For an entrepreneur who dreams of innovation, the very first “smart factory” officially opened this Thursday in Montreal is the equivalent of a candy store.
Robots equipped with visual recognition, modules that store, unload or transport boxes guided by artificial intelligence, sensors of all kinds, are a total of twenty cutting-edge technologies in a space of 836 m2 hidden in an industrial park in the village of Saint-Laurent .
“What we are seeing today warms my heart,” Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s minister of economy, innovation and energy, told a news conference. It will clearly allow entrepreneurs to see how technological innovations work that will help accelerate digital transformation. […] We must innovate if we want to be even more productive. »
First combination
This project, which required investments of around 8 million by the consultancy Deloitte Canada, in collaboration with some of the 20 companies that exhibit their devices, is the fourth of its kind in the world, after those made in Germany, Japan and United States.
It is also the first time that production and storage technologies have been combined.
The aim is to allow hundreds of essentially Québec and Canadian entrepreneurs to come and discover, in the context of tailor-made guided tours, the maximum of technological innovations, sometimes futuristic, sometimes based on devices used for decades, but improved. In short, to enhance the possibilities of “smart factories” that we want to see multiply in the country.
“Never in human history have we had access to such sophisticated tools,” enthuses Geneviève Provost, Managing Partner for Quebec and the National Capital Region at Deloitte Canada. “Entrepreneurs won’t have to visit dozens of sites to see them in action. »
Manufacturers such as Cisco, Cosme, E2 Solution, NuMove Robotics & Vision and Siemens have established themselves there. Deloitte has added in-house technology, a camera system that enables intelligent receipt of products in the warehouse.
“In a context of economic uncertainty and labor shortages, smart factories are more important than ever,” commented Luc Rabouin, head of economic and commercial development of the executive committee of the city of Montreal and mayor of the Plateau-Mont during his speech. – Royal borough.
According to an analysis published by Deloitte, by leveraging smart factory solutions, a company can increase its revenues by more than 42%. The systems presented in the Saint-Laurent pilot plant, which is not a real factory with workers, are aimed at a wide range of companies. The little ones can thus have at their disposal a simple trolley worth 40,000 dollars that can move from one box to another by reading the barcodes and avoiding colliding with humans.
Towards “more rewarding” tasks.
One of the most impressive modules presented during a guided tour at The print is the one intended for the storage and collection of goods. On an aluminum structure, robots move from one box to another to retrieve and place the cases on a conveyor belt, according to the orders of a human operator. This $3 million system, aimed at midsize businesses, eliminates nearly two-thirds of the labor typically required for this task, says Alan Taliaferro, a partner at Deloitte Canada and leader of this smart factory project. “The expansion is inexpensive and the system saves space and efficiency,” he says.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
One of the most impressive modules presented during a guided tour at The print is the one intended for the storage and collection of goods.
A few meters further on, in the heart of the exhibition hall, we find one of those good old robotic arms that move at breakneck speed. What’s new here is that a vision recognition system allows it to handle differently sized and irregularly arranged boxes in order to place them on a conveyor belt.
“The core equipment isn’t always very, very new, but we add the latest innovations in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, visual recognition,” says Taliaferro. We thus replace the people who unload trucks, who take inventory, and who can be assigned to more rewarding tasks. »
Specifically, the Montreal smart factory was designed around 8 usage categories that are considered common to all factories. In particular, we monitor and manage production, analyze quality, synchronize activities, quantify energy consumption and demonstrate intelligent transport solutions.
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