWORD
As a manufacturing company, how can you arm yourself against future challenges? How do other
companies approach this and who is taking the lead in Belgium?
In this inspirational booklet, 12 manufacturing companies share their keys to success. Discover how and
where your company can also make the difference.
Since 26 March 2020, Belgium has 38 Factories of the Future. In the last five years, these award- winners
have invested a total of € 1.7 billion and created an average of 17% more jobs.
These well-performing manufacturing companies have decided to increase their competitiveness on the
basisofintegratedtransformationprocessesfromtheMadeDifferentactionplandrawnupbyAgoriaand
Sirris.
They have attained a pole position by investing in further automation and digitisation of their production
equipment, and in their employees. These companies are therefore the flexible, high-performing and
cost-efficient companies of the future and can continue innovating to anchor manufacturing in this
country more firmly and ensure constant growth.
How far has your company come? Are you ready for the future? Contact one of our experts
and fill out our Factory of the Future scan as your first step towards a sustainable future.
For more inspiration, discover our online course on the Factory of the Future : The 7 Transformations
Experience
Geert Jacobs
Expert Innovation
Factory of the Future
Geert.jacobs@agoria.be
+32 2 706 79 69
Thesearticleswerewritten
incollaborationwithMotionControl

3 FactoryoftheFuture2020
CONTENTS
THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE 2020 WINNERS
#1
Discover Alstom, Factory of the Future 2020 5
#2
Audi Brussels reconciles the human dimension,
automation and the environment 8
#3
Discover JUMO, Optimal balance
between the human being and the digital world 12
#4
Kautex: Our response to diversification and market uncertainty 15
#5
Total Ertvelde, a Factory of the Future firmly rooted in the past 19
#6
Vandemoortele Factory of the Future: «Major employee involvement» 24
COMPANIES THAT HAVE RENEWED THEIR FACTORY OF THE FUTURE
TITLE IN 2020
#7 Provan: from metal fabricator to «total solution provider» 27
#8 Van Hoecke : the art of innovation for better entrepreneurship 30
#9 Veranneman : Team spirit leads to well-oiled production 34
COMPANIES IN TRANSFORMATION
#10 Atlas Copco, a company undergoing transformation:
«The Factory of the Future approach is different for everyone» 37
#11
C-Mec, a company undergoing transformation:
«Without change, we would no longer exist» 40
#12 Picanol , a company undergoing transformation:
«It is necessary to weave close links between the staff and the technology» 43

5 FactoryoftheFuture-TheFactoryoftheFuture2020winners
#1DiscoverAlstom,FactoryoftheFuture2020
Alstom Belgique, a member company of Agoria, is one of the winners of the Factory of the Future 2020
awards. Not having been able to applaud the winners during the Agoria roadshow because of the
confinement, Motion Control was nevertheless able to conduct an interview (remotely) with Pierre
Meunier and Samantha Esteban to find out their reasons for applying and the steps to be taken in
order to take home the Activities and Specialisation award
Alstom Belgique is a major stakeholder in the field of mo-
bility in Belgium. The company designs and manufactures
electrical equipment for rail vehicles such as the metros,
trams and regional trains, as well as digital signalling and
security equipment for the main lines. Finally, Alstom Bel-
gium provides support to its customers through services
suchasthemanufacturingandmanagementofspareparts,
as well as maintenance, repair and modernization of exist-
ing systems.
Alstom Charleroi
Engineering
Alstom Belgium has two sites. The Brussels site holds the
teams in direct contact with its national customers, and the
Charleroi site which is home to two centres of excellence
that are unique within the Alstom group.
Thecentreofexcellenceresponsiblefordigitalsignalling
solutionssuchastheERTMS-ETCSsystem(EuropeanRail
Traffic Management System - European Train Control
System) which fosters a harmonious flow of traffic be-
tween the different European networks.
The centre of excellence of traction systems and auxil-
iary energy convertors on board trains. For some years,
this department has also worked on energy recovery and
storage for the purpose of improving the energy efficien-
cy of transport systems.

The Charleroi site is above a research and development
site, which means that there is a strong engineering focus
that occupies close to half of all staff, i.e. 500 of the 1,250
employees.
Production
The site also has production capacities. Alstom Charleroi
does not produce large series, but rather prototypes, first-
run equipment and small series for local products. It also
draws up the association manufacturing procedure for new
products that will then be manufactured on the group’s
other sites. This is in line with the group’s strategy of priori-
tizing local production close to the customer.
Why apply for the Factory of the Future award?
Optimisation of industrial processes
Pierre Meunier, Innovation Director, explains the Charleroi
site’s role within the group: “The two centres of excellence
define the new digital and traction products, but their mis-
sions is also to improve production processes and the relat-
ed working methods. At this level, it is not so much a mat-
ter of developing new technologies but rather of looking at
new applications for existing technologies that can help us
to improve our processes. It is with that objective in mind
that the Innovation Unit launched the Factory of the Future
certification process, because our own action plan matches
the 7 transformations defined by the Factory of the Future
approach.”
Visibility
In addition to the overlap between the transformations
proposed by the organisation and its own action plan, there
was an additional reason for participating in the Factory of
theFuture:“Ourcompanydoesnothaveconsiderablename
recognition in Belgium, and the ‘Factory of the Future’ title
should improve our visibility. This is also true for our status
within our group. Winning the Factory of the Future award
is a definite confirmation of Alstom Charleroi as the global
benchmark for the field in which we operate.”
7 transformations
Pierre Meunier’s predecessor had already been in contact
with Agoria with regard to the topic (Alstom is a member
of Agoria) and, based on an initial assessment, a roadmap
was drawn up to meet the requirements of the seven Fac-
tory of the Future transformations. “Between that first as-
sessment and that conducted for the Factory of the Future,
a series of new measures were implemented and a number
of improvements were concretely made and presented to
the Factory of the Future auditors. The process, between
the initial assessment and certification, took around two
years. Because of the nature of the assessment process, the
auditorsactasbothjudgeandconsultant.Forinstance,they
made a series of recommendations based on cases that
they had seen in other companies. Several of those recom-
mendations proved to be very valuable and we decided to
use them to develop the rest of our action plan.”
A different orientation of the Factory of the
Future
Flexible switching between small series
Samantha Esteban, Manufacturing Manager and member
of the site’s Innovation Unit, tells us that the transforma-
tions as described did not initially seem as though they
were applicable to the situation at Alstom Charleroi. “The
Factory of the Future roadmap is currently oriented more
toward the industrialisation of large series, whereas this
is absolutely not our core business. However, we have nev-
ertheless been able to show that it is possible to adapt the
roadmap to our way of working, while at the same time

achieving a high level of digitalisation enabling us to work
more efficiently. This is proof that transformations and
extensive digitalisation are perfectly achievable for small
series production oriented towards the flexibility required
by contracts involving a wide range of variants of existing
products. This ability to adapt which is linked to our busi-
ness was one of the strengths identified by the auditors.”
Adapting technology
Training is a crucial component of the company, and a
school was created on the site where a large number of
training courses are held: training on the process, special
processes and production tools and their influence on the
day-to-day work. Samantha Esteban: “This enables us to
create trust and acceptance for these new technologies on
the part of all staff on the site, including manual workers,
non-manual workers and the management.”
Multi-field teams
One of the strengths identified by the auditors is the prac-
tice of multi-field teams concentrated close to the produc-
tion line. “They are often small teams comprising the vari-
ousoccupationsthatcontributetotheproject’scompletion.
These multi-field teams are ultimately a way of involving
everyone in the project. As regards new technologies, it is
not so much a matter of inventing any, but rather of adapt-
ing and finding new applications for production methods
that already exist elsewhere.”
Example of a new technology
An example of the development of a new technology is
the interactive looming table for making bunched cables.
These bunches are directly assembled on a table consisting
of six interconnected screens and a touch screen. This fully
digital and therefore interactive system facilitates the as-
sembly of the bunched cables, which was previously done
with a board, nails and a paper plan. This table was entirely
designed in Charleroi and it has already been a great suc-
cess with visitors who have seen it in operation.
Digital Factory
The post-Factory of the Future period according to Pierre
Meunier: “the Factory of the Future award is the culmina-
tion of considerable work carried out by a large part of the
staff for whom the trophy is a great source of pride. Howev-
er, this award does not mean that no more changes will be
made, in fact quite the contrary. In the near future, Alstom
Charleroi will continue to roll out digitalisation projects.
Our new contract for M7 trains with the SNCB is full of new
steps to be taken.”
Networked Factory
M7 contract
The M7 project is a major contract involving large-scale
production. Samantha Esteban: “This new project enables
us to bring together the possibilities of the different pro-
grams for digitizing production: the process, the tools and
the follow-up. This set of programs will make it possible to
monitor all the data available on the production line in real
time, so that it can be managed on the basis of the latest
up-to-date information.”
Click here to watch the
video

