Digital, Virtual and Efficient Factories

Factories are becoming much more complex, expensive, distributed and fast evolving than in the past and manufacturers are struggling to put management of factory lifecycle management into practice. New paradigms in the way plants are designed and managed leveraging the best practices of enabling technologies are required to cope with competition and sustainability related issues. Simulation, modeling and forecasting tools will help to reduce costs and manufacturing defects due to imperfections on the manufacturing systems and/or processes and during the design or the operation phases. The virtual models in the company will extend beyond the machines, dealing with issues such as plant logistics, layouts, process planning, technology selection, operation, execution, etc.