Industry 4.0: the Italian Smart model
Umpi and Metlac virtuous examples
Industry 4.0 is the new plan approved by the Italian government to re-launch the industrial sector in the Bel Paese. The plan includes a significant set of measures: fiscal incentives, support to venture capital, the promotion of private investments, diffusion of strategic infrastructures (such as the broadband connection).
Several resources have been allocated to these purposes, aimed at fostering the development of a healthy entrepreneurial network in a sort of "4th Industrial Revolution". Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) - the backbone of Italian economic system - are already advancing in this technological progression.
A virtuous example is Umpi, which is one of the major players active in the field of powerline, creates systems and devices transforming the existing electric network into a smart platform. Given its great emphasis on innovation, Umpi works with Italian municipalities in order to better implement the Smart city model. In fact, there are more than 100 Italian municipalities that have adopted the Umpi Smart lamps, able to regulate the enlightenment, the traffic and the monitoring of pollution. Needless to say, these street lamps represent a great advantage for the municipality, mostly in terms of savings (in bills) and maintenance expense.
The Italian Umpi is in partnership with Metlac, the second company in Europe in the field of metal packaging coating and it is the promoter of the first real Italian smart factory. Metlac is adopting all significant industrial devices, creating a huge IOT (Internet of Things) in which all component is linked to the other through the electric network. To be precise, in Metlac smart factory panels, cameras and machines will communicate one another by using the powerline. In doing so, the level of control and coordination in the company will be very high and effective.
Lastly, these new technologies will also raise the level of security at the workplace, granting more elevated standards and a safer environment.
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