#2AudiBrussels reconcilesthehumandimension,automationandthe
environment
Few Factories of the Future were as ripe for an award as Audi Brussels. “Within a few months the audit
was successfully completed and we were awarded the title of Factory of the Future,” said Jan Maris,
Audi Production Manager in Forest. “An overview of our workplace supported all the achievements we
had put down on paper.” The award recognised the efforts of all employees in the CO2-neutral factory
and motivates us to achieve the goal of a zero-emission factory by 2025.
Electric SUVs in Forest
For some Factories of the Future, it is necessary to provide
detailed explanations in order to understand exactly what
product it is they manufacture. This is not the case with
AudiForest.ThecarmanufacturerthatsawthelastA1come
off the production line in 2018 has since been manufactur-
ing the first fully electric Audi model: the e-tron. This year,
it also began producing the e-tron sportback. The electric
SUVs with a range of more than 400 km are manufactured
onanareaof563,000m²byateamofaround3,000people.
Theseemployeesarespreadoveranumberofdepartments
and a range of support services. Another important feature
is the company’s own battery production unit in Forest.
Ready for the Award
Audi Brussels was given a Factory of the Future award in
2020 as the result of a long transformation project. Pro-
duction Manager Jan Maris said: “We have a long history
of close cooperation within and with Agoria. When the
application for participation came in September 2019, our
Managing Director Volker Germann was not surprised. The
pre-evaluation quickly showed that Audi Brussels was al-
ready at a very advanced stage. In fact, it was enough to list
everything we were working on. The audit followed shortly

afterwards. In addition to the list, we proved that our theo-
ry works in practice, with a guided tour of the workshop to
see everything in action. On 6 December, it was announced
that we had been awarded the title of “Factory of the Fu-
ture.”
Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
Cobots and AGV
The highly automated production hall in Forest comprises
more than 430 robots. In addition, there are several col-
laborative robots. For example, these robots carry out an
optical inspection of the weld seams in the battery com-
partment, but they also measure the strength of the weld
seams, while human workers meanwhile carry out their
tasks in the same space.
“The AGV (automated guided vehicles) are also part of
our production and logistics flows. They ensure a flexible
arrival and find their way around thanks to reflectors and
routing control learning”, added the Production Manager.
Battman application
“We are also developing internally an application called
Battman,” said Jan Maris. “High-voltage batteries are in
fact made up of various components that each have their
own sensors and software. Our application makes it pos-
sible to read the parameters of these components with-
out opening the battery. Eventually, the Battman (battery
management) application will also find its way to our deal-
er services.”
Digital Factory
On the digital side, Audi uses ‘Virtual Fugenanalysis’, for
example. “For this we use the Carscan application,” said
Jan Maris. “Using blue light measuring technology, this
application produces a digital image of the car with colour
codes. The colours indicate the degree of alignment be-
tween the gaps of the different sheets and body lines.”
Eco Factory
CO2-neutral
Being CO2-neutral, Audi Brussels naturally achieved an
excellent result in terms of ecology. “Our efforts in this re-
spect are progressing in parallel with the transformation
for the production of the e-tron”, recalled the Production
Manager.
“A clean car means a clean fac-
tory.”
“We have installed a certain amount of new infrastructure,
such as a water pre-treatment and purification system that
has drastically reduced water consumption. The 107,000
m² of solar panels on the buildings also contribute to this.”
Environmentally-friendly initiatives
In addition, other environmentally-friendly initiatives
have also been taken, such as planting a wooded area in
Woluwé and the installation of plastic traps in the port
of Brussels. “We use the collected plastic waste to make
benches for our site.”
As a result of all these efforts, Audi Brussels is the first site
in the large conglomerate to obtain the CO2 neutrality cer-
tificate. “And it does not stop there,” promised Jan Maris.
“Our goal is zero-emission production by 2025.”
Integrated Engineering
With the Battman application, which was designed inter-
nally, now present in production and also distributed to
dealers, we have already given an example of attention to
integrated engineering.
Audi Anlauf Check
The ‘Audi Anlauf Check’ is a second example. “The Audi
Anlauf Check facilitates the sharing of experiences and the
transfer of knowledge. In the start-up phase on the way
to production, visits were conducted by teams within the
conglomerate to sites that already have the expertise. This
is the calibrated way of retaining and disseminating know-
how.”
Human Centred Organisation
Attitude, involvement and health
Audi Brussels is a committed employer, said Jan Maris:
“Naturally we set the standard in terms of autonomous
teams, teamwork and ergonomics. In addition, a ‘Stim-
mungsbarometer’ is regularly drawn up. Employees can
anonymously communicate their opinions and concerns
on 23 questions about their work, the working environ-
ment, production, etc. In 2019, 80% of the staff took part
in the survey, which shows a high level of involvement.
The results of the Stimmungsbarometer are summarised
and we comment on this summary in the teams in order to
launch proposals for improvement.”
TheForest-basedcarmanufacturerisalsoconcernedabout
the physical health of its employees. “Every year, it is pos-
sible to take part on a voluntary basis in a health check in
our health centre carried out by external doctors. The fact
that we have been a ‘Top Employer’ since 2016 without
interruption is no coincidence. I know that the highly au-

tomated production gives the impression that robots are
at the top of the food chain, but the cars are still made by
people. In assembly, hundreds of hands touch the car be-
fore it is ready. Our employees are central to the company’s
business.”
Work-study programmes
In order to ensure that it always has sufficiently qualified
staff in the future, Audi Brussels makes considerable ef-
forts in terms of education.
“We were the instigator of work-study programmes in Bel-
gium. Workplace learning is the perfect win-win situation.
Students can gain experience in a real environment with
the latest technology and we create a pool of potential em-
ployees who also know all our systems from the outset.”
Smart Manufacturing
We have already mentioned ‘smart assembly’ with the use
ofAGVstoensureflexiblearrivalintheAdvancedManufac-
turing Technologies chapter. But Audi goes further.
“With artificial intelligence, we reconcile our battery pro-
ductionwithcarproduction,”revealedJanMaris.“Weman-
ufacture 5 battery variants, all with different behaviours in
production and use. We use AI to monitor the behaviour of
these batteries and estimate the throughput time in order
to ensure that the right batteries are available in time for
the vehicles.”
Networked Factory
Audi Brussels does not see itself as a closed complex, but
maintains close cooperation agreements with several par-
ties.
“We have a good relationship with the technical schools in
the neighbourhood,” said Jan Maris. This is demonstrated
by the work-study programmes. In addition, we regularly
collaborate with other suppliers such as Materialise (3D
printing, and fellow Factory of the Future award winner).
We also maintain contacts with various universities and
regularly collaborate with other companies on projects
such as Flanders Make. Our membership of the Agoria
technology federation is also part of this. Certainly now,
as a Factory of the Future, we are developing a network in
which we can fully benefit from the experiences of others.”
An award, but also results
Audi Brussels also sees the Factory of the Future award as
recognition of the work done, but not as an end. “Our ef-
forts were never made with the ultimate goal of being Fac-
tory of the Future. We have invested in the future of our
factory and our people. It is nice to win an award, but the
results and process optimisation are so much more impor-
tant. We see winning the title more as a motivation and an
incentive to improve even more.”
The future is paperless
Although it passed the Factory of the Future audit with fly-
ing colours, the Forest-based factory clearly has no inten-
tion of resting on its laurels.
Jan Maris cited two areas in which they will be investing
heavily in the upcoming period: “There is still a lot of virgin
territory in the field of big data. Process monitoring leads
to optimisation. This makes it possible to intensify predic-
tive maintenance, to further increase quality and to carry
out purchasing actions even more simply and precisely.
In addition, we are also looking at ways to become paper-
less. Digitising the shop floor is certainly a bonus in terms
of the environment, but it will also provide access to more
big data.
The Elfis (Elektronik Fehler Information System) project
to digitally record errors and imperfections is currently
ongoing. It enables us to optimise our processes quickly
and efficiently. We hope that this project is a first step to-
wards the complete digitisation of the warehouse’s paper
records. In any case, we still have an exciting time ahead of
us”, concluded the Production Manager.
video

#3DiscoverJUMO,FactoryoftheFuture2020:Optimalbalancebetweenthe
humanbeingandthedigitalworld
JUMO Automation is one of the 4 winners of the Factory of the Future 2020 award in Wallonia. Not
having been able to applaud the winners in person at a live ceremony, Motion Control conducted a
(remote) interview with Bruno Radermacher, Managing Director of JUMO Automation.
JUMO was founded in Fulda, Germany, in 1948. It initially
produced glass for thermometers before developing its
range of specialised products for the measurement and
control sector.
In 1971, JUMO Automation moved to Belgium, initially to
Brussels and then in 1984 to Eupen where 44 employees
currently work in a structure that speaks the three na-
tional languages. Multilingualism is one of the company’s
strengths, as JUMO is able to speak with customers in no
less than seven different languages. JUMO has remained
a family company favouring a close working atmosphere
enabling making it possible to remain attentive to its part-
ners within the company, its external partners and its cus-
tomers.
Activities and specialisations
JUMO manufactures and distributes a wide range of mea-
surement, control and automation products. The company
is among the world leaders in two areas, namely tempera-
ture measurement and control for industries as diverse as
food, water treatment, pharmaceuticals, renewable ener-
gies, railways, shipbuilding, heating and air conditioning,
as well as the plastics and petrochemical industries. Other
measurementsofphysicalquantitiessuchasfluidanalysis,
pressure and humidity measurement are constantly being
developed in-house. For some years now, JUMO has diver-
sified its portfolio by designing and developing in-house
a PLC dedicated to recording, control, supervision and se-
quential programming.

Specificities
In addition to its family nature, JUMO has some specifici-
ties that make it a world-renowned player in its sector:
Deep horizontal and vertical integration in manufactur-
ing, which over the last ten years has seen a high degree
of automation and robotisation, which has led to opti-
mised production flows and a significant increase in
productivity.

A strategy that relies on the delocalized production of
certain specific products in 14 sites around the world, all
of which respond to local customers’ needs. This is the
very definition of ‘Think Global, Act Local’. Some pro-
duction sites also produce for the global market. (Think
Global, Act Global). This is the case for JUMO Automa-
tion in Belgium, which in fact applies both principles.
An extensive and strong team of researchers and engi-
neers developing both standard and customer-specific
products.
Own production
JUMO Automation is not only a commercial subsidiary of
the parent company. In addition to its sales department,
the company managed by Bruno Radermacher has its own
production and an experienced technical service providing
support to its customers. “Our engineering and production
departments are above all a local production facility for finding
tailor-made and ‘just in time’ solutions for our customers. In ad-
dition to this production, our technical department also carries
out repairs, develops customised programs, carries out commis-
sioning operations, organises training courses and provides the
necessary technical support for our customers.”
2017, a pivotal year
With a motivated and competent team supported by a
global group, everything could be expected to turn out
well. However, a major investment in 2015 aimed at in-
creasing production capacity and doubling the production
area led to an unexpected result in fiscal year 2017.
“Being accustomed to a “good faith” approach to production, we
had not yet made the transition to a professionally oriented and
structured production (production management by means of a
specific programme), resulting in lead times that were increas-
ing from 3 to 7 weeks and increasing numbers of customer com-
plaints. We had reached a critical threshold where it became
necessary to reconsider the very organization of production.This
iswhywecontactedSirristoconductaninitialassessmentofthe
problems.”
Digital Factory
An initial list of recommendations was drawn up by Pas-
cal Pollet, Principal Engineer Smart and Digital Factory at
Sirris, which mainly highlighted the changes required to
better organize production. The list also included a Lean
system, but JUMO Automation did not follow this recom-
mendation, as it saw no need for it given its own method
of production of single parts or small quantities with a very
high degree of variability. A more detailed transformation
plan was launched on the basis of those initial recommen-
dations.

