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26 May 2018 | AutoData INDUSTRY » FACTORIES del that was successful in Pernambuco ended up being replicated in the other unit maintained by the company in the country, in Betim, MG. This process required an additional R$ 650 million and served to make the operation more profitable, besides increa- sing the engine production capacity. This is what Marcelo Lima, coordinator of the laboratory says: “With the know-how acquired in Per- nambuco newdigital processes were also replicated in Betim. This is one of the lar- gest FCA factories in the world in terms of production capacity. If in 1976, when it was inaugurated, 100% of the operations were manual, today this is an intelligent and connected plant, integrated to the digital age”. Rizzo recalls that “there are two main drivers for investing in the industrial in- ternet, as we also call Industry 4.0: the need to make more modern products and increase the profitability of factories. Processes that use obsolete technology tend to over cost production, and many automakers look at this factor in the same way they see innovation as a tool for new models. The shorter the production time, the lower the cost”. NEW MODELS Another example comes from Volkswagen, which invested part of its contribution of R$ 2.6 billion in the moder- nization of the plant lines of São Bernardo do Campo, SP, to produce the brand new Polo and Virtus. As the FCA mining unit VW Anchieta is one of the oldest in the country and had to modernize to optimi- ze its costs. The two models are built on one of the company’s most recent global platforms, MQB. Pablo Di Si, president, testifies to the importance of Anchieta’s modernization to cement the company’s attitude change here: “If we want to produce better, more competitive cars, we have to focus on new production technologies. The arri- val of Polo and Virtus marks the entry of VWB into a new level of production: we are much better than one year ago”. As part of the process there are new robots, presses and other machines, whi- Are we really in the Era 4.0? The last factory built is always the most modern one, people say almost in unison business executives cutting the inaugural tape of some kind of productive modernization. But will the contributions made at the factories to make them more advanced be enough for the automotive sector here to say it is inserted in the context of digital manufacturing, industrial internet, or Industry 4.0, as you wish? For Rodrigo Bueno, general manager of ABB’s robotics automation business unit, a lot is being done in the direction of modernization, which, however, does not mean that the space to invest in connectivity in the factories is restricted: “Yes, there is an important move in productivity improvements, but there is still a lot of room for further developments”. According to Rodrigo Custódio, a specialist in the automotive sector of Roland Berger, the investments made so far have been largely driven by new products, a vision that needs to be expanded if the industry really wants to rise from a manufacturing technology point of view. He argues that “Industry 4.0 is a process. Some elements are being placed, but there is so much yet to come. The automakers that are doing some modification in the lines make it primarily because new products demand more technology”.