Reduced downtime, quick diagnosis, and timely maintenance sound like the dream of every manager of an industrial company. With the goal to support the digital transformation of Bulgarian industrial enterprises, Schneider Electric Bulgaria goes into a corporate innovation joint initiative with the Professional Association of Robotics and Automation (PARA) to launch the “Start 4.0” competition.
The contest will award two Bulgarian industrial enterprises with the opportunity to receive three free licenses for the digital software of Schneider and full support with the integration of the digital transformation applications. As an additional award, the Bulgarian IT services and systems company Konica Minolta offers their smart video solution for thermal screening Mobotix. All enterprises that participate in the contest will be offered free consultations about the use of the software of Schneider, how and why they should begin gathering machine data, and other tech Industry 4.0 methods.
The toolbox of the first smart factory in Bulgaria
As one of the pioneers in using IoT to drive more operational efficiency, Schneider Electric has already implemented its 4.0 digital transformation software in their production plant in Plovdiv – the first smart factory in Eastern Europe. The factory hosts one of the four Innovations hubs of Schneider in Europe and uses all three applications, which are offered as awards in the contest – the Augmented Advisor Application, the Multi-Touch High Intuitive Interface which visualizes various parameters, and the Machine Advisor. The Augmented Advisor Application enables the employees in the Plovdiv factory to receive real-time data on all kinds of parameters such as the efficiency of machines only by scanning a QR code. The Machine Advisor allows machine builders to provide new services to operators for each machine installed and build the most optimal and efficient frameworks.
Schneider will hold a webinar on the 27th of May to present the criteria for evaluation, explain the framework and the value-added of the solutions which are offered as awards.
Why choose digitalization?
Тhe main challenges ahead of the development of the global manufacturing industries are the high operational costs, the low efficiency, and the ensuing low productivity. This corporate innovation initiative aims to increase the competitiveness of Bulgarian industrial enterprises and contribute to the overall development of the business environment in the country.
“Start 4.0 gives enterprises the opportunity to enter the 21st century. We can effectively manage only what we can measure, and the initiative that we do together with Schneider allows for this to happen in an optimal way,” says one of the founding members of PARA Kristiyan Mihaylov.