QRM or ERP ?
Bruno Radermacher: “The plan included the implementation
of a QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing) system, but in order
to ensure uniformity within the JUMO Group, we decided to de-
velop an additional module for the ERP system (Brain) already
in use at the parent company in Germany. Subsequently, it was
necessary to train our staff to work with the new system. Addi-
tional staff were hired to manage both the organization of work
and the actual production. This was a mammoth task because
all existing production steps had to be split and digitised in the
ERP system.”
Very satisfactory results
The new system was launched in September 2019, which
gives us the necessary hindsight to realize that the imple-
mentation of the new organization has been successful:
Lead times have been reduced from 7 to a maximum of
3 weeks;
The promised lead times are reliable thanks to real and
effective planning;
Production has become professional and the production
process can be monitored at any time;
Thanks to this production monitoring capability, the cal-
culation of the cost price is accurate and reflects reality.
The Factory of the Future project was particularly impor-
tant in supporting the reorganisation of production. “The
support provided by Sirris during the implementation of the Fac-
tory of the Future project was very professional and was a source
of inspiration and motivation.»
Why participate in the Factory of the Future Awards?
WhileparticipationintheFactoryoftheFutureAwardswas
mainlyperceivedasthelogicalcontinuationofthechanges
already started in 2017, other factors began supplement-
ing the primary reason: «In addition to the support aspect,
participation was also a challenge because the level to be
achieved in order to be labelled a «Factory of the Future»
is very high and requires a collective effort. Fortunately, we
were able to achieve this thanks to the great open-mind-
edness and motivation of our staff. This dynamic has had
an influence on the whole company. At the same time, the
Factory of the Future Award has also enabled us to profile
ourselves as being at the top within the JUMO Group and
thus an example to be followed. In recent months, for ex-
ample, we have been visited by most of the production
managers from most of our subsidiaries around the world.”
Journey to the Factory of the Future Award
The journey was a smooth one, thanks in particular to the
necessary motivation and open-mindedness found within
the company and the support provided by Sirris. The meth-
odology’s seven transformations had already been largely
implemented, even though some still needed to be more
structured and deepened.
“Infact,wewerelargelyalreadypreparedforaFactoryoftheFu-
ture type of journey. Some points of the seven transformations
had already been introduced by the parent company before 2017
andwehadalreadybeeninastateofmindopentogreatchanges
sincethen.IntermsoftheFactoryoftheFutureaward,itwasthe
journey to get there that was more important than winning the
award. Of course, winning the award is the crowning achieve-
mentofalltheworkdoneandagreatsourceofprideforallthose
who contributed to it.»
According to Bruno Radermacher, production will never
be ‘Full digital’ because the share of work performed by
workers is very high. “It should not be forgotten that JUMO
Automation’s unique position lies in the skills of its employees
and in our flexibility,which are demonstrated as soon as a single
custom part is produced. I do not think that the process as such
will change fundamentally. However, we will make every effort
to ensure that digitization provides valuable support in every
conceivablearea,sothatourstaffcandevotethemselvestotasks
with higher added value. The aim is to achieve an optimal bal-
ance between the human being and the digital world.”
video

#4Kautex:Ourresponsetodiversificationandmarketuncertainty
As a sub-contractor for Ford, Opel and Volvo, among others, Kautex’s fuel tanks can be found in most
of our vehicles. And you will not be surprised to find out that a deep disruption is currently underway
in the mobility sector. The fluctuating mobility market requires Kautex to take a long-term view. How
is the company reacting?
Blow moulding
We met with Jan Lodewijckx - the company’s operations
manager - at the production site in Tessenderlo. He told
us more about the process underlying the fuel tanks: “We
manufacture the tanks using the blow moulding process.
We feed the plastic granules into the machine, heat them
and make a plastic tube. The tube is collected in a mould
and then blown into the shape of the mould, which is the
shape of the fuel tank. After cooling down, we finish the
two tanks by attaching the necessary valves, clips and other
components. Each tank has a very specific shape and spe-
cific properties. Due to the large volumes, each product
has its own production line. We only use a flexible line for
smaller series, with several adjustable robots that we can
quickly convert. We are seeing a move towards smaller se-
ries, which is the result of the diversification of car manu-
facturers’ models.
Winner in 2020
Earlier this year, Kautex won the prestigious Factory of the
Future award. How did Jan Lodewijckx experience this pro-
cess? “When Agoria came to talk about the programme
here three years ago, we were a bit hesitant at first. At that
time, declining volumes on the market created uncertainty
about the future and there was a feeling that the Factories
oftheFutureweregoingagainstthatsentiment.Asaresult,
we did not go down this road at first but we later realised
that that uncertain situation in the automotive industry
would not disappear any time soon.”

“In any case it is a very competitive sector and develop-
ments in electric mobility are contributing to this situation
of permanent uncertainty in the market. In the face of that,
wedecidedtore-examineourthinking.Werealisedthatwe
had to do everything we could to ensure our future. For us,
theprogrammewastheidealguidelineforchallengingour-
selves and constantly improving.”
Strong in data
“When we finally joined the movement and evaluated the
results of the first audit, we found that we were already
achieving a good result in several aspects. Our analysis of
the data was accurate. We extract a lot of data from our
machines, such as temperatures, oil analyses and pressure
measurements. We use the data to analyse disruptions, en-
abling us to learn lessons for the future. As a next step, we
want to continue to explore our data for use in a predictive
maintenance programme.”
Safety product
“Moreover, our process is not the only pillar that attaches
importance to data, because data and documentation are
also becoming more important for the product. It should
be recalled that we produce a safety product that is subject
to strict requirements. Every tank that we manufacture is
therefore given a barcode to which we can attach a wide
range of information: weight, photos during assembly, in-
formation about the coupled pump, the results of the leak
test, etc. If something happens to our tanks, vehicle manu-
facturers can always contact us to request this information.”
Eco Factory
“The audit highlighted facets we had not considered. The
story about the ‘eco factory’ is a good example of this. We
did have programmes here covering energy savings and en-
vironmental management, but we had not yet considered
theimpactoftransportontheCO2footprintofoursystems,
for example.”
“Our tanks occupy a large volume despite their limited
weight. Thanks to the audit, we considered transport could
be optimised. We are finding that our customers are in-
creasingly sensitive to this. They want to know the exact
amount of CO2 emitted throughout the entire production
process for each component. Apart from this example, the
evaluation showed that we had already made much prog-
ress in many areas. We were already on the right track a few
years ago. The award was, so to speak, a reward for those
efforts.

“The fact that we are already so
far along is also due to the de-
manding sector in which we op-
erate.”
We are already preparing for the EURO 7 emissions stan-
dard, which will undoubtedly come into force soon. It re-
quires limited weight for the tanks and the selection of
optimum valves, among other considerations. Anyone who
attempts to comply with the strict quality standards and
environmental regulations in the automotive industry is al-
ready on the way to becoming a Factory of the Future.”
The process requires energy
“Our production process requires a lot of energy: heating
the plastic, then blowing out the shape of the tank with
compressed air and cooling the product. These are three
energy-intensive processes. We want to save energy in all
of them: we are trying to reduce the pressure required for
the blowing process, so that the compressor is activated
fewer times, we have a programme for sealing compressed
air leaks, and we are looking at how to optimise the cooling
process.”
World Class Production
“This factory is relatively young. The building was built to
foster fluid goods logistics, with a high bay warehouse be-
tween the logistics hall and the production area. This has
enabled us to easily automate the transport of parts. Our
blow moulding machines are also a good example of ‘world
class production’. They are entirely built within the Textron
group and are constantly equipped with the most modern
technology, such as new controls and robotics. In the past,
remnants of the blowing process were removed with a
knife; nowadays robots carry out this task. Do we have few-
er employees because of this? No. But we are seeing a shift
from ‘direct’ to ‘supervisory’ operators. Due to the diversifi-
cationofvehiclemodels,wearealsoforcedtohaveacertain
degree of flexibility.”
“Maintaining speed is important, but we are working on a
just-in-time basis. We are therefore not building up a stock.
Thisrequiresanoptimalproductionflow.Asaresult,weare
alwayslookingatnewtechnologiesandevaluatingthepos-
sibilitiesfortheirimplementation.Forexample,wetesteda
cobot on the Ford focus line.”
“Since the machine in this line came into contact with the
water from the leak test and it was difficult to achieve the
required speed, we opted later on for a traditional robot. At
the moment we are working on a project with a 3D printer
for prototyping and spare parts production.”
Integrated Engineering
“Simulation is also becoming an increasingly established
practice here. During the development process of new
tanks, we can simulate the appearance of the tank, the fill-
ing process, the exact position of an emergency vent valve,
etc. We can also use this virtual model in the validation pro-
cess.”
“In addition to product simulation, we also use the technol-
ogy to simulate entire production lines. When we had to
manufacture a new tank, the associated line was previously
built entirely from cardboard. A long and intensive process,
of course. Today we can do this with the help of a virtual
world based on sensor information. Using VR goggles, you
can then move virtually around the new production line.
We also use this technology to familiarise our staff with the
machines.”
Digital Factory
“Hereagain,Iamreferringtoourdatacollectionefforts.We
extend this to our production process, where our employ-
ees can always consult the current status on large screens.
In addition, there are a number of digital and automatic
toolsattheworkstations,suchasahelpsystemtoeasilycall
the team leader. The use of a holographic lens is also a good
example of this. Anyone can observe the world to examine
a problem in the machines or in the production process, to
point out things, ask for details, make annotations, place
machine holograms, etc. The possibilities offered by this
technology are endless. This also proved its usefulness dur-
ing the COVID crisis.”
“We are also currently considering transitioning from pa-
per to digital working instructions. We try to support our
employees as much as possible when we implement new
things. This is again closely linked to the Human-Centred
Production pillar of the Factory of the Future programme.”
Smart Manufacturing
With series of a few dozens of thousands of pieces, batch
size 1 does not seem to apply. Although this deserves a few
explanations:
Jan Lodewijckx: “As mentioned, we work according to the
Just-in-Time principle, but we are currently developing a
Just-in-Sequence approach with a customer. We deliver the
tanks into the manufacturing sequence of the customer’s
cars. If their production process requires a tank for a diesel
car first, then a petrol tank and then a hybrid tank, we deliv-

