MPD 2023 – Future Robotics, Flexible Automation and Autonomous Systems

Manufacturing Performance Days 2023 took place in June 2023 in Tampere, Finland. Here are the highlights of the keynote and panel discussion around automation and robotics. The Keynote is presented by Guiseppe Sarage, Director of AM, Wärtsilä.

“Whoever can interconnect different machines bringing value can win a lottery in manufacturing”

Giuseppe recognizes the following “must-win-battles” for Wärtsilä which has a mission of building sustainable societies through smart technologies. The summary speaks to everyone in the manufacturing industry:

• VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity)
• Sustainability in solutions and business models
• Need to understand and educate customers for world-class customer value
• Ensuring supply chain security
• The competitiveness of the manufacturing business, with constantly evolving technology and cooperation needs. Large enterprises in particular have the risk that by developing new solutions they also develop a ‘digital divide’ with their suppliers and become isolated.

Giuseppe builds a vision of “networked collaborations, enabled by advanced autonomous systems” built on top of three pillars: People/mindset, interconnectedness and technology. Combining the must-win-battles and the future vision, four opportunities emerge:

• Instead of siloed enterprise, data sharing in supply chains creates new value and is necessary for manufacturing development.
• AI and machine learning speeds up decision making, however, they don’t replace it.
• Fostering experimentation is necessary, supported by technology and with sustainability as focus.
• Paradigm shift: Manufacturing technology providers need to shift from just supplying technology to some shared models (MAAS) focusing on the lifetime of the system and the interconnectedness that it needs.

Watch the full keynote and discussion around Future Robotics, Flexible Automation and Autonomous Systems