Collaboration between the technology and rubber sectors to tackle production challenges

Last September the Spanish Association of Electronics, Digital Contents and ICT Companies (Asociación de Empresas de Electrónica, Tecnologías de la Información, Telecomunicaciones y Contenidos Digitales: AMETIC) put on an inter-sector meeting with the National Rubber Consortium (Consorcio Nacional del Caucho). The meeting was held in the head office of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales: CEOE) where representatives of the rubber sector explained their difficulties in bringing technology into their production processes. A total of seven industrial firms took part: Cikautxo, Elkem Siliconas, Hutchinson Rubber Industries, Michelin Spain and Portugal, Pemarsa, Silam and Standard Profil Spain.

The morning-long session dealt with three overall themes: firstly, Robotics (collaborative, AGVs, cognitive etc...) where GMV, Inser Robótica and ABB gave their point of view; secondly, additive manufacturing where various polymer finishes were exhibited and HP talked about the possibility of 3D printing in metal, and, thirdly, sensor systems, highlighting the sensing difficulties found when dealing with such an idiosyncratic material as rubber. The meeting then moved on to discuss other more global themes like artificial intelligence, paper-free document management and the connected worker.

Source: AMETIC