er the tanks in that order. However, a considerable amount
of know-how is required to properly manage the logistics of
such an approach.”
What does the future hold?
A company that manufactures fuel tanks for vehicles is
keeping a close eye on developments in electric mobility.
What will happen to Kautex Textron if electric cars without
fuel tanks take a firm foothold?
Jan Lodewijckx: “I previously talked about limiting CO2
emissions. Car manufacturers will increasingly impose this
reduction as a requirement on their subcontractors. If they
do this for electric cars, I am still not convinced that they
could take over the market. Nevertheless, our group is also
targetingthismarket.Forexample,weareactivelydevelop-
ing battery systems. In the future there will be more inter-
esting developments that we are already following closely.
Waterandwatermanagementsystemswillbemoreimpor-
tant in cars. Self-driving cars will also require a completely
different approach to the car interior. By already position-
ing ourselves, we are trying to anticipate what will arrive in
the future.”

#5TotalErtvelde,aFactoryoftheFuturefirmlyrootedinthepast
Everyone knows Total, whether it is as a stop on the road to fill up on petrol, or as an energy supplier.
However, few people know that this French group’s flagship of lubricant production, logistics and
analysis is located on our territory. The French call this site ‘La Vitrine’ on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal,
which reflects the pioneering role that the ‘Little Belgians’ have played here for 30 years, a history
of growth in which not only technology but also people play a leading role. This unbridled desire to
always do better is now reflected in the first Factory of the Future award.
A journey through time
Key moments in history
To better understand the history of lubricating oils in
Ertvelde, we have to go back to the beginning of the 20th
century,aperiodwhentheBelgianmechanicalengineering
industry experienced an unprecedented boom and the
demand for lubricating oils and fuel rose sharply. In
these favourable market conditions, many entrepreneurs
became interested in extraction and/or refining, including
Joseph Waterkeyn, an Antwerp-based entrepreneur with
ambitious plans to build a refinery in Ertvelde. For evident
reasons, it would not be built until 1918. It would become
the foundation for the activities that still take place there
today. There are several key moments in the history of
Total’sErtveldesite-thetakeoverbyFinain1923,theAllied
bombingin1945andTotal’sacquisitionofPetrofinain1999
- but the event with the greatest impact on the history and
future of the Ertvelde site would take place in 1991 with the
launch of the New Factory.
The New Factory
Peter De Jonghe, Director of the Total Ertvelde plant: «
The investments and risks involved would be madness
in the eyes of today’s businessmen. The manufacturer

certainly had a huge budget for what was to become
the oil company’s flagship, and we are still reaping the
benefits today. At the start of this New Factory, we were
able to anticipate automation in an almost visionary way,
among other things by setting up a database from which
the factory could be controlled (see below). Such concepts
may now seem much more commonplace and no longer
quite as novel; in 1991, however, this was really unheard of.
It should be noted that in the early 1990s, computers were
not really well established, even though the factory was
already operating entirely on computer systems.”
« Given the limited computing power at the time, different
computerswereusedwhichhadtocommunicatewitheach
other, in addition to the old Siemens S5 PLCs”, adds Kristof
Vermeire, former Production Manager and deputy of De
Jonghe. “It goes without saying that those multiprocessors
have now been surpassed in terms of computing power by
the new S7s and the MES operating system, which allow
the entire site to be controlled from a central server.»
Networked Factory
Database structure
Although the original database was renewed some time
ago, its structure has remained the same as before. In fact,
it is somewhat to this structure that the factory owes its
success. “The structure of the database, set up at the time
by the French Courbon company, now better known as
Actemium, is the reason why, even today, all the processes
are truly interlinked: from the laboratory, to the reception
of the products, to the filling itself. Everything is anchored
in our production apparatus”, explains Kristof Vermeire.
«In this system, it is hardly possible to make human errors
becauseeverythingistestedbytheunderlyingautomation.
This enables us to go very far when it comes to traceability,
e.g. everything that has happened or is planned can be
tracked perfectly. In addition, there are still fields available
today, which will enable us to graft new possibilities onto
the original factory system in the future.”
From one batch to the next, always faster
Engine types are changing, as is the complexity of
lubricating oils. This evolution of the market also has
consequences on the approach of the New Factory.
« There are more components per formula, and smaller
quantities per final product,» explains Kristof Vermeire.
«We therefore need to be able to move more quickly from
one small batch to the next in order to supply the customer
quickly. The advantage, however, is that we have a very
good factory for this. If we want to produce quickly and
in large quantities, we use the large mixers. For smaller
batches, we use a 5-tonne mixer, but as we are constantly
faced with the challenge of transition periods, we are also
abletoproduceupto35differenthigh-qualityproductsper
day. This, despite the fact that the design and engineering
of this concept dates back to the old factory.»
De Jonghe: « When you consider that the New Factory was
built to produce around 100 different formulas, and that
there are now almost three times as many employees,
and that the product specifications are also much stricter,
you will get an idea of the major improvements we have
made. In the area of First Time Right, Total Ertvelde is
approaching a rate of 97%, and losses leaks (production
losses) have also been reduced by 1.2 million Euros per
year. This was achieved - despite the high frequency of
switching between small batches - by rinsing less often but
more efficiently between 2 batches.
Focus on automation
When a company is going through a period of innovation,
a certain resistance from conservative operators seems
inevitable. However, in the New Factory, where automated
systems were present from the start, automation is never
interrupted, but rather implemented on a regular basis.
“Our employees now know that we very often turn to
automation when we make investments,” explains Kristof
Vermeire. «In line with our investment policy, the task of
a technician or operator should focus on quality control,
component supply or process monitoring. Since almost all
processes, such as pumping fluids or mixing formulas, are
already virtually automatic, few manual interventions are
required in the end. But they know our track record.»
Mini-companies for improved involvement
Given the rapidity with which new technologies are
developed, it is understandable that the adaptation of
new automatic processes is no easy task. This is why ‘mini-
companies’ have been set up. “As the name suggests, these
are types of ‘small companies’ in which we group together
different profiles,” explains Kristof Vermeire. «We wanted
to invite our employees to think about how we could
further automate certain processes, so that human error
can be completely eliminated in the long term. – “In the
beginning, there was only one-way traffic in these mini-
companies, in which the transfer of knowledge was very
much one-sided,» De Jonghe admits. «Gradually, however,
a certain amount of trust was built up, and people began
to look at their own workstations. And rightly so, because
they have knowledge of the processes, and the operators

are in the best position to identify the potential for
improvement. In the end, consultation in mini-companies
even goes as far as involving our staff in the choice of
facilities and suppliers in the case of new investments. The
fact that this approach has not only reduced resistance to
automation, but also increased involvement and initiative,
is of great benefit to our operation”, says De Jonghe. “Just
last year we decided to install robotics solutions, and
we noticed that both our technical staff and operators
wanted to acquire the new skills required to operate this
technology. In addition, under the name ‘Better Together’,
we also have an optimisation plan to safeguard the skills
of our employees and training them for the automatic and
digital future. It is also crucial to implement a career plan
to profile ourselves more as a human-centred factory.”
‘An example of automation and innovative technology’,
according to the final comment of the Factory of the
Future judges. “Overall, the entire organisation - from
management to technical staff - spent 5 years working
on the preliminary process of the Factory of the Future
programme. Initially, under the heading of ‘operational
excellence’, in order to limit losses and leaks and to
increaseFirstTimeRight,”explainsDeJonghe.“Fromthere,
we continued the process with Kaizen and SMED (Single
Minute Exchange of Die) exercises to refine the investment
policy and increase participation via the mini-companies.”
According to the Plant Manager and his deputy, future
investments will focus on two areas: digitisation through
data and sustainability. The trajectory of the latter
was already underway a few years ago, long before the
company was considering being recognised as a Factory of
the Future.
Business Units
A total of around 200 people work on the site, most of them - 140 of them - in production, supplemented by 30 people
each for ANAC and logistics.
1. Production
The Ertvelde plant, which produces around 187,189 tonnes of lubricating oil per year, is one of the largest production
facilities in Belgium and Europe.
2. Logistics
Intermsoflogistics,TotalErtveldeembodiesanindispensablelinkbetweentheordersofTotal’sEuropeansubsidiaries
on the one hand and its Northern European plants on the other. “From Ertvelde, we accompany all these orders to the
respective end customer, i.e. to the warehouse of the nearest branch of our group.”
3. Analysis
In addition to its production, Total Ertvelde also stands out for its ANAC analyses, the renowned laboratory where
oil samples from professional customers are analysed. Every year, some 250,000 lubricant analyses (around 5,000
samples per week) are carried out in Ertvelde, and despite this staggering number, it is always possible to provide
customers with feedback on the condition of the engine within three days of receiving the sample. “In this way we try
to reduce the annual downtime of the customers’ machines considerably. Moreover, this analysis allows us to draw
on our experience with all kinds of machines, and thus to suggest to the customer the best solution in our opinion”,
explains Peter De Jonghe. “It’s a bit like predictive maintenance, in fact!”
Eco Factory
Limiting consumption
“A first energy audit in 2015 served as a basis for us to draw
up an action plan. We quickly realised that several points
of attention could be optimised, but we had to establish
the right schedule first. The first major step was to set up
an energy monitoring system, with data coming in from
35 measuring points across the site. This gave us a very
accurate picture of the consumption of steam, electricity,
compressed air and water,” explains the Plant Manager,
and Kristof Vermeire adds: “Replacing mercury bulbs with
LEDs is perhaps a classic example, but by combining that
with intelligent skylights that optimise light control by
means of rotating mirrors (EcoNation LightCatcher), we
achieved a staggering 90% saving right from the start.
In fact, the warehouses are lit 24 hours a day, making it
possible to achieve such savings. We have also extended
the use of variable speed drives on our pumps and we
have tackled compressed air consumption. To this end,
we have commissioned a new, smaller compressor (which
runs more continuously), installed leak detection systems
and fragmented the compressed air network into zones.

