A Hub for Collaborative Industry 4.0

 

The center’s commitment to collaboration is at the forefront of its mission, as it seeks to promote hardware and software integration from the shop floor all the way across the global supply chain. Visitors will have the opportunity to witness the demonstration of an integrated factory enterprise consisting of the Wixom facility, a live production environment, and another one based in Hyderabad, India, in real-time. Service providers and manufacturers can leverage this center to run proof of concepts, trial integrations and conduct supplier training sessions to help escalate the adoption of digital and physical automation toolsets in their own facilities and practices.

 

Arcstone and SK International will also collaborate with leading research organizations and academic institutions to advance innovation. The core capabilities of the center will be focused on the training, test bedding, solutions improvement, and innovation of current and emerging technologies, with the goal of increasing the power and competitiveness of US manufacturers of all sizes. Arcstone’s arc.net and arc.ops toolsets will help create a digital foundation for supply chain integration and shop floor digitalization respectively. SK International’s global mechanical automation and engineering capabilities will enable manufacturers and partners to rapidly link factory equipment and upgrade them with automation, safety, and direct digital integration. With Arcstone and SK International anchoring the foundations for digital and mechanical capabilities, visitors and collaborators will have a foundational platform of solutions to grow and scale rapidly.

 

Investing in the Future Workforce

 

The center will also provide valuable resources for the education and training of the next generation of manufacturing professionals. Aligned with the mission of both Arcstone and SK International to advance digitalization education, the center will offer training courses in areas such as toolset deployment methods, data analytics and insights, sensorization and mechanical automation. The center will work with educational institutes around the region to drive the next generation of talent to join the digital manufacturing ecosystem. With hands-on experience in the shopfloor spaces, trainees will be able to immediately apply their new skills and knowledge and invent the next toolsets to further enhance the local manufacturing ecosystem.

 

Arcstone and SK International have made a firm commitment to scale the innovation and collaboration center with exceptional talent. Twelve new full-time positions will be created, filled by digital architects, deployment engineers, and data analysts. The center will serve as the base of operations for these individuals to continue advancing digital manufacturing solutions globally.