James Moore, Business Manager at Hosokawa Micron Ltd, was invited by Autodesk to present at their recent ‘Future of Scandinavian Manufacturing’ forum on the theme of ‘Improving Customer Experience Through Virtual Reality’.
Hosted at the Lindholmen Conference Center in Gothenburg, Sweden on 19th September 2019, the Autodesk forum challenged delegates from the design and manufacturing industry to consider… ‘Are you ready for Industry 4.0?’
A pertinent question because digital technologies are disrupting the way in which all businesses will operate in the future. It is becoming ever clearer that for manufacturers to remain competitive, both domestically and globally, they must evolve and adapt, as well as inspire employees to embrace ‘smart’ manufacturing concepts via a forward-thinking work culture and up-skilling.
This challenging, yet exciting, situation is of international importance and one that Hosokawa Micron has already embraced by partnering with cutting-edge digital technology companies, including Autodesk, which have helped to ready the business for a bright and productive future for its range of high containment solutions.
The forum gathered together industry leaders, including Hosokawa Micron, to explore the five key capabilities of a robust digital strategy. But instead of focusing on theory, each speaker generously shared knowledge and their own experiences with the aim of inspiring Scandinavian businesses to transform the way in which they implement one of the five capabilities to help them design, make and sell their products.
Central to the theme of the forum was the opportunity to understand what the biggest challenges to the manufacturing industry are and how these challenges have been addressed and could be resolved by employing Industry 4.0 practices and state-of-the-art technology.
As part of the Leadership Track, James outlined how Hosokawa Micron uses the very latest software tools – including Autodesk’s VRED 3D visualisation and virtual prototyping software – to engage with existing and prospective customers in an exciting and bespoke way.
The technology has enabled Hosokawa Micron to create a mixed reality environment containing both physical and virtual elements, which has undoubtedly enhanced the customer experience during the pre-manufacturing, design and mock-up phases of isolator and glovebox projects. As a demonstration of the business benefits of this innovative approach, for large-scale projects, this has equated to a reduction in lead times of up to six weeks.
“The ‘Future of Scandinavian Manufacturing 2019’ forum provided us with a great opportunity to better understand how a range of manufacturers are developing and applying digital strategies to achieve competitive advantage. For us, it was an excellent showcase for our VR applications in the design and development of isolators and gloveboxes and allowed us to demonstrate how we improve the customer experience by moving beyond indirect, ‘virtual’ benefits to deliver direct, tangible benefits that become a bottom-line reality.” James Moore, Business Manager, Hosokawa Micron
Following the presentation, James took questions from delegates and later had the opportunity to network with industry peers from across Scandinavia, along with Asif Moghal from Autodesk, who was incredibly pleased with how the event went and how well Hosokawa Micron’s presentation was received.
“We are delighted at the response from the delegates to the leadership forum speakers. Having worked closely with the team at Hosokawa Micron Ltd, we were keen to share their experience of digitising with the wider industry. Our customers are the experts in their business and there is no better way to inspire and motivate other leaders to start their digital journey. We need more events like this that showcase the art of the possible and focus less on worshipping the problem.” Asif Moghal, Senior Industry Manager, Autodesk
To discover more about Hosokawa Micron Ltd’s unique Virtual Reality Cave and intelligent software brand, Hosokawa Gen4, please click here.