Finally, in 2016, we implemented the ENO (Energy No)
awareness-raising campaign.”
Sustainability taken into account in every project
In any case, the interventions in the area of sustainability
management have already yielded good results, as
evidenced, among other things, by the ISO 50001
certificate for 2018, but in the coming years the Ertvelde
plant intends to further increase its efforts to optimise its
energy efficiency. “Following this first energy audit, and
the improvements we have implemented, which have led
to a 10% reduction in energy consumption by the end of
the year - which is considerable for the industry - we have
recently had another energy audit carried out, in order
to rediscover further opportunities for improvement,”
reports De Jonghe. “In the case of new investments, energy
efficiency and sustainability, as well as the return on
investment and the safety aspect, will be included in the
scope at the start of each project, even more so than at
present.ThisisinlinewiththethinkingthatCO2neutrality
is bound to become more important in the future as part
of the decision matrix for project approval. One of my big
dreams would be to be able to generate 50-60% of the
electricity needed on site in the long term using wind
power. It’s in the pipeline!”
Digital Factory
More and more data
“Inadditiontosustainability,ourenergywillalsoandabove
allbeattheserviceofthedataanditsanalysis,”explainsthe
Plant Manager. “In this way, we hope not only to improve
our processes, but also to be able to act more quickly when
something goes wrong. This goal does not come from a
decisionbytheheadoffice,buttheErtveldesiteistheideal
candidate to use the data to adjust processes. Because of
the high level of automation, nowhere else in the group
is as much data available as in the New Factory. Kristof
Vermeire: “Indeed, we hope to be able to detect certain
process anomalies at an early stage by using artificial
intelligence on this data. Running a pump at half capacity
for 8 months should not be allowed, and in these cases the
data can certainly help us to target this anomaly after 1 or
2 days. And the same should apply to scrapers, ventilation
systems, loading and unloading, for instance”. Although
Ertvelde will analyse and process the data collected locally,
the results will also be shared with the rest of the group.
This is typical of the interaction. For example, in Paris
they are currently researching the Digital Factory, and in
Ertvelde they hope to be able to convince these specialists
to start working with their data. “In this context, cyber-
security is more than just a point of attention,” adds De
Jonghe. “We have planned a strict separation between the
office network and the industrial network, which is a major
challenge. The data collected from the industrial network
is properly transferred and visualised by our office staff,
after which they can carry out the necessary analyses, and
the potential improvements then become visible.”
Total Ertvelde, Factory of the (ever more distant) Future
You have to live with the times, which is why Total is closely
following developments in the industrial, marine and
automotive drive sector. It is still a little early to be able
to ascertain whether it will be interesting to offer oil as a
service, with sensors and remote monitoring as mandatory
instruments, even if it is already possible to monitor
customer stock down to an IBC or a barrel. “However, if
demand increases, remote monitoring of customers - if
theyarewillingtoparticipate-couldbeaplausiblescenario
in which we can refine our production and logistics. We
hope to get more information from the Agoria contact
group,” says De Jonghe. “Unfortunately, the pandemic
has made things a bit more complicated by preventing
company visits. But in the meantime, I have been able to
meet virtually with several like-minded people who share
the same ideas about digitisation.”
video

#6VandemoorteleFactoryoftheFuture:
“Majoremployeeinvolvement“
Izegem,inWestFlanders,isthesiteoftheoldestandlargestfactoryoperatedbyVandemoortele,the
Europeanleaderinbakeryproducts,margarines,cookingoilsandfats.Althoughitsoriginsdatebackto
1899,itwasthiscradleofindustrythatwonaFactoryoftheFutureawardin2020.
“We owe this nice award to the high degree of automation,
the involvement of the staff and the sustainable use of en-
ergy and materials,” said Nele Union, who is responsible for
the site.
History
Jean Vandemoortele, the family’s fourth generation, now
runs the West Flemish family business Vandemoortele,
founded in 1899 by his grandfather, Constant. The company
currently has 34 factories throughout Europe for two busi-
ness lines: margarines, cooking oils and frying fats (5) and
bakery products (29). All these products are sold to the re-
tail trade, the food service industry, and industrial and craft
bakeries all over the world. Izegem is the site of the oldest
factory, which may well be the largest margarine factory in
Europe according to Site Manager Nele Union. Margarine
production started there in 1951.
Innovation
“Currently we manufacture no less than 160,000 tonnes of
margarine per year, on 20 production lines. In total, there
are more than 1,000 different SKUs using some 300 differ-
entcustomerrecipes”,saidUnion.Forthemanyinnovations,
theRDdepartmenttakessocialtrends,suchashealthcon-
siderations and changes in eating habits, into account to a
large extent.
DigitalFactory
Although it is not really a new construction, the plant meets
allcurrentquality,safetyandhygienerequirements.Inaddi-

tion, many processes are partially or fully automated.
Dashboards
“Consider the cleaning of the facilities or logistics, for exam-
ple. After the packing is carried out by robots, the pallets are
transported internally fully automatically, via roller convey-
ors and VGAs. There are no manual handling operations un-
til the pallets are prepared for export. In the actual produc-
tion process, the operators have convenient dashboards on
all the lines. They can monitor the efficiency of the process
and make corrections if necessary,” said Ms. Union as she
guided us through the production hall.
HumanCentredOrganisation
The crucial precondition for digi-
talisation is that the approval of
individuals must always be ob-
tained.
Lifelonglearning
“This high level of automation does indeed require our staff
to have a certain technical background. That is why we in-
vest heavily as a learning organization in both work-related
and non-work-related retraining. Our employees are proud
of the Vandemoortele ‘brand’ and give top priority to qual-
ity and hygiene. Because we want to increase their involve-
ment, we started a lean project four years ago. This means,
among other things, that we expect input from our opera-
tors and technicians on new projects and investments, and
we even ask employees for suggestions for improvement.
This has certainly already borne fruit in that we are record-
ingsignificantlybetterresultsforsomeimportantKPIs,such
as machine efficiency,” said Ms. Union.
Loyalemployer
Thisemployeeprideisalsoanad-
vantageintermsofrecruitment.
“Here in Izegem we have a high average seniority. Although
we are certainly no stranger to the ‘war for talent’, we man-
agetoattractnewemployees.Onlyonevacancyforatechni-
cal profile sometimes remains vacant for six months, com-
pared to one month before. It is not uncommon for these
new recruits to be sent to us by the hired staff via the ‘refer
a friend’ system. They often describe us as a loyal employer
because we guarantee a good wage and a fair wage. Some-
times it’s all about the little things, like having donuts and
fruit on hand at meetings or training days.”
EcoFactory
The employees also appreciate that the company assumes
its social responsibility, for example with regard to the en-
vironment.
Energyandmaterials
“We are committed to sustainability as long as it is demon-
strated to be effective in the company, and we will certainly
continue to commit to this. In production, for example, this
includes energy savings through high-efficiency motors,
or using sustainable palm oil. At product level, we have
switched to sustainable cardboard for secondary packag-
ing,” we were told.
FactoryoftheFuture
AlltheseeffortsledtoVandemoorteleIzegembecomingone
of the four new winners of the Factory of the Future award at
the beginning of February. These awards have been handed
out since 2015 by the Agoria technology federation and the
Sirris research centre. Since their inception, the awards have
been handed to 38 winners, 8 of them being from the food
industry. They all scored high enough on each of the 7 key
transformations of the Made Different programme.
“We registered for two reasons. On the one hand, we often
hear that we are pioneers and we wanted to verify this with
a scan of the company. On the other hand, we saw this from
theoutsetasanicerecognitionforouremployees.Theaward
has increased their pride even more and has also given us a
boost. After all, participation is an incentive to think about
the future of the company. The whole journey was more in-
tensive than expected, but this is certainly something that
other companies should consider,” said Nele Union.
Thefuture
For the future, therefore, we at Vandemoortele want to con-
tinue to focus on this sustainability, but innovation and au-
tomation also remain important pillars in the operation of
the company.
“Our advice to other companies? Don’t be afraid to adopt a
new technology. Start small and adjust gradually. You will
succeed with a deeper understanding,» said Ms. Union.
video

27 FactoryoftheFuture-CompaniesthathaverenewedtheirFactoryoftheFuturetitlein2020
#7Provan:frommetalfabricatorto‘totalsolutionprovider’
Being able to put a Factory of the Future trophy on your mantelpiece is a nice reward but not a goal in
itself. It is above all a milestone and a nice incentive to continue on the path you have taken. Discover
the story of the radical turnaround effected by Provan, which resulted in double recognition as a Fac-
tory of the Future, in 2015 and 2018.
How to remain competitive as an outsourcing company in
today’s ever-changing market? This is a question that more
and more companies are asking themselves, and Provan
is no different. Their solution lies in a completely new ap-
proach to the customer-supplier relationship.
An obsession with innovation
Being able to put a Factory of the Future trophy on your
mantelpiece is a nice reward but should not be a goal in
itself. Rather, it should be a milestone and a nice incentive
to continue on the path you have taken. Provan, an early
winnerofthe‘FactoryoftheFuture’awardin2015,perfectly
exemplifies this statement. A constant obsession with in-
novation and optimisation enabled Provan to win this
prestigious award a second time in 2018. Quick Response
Manufacturing Early Supplier Involvement are two im-
portant pillars in this story and provide an important foun-
dation for continued excellence.
One-Stop-Shop approach
WetalkedwithCEOPeterTanswhoenthusiasticallytoldus
the company’s story.
“We are a subcontractor in the metal industry, offering
steel, aluminium and stainless-steel parts in a one-stop-
shop approach. Our speciality is welding work, laser ma-
chining and sheet metal work, profile machining and as-
sembly tasks. We try to produce the required parts from
A to Z in-house and this approach is attractive. Since our
beginnings in 1998, we have grown to become a flourishing

company that now employs 75 people and has an annual
turnover of just over €12 million.”
Quick Response Manufacturing
«Our first recognition as a Fac-
tory of the Future stemmed
mainly from the implementa-
tion of a QRM (Quick Response
Manufacturing) methodology.
One of the main pillars of this
corporate philosophy is to keep
idle time - the time lost be-
tween two process steps - to a
minimum.»
By reducing this period, delivery time is kept very short.
We focus more on time, less on costs. We reduce the TCO
for our customers. This translates into a competitive ad-
vantage for them: thanks to our speed, they do not have
to build up a stock and they can serve their own custom-
ers very quickly. «I can say with certainty that we were a
pioneer with our one-stop-shop approach. Of course, many
other companies apply this principle, but our interpreta-
tion of it is still radically different.
We do not have ‘customers’, we prefer to call them part-
ners. We want them to involve us at an early stage, to ex-
amine how the feasibility of their product can be realised
in the most efficient way possible, this is the principle of
ESI (Early Supplier Involvement). In other words, we get
involved early in the overall process and reserve capacity
for them in our production process. The commitment we
expect is, for example, the obligation of a minimum order,
fixed by contract, although I prefer to speak of a ‘gentle-
man’s agreement’.”
Fewer customers, but the risk is spread out
“Of course, this method of working also influences our
commercial approach to the market. Before, we had 300
customers, now we have around 40. That may sound nega-
tive, but far from it because we are playing in a totally dif-
ferent division. We no longer make large series but rather
smaller series of specialised parts. We only target growth
segments, such as mechanical engineering, the eco sector,
construction and the railway sector. These sectors often
have very strict standards, and our added value makes the
biggest difference there. These are also very diverse sec-
tors and that is no coincidence. We try to spread our risk as
much as possible.”
“This approach also meant that we have had to regretfully
abandon some existing customers, but this was ultimately
the right choice. Our turnover is still growing every year
and today a significant part of it is secured by commit-
ments. This is still unique for a subcontracting company. It
was unthinkable five years ago.”

Bottlenecks?
“I do not immediately see any missing links in our one-
stop-shop approach, although I do see challenges and
bottlenecks. Finding the right profiles for an SME is not
easy. You constantly have to fight against various competi-
tors in a labour market where the right profiles are in short
supply. By profiling ourselves as a ‘future-proof employer’
and taking initiatives in this direction, we try to remedy
the situation. In addition, the structure must be constantly
monitoredinternally.Inthiswaywehavestrengthenedour
management and we are preparing people to help achieve
the long-term goals.”
Digital Factory
Industry 4.0 is a tool, not a goal
“I see companies that ‘want to become Industry 4.0’, but
they are often lacking a clear vision. ‘Where do you want to
go?’ That is the first question that should be asked. Indus-
try 4.0 can be applied very broadly: to your product, your
processes, your organization, your business model, and
more. For us, digitalisation was an important driver that
guided us to our first award because it led, among other
things, to the implementation of the planning software in
our factory and to an innovative work organization scheme
using a matrix-based structure (see below). Digitalisation
was the driving force behind the QRM.”
Networked Factory
The importance of networking
“For us, networking is an important source of informa-
tion. The Factories of the Future group, for example, is very
strong, but we also seek out information outside the group
on a regular basis. We also sometimes sit down with cus-
tomers and suppliers to see what we can learn from each
other. We have set up a social business programme with
one of our suppliers, for example.
A ‘networked factory’ must be constantly vigilant and enter
into collaboration agreements that go beyond the tradi-
tional customer/supplier relationship. We also discovered
Azumuta and their program for integrating digital work
instructions during a networking event organised by our
clientAddax.Thisbringsusevenclosertobecomingpaper-
less. I guess we are one of the first subcontractors to work
this way. At the moment, this method is 100% applied in
our assembly department and we are deploying it in our
production unit.
«Once again: paperless is not a
goal in itself. It has to be seen
in the light of our philosophy
of simplification, increased effi-
ciency and flexibility.»
Responsibility of the operator
“We use the Propos software for the digital management
of the schedule. This means that we do not need a separate
planning department; the operator can plan their work
autonomously. They have a screen on which the planning
software runs, which is updated every 15 minutes. As soon
as new production orders are displayed, the operator can
adjust their work schedule, which maximises their involve-
ment, one of the crucial pillars of QRM,» said Peter Tans.
«We have also extended this philosophy among the em-
ployees, so that we have moved towards an organisational
structure with business units that are granted maximum
ultimate responsibility. By moving from a hierarchical
structure to a matrix-based structure, the end goal is the
central concern and this prevents everyone working in iso-
lation.”
Long-term investment plan
“We have not yet made any mistakes in our long-term
plan. Of course, we want the most modern machine fleet
possible, but this must fit in with our investment plan. We
are also moving towards partnerships. If we have to make a
considerable investment in a machine in order to develop
a new product, we discuss with the customers how we can
approachthistogetherinthelongterm.Here,too,commit-
ment from both sides is crucial. We take a certain amount
of risk when investing in a machine, and they promise us
a certain levy. The counterpart is that we offer them the
certainty that their product can still be produced. And this
enables us to supplement our machine fleet with the most
modern machines. It is a win-win situation.”
video

#8VanHoecke:theartofinnovationforbetterentrepreneurship
VanHoeckehasobtaineditsnewFactoryoftheFuturecertification.Asasupplieroffurniturefittings
andmanufacturerofdrawersystems,VanHoeckehasbeenworkingforyearswithamasscustomisa-
tionsystem.Thisisthestoryofapioneerwhosesuccessfultransformationstartedmorethan20years
ago.Howdidthishappen?Bytakingalong-termview,withastrongcommitmentfromallemployees
andthedesiretotaketheburdenoffthecustomer.Butwhatreallymakesallthedifferenceisthewill-
ingnesstoinnovateinallareasofthecompany.
Ashorthistory
Steven Muylaert and Sven Van Raemdonck – Van Hoecke’s
Operations Manager and Plant Manager respectively – are
beaming at the beginning of this interview.
Rightly so, because their first Factory of the Future award
has just been renewed on the basis of a new certification.
However, the company owes this initial recognition in 2016
and its confirmation this year to a strategy that was imple-
mented much earlier, as Sven Van Raemdonck points out:
«Van Hoecke has been around for more than 50 years. In the
early years, we were a purely commercial company that sold
the components of the drawer systems of the Austrian man-
ufacturer Blum exclusively in the Benelux. Kitchen build-
ers, joiners and carpenters bought our hinges, hinged door
fittings, guide systems and rails for kitchen and bathroom
drawers, and then began to manufacture the drawers them-
selves to measure for their customers. Just after the turn of
the century, we gradually changed our focus and opted for
the strategy of assembling these drawers ourselves for our
customers».
Fromsuppliertomanufacturer
A decision that changed everything, according to Steven

Muylaert: «Twenty-five years ago, the choice on the market
was limited. There was a choice between cream, white and
grey. There was only a single-walled version and the num-
ber of heights and patterns available was also limited. At
that time, kitchen builders often chose certain ranges and
bought large quantities to keep them in stock. The choice
of their customers was therefore limited to what they had
in stock. Gradually, however, more and more versions came
into being: new colours, different patterns and double-
walled drawer versions, for example. But with each new ver-
sion, the number of variants also increased considerably. It
thereforebecameverycomplexforcarpenterstocontinueto
offer this growing range.
We decided to take the burden off our customers by taking
responsibility for the complexity of all these variants. In this
way, manufacturers could offer their customers any pre-as-
sembled drawer.
Removeallfrictions
Sven Van Raemdonck: “What is important in this story is
that we were already working with an online customize at
thetime.Itenabledcarpenterstocomposetheirowndrawer
system via a simple selection, but without the requirement
of a minimum order quantity. The customer chooses the fi-
nal appearance of his product and orders a single unit, for a
truly tailored product.
However, the drawers are usually only ordered when the
kitchen is almost ready. Installers want to be sure that their
drawers will be fitted properly, as their dimensions do not
always correspond to the actual situation on site. These last-
minuteordersrequireacertainspeedandflexibilityinorder
tolimitthetimebetweenorderanddeliveryto72hours.The
‘Remove all friction’ pillar is therefore an important and jus-
tified objective in our strategy.”
Tailoredproduction
Tailored work with size 1 batches that must reach the cus-
tomer in a limited time: this implies an adapted level of au-
tomation.SvenVanRaemdonck:“Absolutely.Everymachine
here is tailor-made. This was a conscious choice, because we
have a different vision with regard to transition times. We
want the transition time of a product to be included in the
cycletimeofthatproduct.Amachinethathastoswitchfrom
product A to product B should not waste time adapting and
repositioning itself. We do this by giving information about
each product with the product itself, by means of a bar code
or by entering the sequence of the products. By the time the
operatorputsthefinishedpartaway,theinformationforthe
next part has already been read and the necessary adjust-
mentshavealreadybeenmade.Thismakesitpossibletoim-
plementtruemasscustomization.Itdoesn’tmatterwhether
weproduceathousandidenticalpartsorathousandunique
parts: the production time will remain the same.”
Of course, this vision also has repercussions on the machine
fleet, as they have to be perfectly adapted to this method of
working.
“This often means a higher purchase price, but opting for
customised machines has enabled us to achieve the desired
levels of flexibility and complexity. We currently produce
around 2,700 drawers per day using Blum’s basic materials.
With the bottoms and backs of drawers that we cut and ma-
chine,wehaveallthecomponentstoassembleadrawer.We
also have our own line called Ta’or, which begins by machin-
ingpanels.Thislinehandlesmorecutting,chamfering,mill-
ing and gluing work.
Computerisation
“Innovationrunsinourveins”
The fact that Van Hoecke is a pioneer in the philosophy of
batch size 1 is not surprising in itself, because the company
has always been driven by the innovation that runs in the
veins of its managers. «From the very beginning of com-
puterization, this company has been looking for ways to
improve its operations,» said Mr. Muylaert. “For example,
the very first Burroughs computer in the region - which still
used punched cards - was in our company. The transition at
the turn of the century from distribution to production was
really a key moment in our history, but it wasn’t necessarily
easy. Major steps were taken very quickly, we had to find the
necessary know-how and the company gradually moved to
a Lean working method. When we heard about the ‘Factory
of the Future’ programme in 2015, we were quick to react:
‘This could be very rewarding’. From the very first contacts,
we realised that the strategy that we had been operating for
manyyearswastherightone,becausemanyofthefactorsin
theprogrammewerereflectedinourdailyoperations.Later,
when we compared the list of seven transformations with
the possible points for improvement, the reaction was very
enthusiastic. We received our first award in 2016.”
Secondcertification
Drivenbyinnovation
The second certification last year was a logical continuation
for the company. “Once you have adopted the Factory of the
Future philosophy in your day-to-day management, you are,
sotospeak,automaticallyonestepaheadofanytransforma-
tion. When, at one point, we looked back over the last few
years since our first certification, we were surprised to see
the measures we had implemented. We had already made
progress on each of the seven transformations! This can be

explained by the willingness to innovate that is omnipres-
entinthiscompany,»saidMr. Van Raemdonck. Mr. Muylaert
quickly agreed: «We are never satisfied, we are always look-
ing for solutions for a better-quality result, produced faster
or more efficiently. This is a consequence of the long-term
vision of our management. Our CEO is extremely enthusias-
tic and identifies potential opportunities very quickly. This
carries over to each and every one of our employees.”
EcoFactory
Performancedisplayscreens
In the production workshop, 4 giant screens attract
the attention. Performance screens often feature in
the Factory of the Future, but how are they used at
Van Hoecke? Sven Van Raemdonck: “On our screens
everyone can see the figures for the schedule and
the current situation in real time. The blue indicates
what has been scheduled: the darker the colour,
the higher the occupancy rate. On the right side of
the screen you can see the total number of drawers
scheduled for today. At the bottom of the screen you
cansee,perproductionline,thedeviationperhourof
theactualnumberofdrawersproducedfromthetar-
get. The goal is for people to have access to informa-
tion to see the impact of their activities on the whole
process. We can also use this screen for subsequent
analyses to target the origin of possible problems.”
Alwaysmovingforward
Even after recertification, the company never intended to
rest on its laurels. «We are currently investigating systems
such as pick-to-light drop-to-light. This will enable us to
further reduce the margin of error. On the sales side, too,
we are very active. For example, we recently started to label
our drawer systems with an RFID code. For many consum-
ers, choosing a kitchen is a difficult decision, with an aver-
age of no less than 400 alternative or partial decisions. After
a while, customers feel overwhelmed. We want to prevent
that with an easier system for making choices. Therefore,
even when the kitchen has already been installed, consum-
ers can ‘scan’ their drawer with their smartphone and im-
mediately see in our application which separation systems
are available for that specific drawer. This saves time in the
search process.”
Inconsultation
As is the case in many companies, the focus is placed on
workers in this Factory of the Future. Steven Muylaert: «The
well-being of our staff is one of the pillars of our company’s
operation. We started working with Stenwick Management
Consultants years ago - long before Factory of the Future
- to implement the Lean working method. At the time, we
wanted to move from a hierarchical structure to a more au-
tonomous and self-managed organization. They pointed
out to us that we would only arrive at a Lean strategy if the
change also came through our workers, which we started to
do in the production department. The shop manager at that
timewasretiring,whichmadeitpossibletomove‘naturally’
to a system in which our workers functioned more autono-
mously. Everything was done gradually, through workshops
and joint learning of new responsibilities and skills. We also
started standing meetings at the beginning of each shift.
Thisnewapproachwenthandinhandwithaninvestmentin
ergonomics and we started to fully personalise our worksta-
tions, with a significant contribution from all the workers.”
But it didn’t stop there. In order to break away from the old
form of leadership, all team leaders had to adapt on a per-
sonal level.
“This transformation we have been working towards for
years has been a real success, and then last year we felt a bit
stuck. Every year, we hold a 2.5-day leadership seminar with
our team leaders to work on our personal development and
reflect on the future of our company. Last year, however, the
preparations were not up to scratch. We wanted to involve
everyone in the vision of our company’s future, not just the
team leaders. That is why we decided to launch the ‘Hello
You’ participation project, as part of which we invited every
employee to answer two questions: ‘What would you abso-
lutely want if we were to move towards greater autonomy?’
and ‘What would you absolutely want to avoid if we were to
move towards greater autonomy?‘.
It was an unprecedented success; the reaction was over-
whelming. We then grouped all the responses into themes
and invited everyone to reflect on them in two-day work-
shops. No fewer than 2 x 80 employees responded to this
non-mandatory invitation. We were able to target impor-
tant expectations, such as the clarification of our sub-strate-
giesandtheneedforflexibilityinallpossibleareas:working
hours, workplace, wages, work content, and more. In addi-
tion, these workshops also led to the creation of 5 Connect
working groups which focus on connecting people with
eachotherandconnectingpeoplewithourorganisation.For
my part, all the outcomes of the Hello You project were the
crowning achievement of the transformation.”
video

#9Veranneman:Teamspiritleadstowell-oiledproduction
The textile sector is sometimes cast as an obsolete sector, from which innovation has long departed.
We believe that this image is completely unjustified and our country can boast of having a dynamic
industry willing to move forward. One of the exemplary companies in this sector is Veranneman Tech-
nical Textiles, a company of the Sioen Group, located in Ardooie, West Flanders.
Customers from various sectors
From jute to roof coverings
“When I joined the family business in 1982, Veranneman
wasjustajuteweavingmillsupplyingthecarpet,packaging
andnurserysectors”,explainedDirectorFrankVeranneman.
«However, jute fell out of favour and was replaced by PE
(polyethylene) and PP (polypropylene), forcing us to look
for other markets. Around 1986, we entered the roofing
world by chance, because some producers were looking for
EPS fabric to reinforce their roofing.»
Riding the wave of growth
“The types of roofing materials are popular in the flat
roof sector: bitumen, PVC and EPDM,” explained Frank
Veranneman. “While bitumen was particularly popular in
the years leading up to the banking crisis, its popularity
waned under the impetus of oil prices in 2004-2006. This
made PVC the most popular and cheapest solution for the
new industrial roofing market. By continuing to focus on
open-structure fabrics - an activity we decided to operate
as early as the 1990s - we were able to take advantage of
the PVC boom, which enabled us to double our capacity by
2007-2008.”
Entering new markets
In addition to its roofing activities, Veranneman soon
decided to expand its activities to other markets, such as
reinforcing fabrics for swimming pool covers, windproofing
nets for agricultural applications and the reinforcement of
air filters for the automotive industry.

“Thanks to a high level of in-
novation and operational flex-
ibility, Veranneman Technical
Textiles has achieved a leading
position in these markets”, the
Director proudly stated.
A short history lesson
Some companies have roots that go far, far back
in time. The current Director, Frank Veranneman,
joined the company in 1982, embodying the sixth
(!) generation. Frank Veranneman transformed the
company from a classic jute weaving mill, as there
were several in the Roeselare and Zele area, into
a hypermodern ‘technical textile company’. Frank
Veranneman’s slogan? Dream, think, dare, do and
above all persevere.
“Today we focus on developing new technical textile
products in which functional and ecological considerations
play a more important role.”
Here are a few examples:
Thedevelopmentofaestheticallypleasingfacadefabrics,
which also serve as sun protection.
The development of textile automotive products, which
also have a safety function.
Member of the SIOEN group
20 years after the integration of the company’s business
within the SIOEN Group, Frank Veranneman is convinced
that this was the ideal route for giving the company’s
technology extra weight in an international environment.
In his own words, it was a «perfect marriage between the
know-how of VTT and the strength of an international
group”. This cooperation also enabled VTT to draw on the
wide range of knowledge found in the RD departments
within the group as well as on the experience of the sister
companies.
In the spirit of Industry 4.0
“Several different techniques can be found in our installed
machine base: weaving and ’raschelen’ (an industrial
knitting technique) which we have been doing since the
1980s. However, we recently added a special process, a
technique that we partly developed ourselves. The warp
and weft are not crossed as is the case in a weaving process,
instead they are brought together and glued together
at the right moment. For the machines carrying out this
process - developed in-house - we use local companies for
the construction of specific components and conventional
textile machinery manufacturers to assemble everything
into a high-performance production line. We are now
in the third generation, involving various production
principles specific to Industry 4.0, with image-based
inspection designed into the machine. This shows that we
are always looking for new ways to optimise our operation”.
He continued, assisted by Jean-Luc Dejaeghere, Quality
and Improvement Manager: «I can say that the machine
operatesentirelyaccordingtotheprinciplesofIndustry4.0.
We can capture, monitor and adjust everything remotely.
Everything is set up in such a way that we can efficiently
record data in order to extract models at a later time. It is
a huge advantage for us to have been able to develop the
production lines with this in mind right from stage 1.”
Networked Factory
The machine consists of 4 sub-machines from different
suppliers, which can communicate with each other using
the OPC UA universal communication protocol. “In turn,
this client/server protocol can easily communicate with our
software system above it”, explained Jean-Luc Dejaeghere.
No more confusion due to verbal communication
According to Frank Veranneman, the first bricks of the
Factory of the Future award won by the company were laid
with the development of the COQLBOX. “Our company has
a very diverse workforce in terms of nationalities: Polish,
French, Romanian, Belgian, and more. Each nationality
lived on its own island and communication issues would
often arise. We were able to solve this with the introduction
of the COQLBOX. It is a communication space with three
screens:thefirstprovidesageneralandup-to-dateoverview
of the production situation, the second allows everyone
to consult and adjust their schedule if necessary and the
third is a flexible screen, designed to share additional
communications. Everyone can read this information in
their own language.”
“The impact is enormous, at several levels”, according
to Jean-Luc Dejaeghere. “Everyone can better manage
their own work, which translates into a better feeling
of well-being at work. Without the intervention of the
head of production, a change of team could be difficult;
now everyone knows immediately what is expected of
them. Energy consumption is also better controlled. The
percentage of waste has been reduced and efficiency has
been improved.”

Award 2017
“At one point, someone suggested that we should
participate in the Factory of the Future awards,» Frank
Verannemanrecalled.«ThankstotheCOQLBOX,wealready
had a solid basis to achieve good results on several of the 7
transformations, such as the digital factory, the networked
factory, the eco-factory and human-centred production.
However, we were not offered the award on a platter. The
programme is very detailed and diversified. Nevertheless,
we were able to complete the audits and were therefore
proud to receive our award in February 2017. Moreover, this
auditprocessalsoshoweduswherewecanfurtheroptimise
our processes. It is this collaboration with the auditors and
the exchange of knowledge with other winners of the
Factory of the Future Award that has set us on the path to a
possible Factory of the Future 2020 Award.”
Renewal in 2020
“The renewal of our award at the beginning of the year was
another fine crowning achievement,” confirmed Jean-Luc
Dejaeghere. This time the spearhead was the development
of our software system and the switch to a paperless
operation. The aim was to work more economically,
ergonomically and ecologically. Today, laptops and tablets
are no longer only to be found in the office, but also on
the shop floor at VTT. The transition went very smoothly
because we always involve the users in our projects. When
they enter something on their tablet, they see that the
information is processed immediately. And the impact
is enormous: the mountain of paper has been drastically
reduced.”
“That is why our motto is: en-
suring that employees enjoy the
benefits of a new way of work-
ing.”
Confidence in the future
We are sometimes asked whether we would have made
these new investments without the impetus of the Factory
of the Future 2017 award. I think winning this award has
given us a lot of confidence, but we believe it is important
to keep up with the times,” said Jean-Luc Dejaeghere. “We
aregladthatconceptssuchastheCOQLBOX,whichinitially
aroused a certain amount of scepticism, are now being
applied in other companies, both within our group and in
external companies. The Daens era is a distant memory
in the textile sector», Frank Veranneman concluded with
satisfaction.
Click here to watch the video :
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=7yXa4UhTcek

37 FactoryoftheFuture-Companiesintransformation
#10AtlasCopco,acompanyundergoingtransformation:“TheFactoryof
theFutureapproachisdifferentforeveryone»
Compressor production at Atlas Copco’s Airtec division in Wilrijk is one of the jewels of our manufac-
turing industry, driven by a sound approach to innovation in both product and production process.
And although Atlas Copco has been around since 1875, the company remains resolutely focused on the
future. We met Karl Mast, one of the pillars of the company’s Airtec division.
How come Atlas Copco is not a Factory of the Future? De-
spite a very focused vision of the future, Atlas Copco is not
yet a Factory of the Future award winner. Karl Mast, VP
Global Operations and member of Agoria’s Factories of the
Future steering committee, explains why: «From my posi-
tion on the Factories of the Future steering committee, I of-
ten see large companies that are doing wonderful things in
line with the spirit of this programme, but whose size and
nature means that they cannot meet all the requirements.
Atlas Copco is one of them.
A high-tech product requires high-tech machines.In recent years the com-
pany has invested in a dozen machines,with a focus on automation.

The ‘human-centred’ transformation is a good illustration
of the different approaches implemented by companies,
accordingtoKarlMast.«Forsometimenow,ourfacilitiesfor
staff have been as varied as they are extensive: we have our
ownsportsclubswiththenecessaryinfrastructure,weruna
programme to prevent burnouts and we try to provide dis-
abledpeoplewiththefacilitiestheyneedtobeabletowork
here. In the factory, we strongly believe in the principle that
‘the person most directly affected by a problem is also the
closest to the solution’.
Based on this belief, we have decided to find a way to give
our operators more responsibility in their working environ-
ment. This initiative has developed into a team meeting,
where our operators monitor daily operations and solve
problems on their own. Our prototype department, which
has 20 employees, has been working in this way for some
time now and we are trying to extend this approach sys-
tematicallytotherestofourproductiondepartment,which
operates continuously even at weekends.
In this context, employees have to further develop quali-
ties such as coordination, organisation and problem-solv-
ing skills. We rely heavily on trust and solid structures.
Throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, production was main-
tained - with the exception of a few hours - partly thanks to
our employees’ confidence in these structures. They know
thatwedealwithsafetyissuesandthatwetaketheirhealth
concerns into account. This whole situation also illustrates
ourcapacityforinnovation.Whentrainingonthemachines
becametoocomplicated,wequicklyswitchedtoothersolu-
tions, such as video via GoPro cameras.»
3 main pillars in production
«Our production process is based on three main pillars: the
production of the casings (the compressor housing), the
production of the rotors and the assembly,» explained Karl
Mast. «In casing production, castings are machined to cre-
ate housings. This is done with an accuracy of up to 10 µm.
Wetrytocarryoutasfewmachiningoperationsaspossible,
often limited to 1 or 2 steps at most that we carry out on the
same gauge.» This also applies to the next stage of produc-
tion, the production of the rotors.
Mast: «Everything is done in-house. Previously, this was a
multi-stage process in which the rotating cylindrical part
had to be turned, the profile milled, the cylinder ground
and deburred. Thanks to technological developments and
innovation, we have managed to reduce this number to 2

or 3 steps for the smaller versions, and to automate it even
further. Flexibility is essential here.
For example, we have gradually moved from fixed automa-
tion such as gantry systems to more flexible automation
such as robotics. Our cobots – there are now 4 - are also
part of our automation strategy. Together with the opera-
tors, we looked at the points where the workload was high
and decided to use a first cobot to take over the repetitive
work. This first cobot was like a ‘beacon’, which gave us the
opportunity to transfer difficult or repetitive tasks to other
stages of the process». During assembly, the casings, rotors
and other associated components are assembled. «Here we
have chosen not to use a conveyor belt; everything is done
in an assembly cell by a single worker,» said Mast. «Due to
theincreaseinthenumberofvariants-Ithinktenfoldinthe
meantime - we are now working according to the principles
of the lean method with a kit system that makes it easier
to handle these different models. Assembly is also becom-
ing more and more automated. For the automotive sector,
this has been the case for a long time now, but our series
are much more limited in size and less repetitive. In addi-
tion, our product range has become more diverse in recent
years, with the number of variants systematically increas-
ing, making automation more and more indispensable».
Shortage of workers
“In recent years, we have invested heavily in our machines
and in technological development. We are talking about a
dozen machines, an investment cost that is increasing rap-
idly (see below), although we are not making these invest-
ments solely for the purpose of optimising our production
process.
We have to adapt to the shortage of skilled workers. At
some point, the market will no longer be supplied with
new profiles with the right skills. We need to anticipate this
now, because the days of the traditional machine operator
are over. Lifelong learning and retraining will be needed to
keep pace. Already today, we are hiring according to atti-
tude, rather than skills per se.”
Digital Factory
Since 2018, Atlas Copco Airpower has invested a total of 35
million Euros in new production technologies in Wilrijk - in
additiontotheannualRDIbudget(ResearchDevelop-
ment Innovation, 95 million Euros in 2019). «We are one
of the few companies that use ‘connectivity’ in both product
and process. We have been connecting our compressors us-
ing the latest network technology for the past decade, al-
lowing us to remotely monitor their use and condition and
optimise equipment and customer service. As this involves
thousands of units worldwide, this is truly Big Data. In ad-
dition, our own fleet of machines - a total of around 100 - is
gradually being connected.
In both pillars - product and production - we are able to
implement large-scale optimisations. The next challenge
will be to link these two ‘data strands’. The potential here is
enormous: we will be able to optimise processes using the
informationfromourmachinesworldwide.AIandin-depth
learning, among other things, will help us to recognise pat-
terns that we had not detected before. On the basis of these
patterns, it then become possible to optimize your product
and process, resulting in an even lower life cycle cost for the
user. In the end, the purchase price is only a fraction of the
whole. Lower maintenance costs, reduced consumption
and increased efficiency - that is our goal.»
Networked Factory
«The creation of knowledge is crucially important,» said
Karl Mast. «I am active in Agoria’s Advanced Manufactur-
ing working group. As Atlas Copco, we also collaborate with
Flanders Make, as well as with our network of suppliers, in
order to realize new developments together. For example,
some of the design features of our compressors were devel-
oped in collaboration with foundries. A common long-term
goalensuresthatwepursuethesameinterests.Inaddition,
we are constantly conducting at least 10 knowledge-shar-
ing projects with non-competitive companies, within the
framework of ICON or SBO projects or other partnerships
with research institutions such as Flanders Make and Sirris,
and the education sector.
However, we also collaborate with companies that, at first
glance, seem alien to our own ecosystem. For example, we
have set up a learning network with a company from an-
other sector, around the labelling and structuring of Big
Data. These are completely different applications: for us, it
is machine data, for them it is heavy photo files for quality
control.Weworkedtogetheronthisprojectsothatourdata
could be used in our process. Of course, at a certain point
we each went our own way, which makes sense because the
applications are different. However, the generic basis is the
sameandallowsustoworktogetheronthesolution.Would
we have found it without them? Maybe, but we would have
missed out on the other side’s valuable knowledge.»
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Inspiration book 2020 - Factories of the Future - 12 use cases

Inspiration book 2020 - Factories of the Future - 12 use cases

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