This article was first written by Maria Lanzetta for NEWSIMPRESSA on December 29th 2022. It can be viewed at https://newsimpresa.it/interviste/2022/12/trasformare-tecnologie-competenze-e-innovazione-in-valore-sostenibile-con-one-team/
Innovation, digitalization and sustainability are, without a doubt, the most used terms in the last five to ten years. But how can these concepts be given substance in such an unstable scenario as the current one? It is no longer possible to follow traditional business models, but it is necessary for everyone to make their own decisive turnaround. However, not all organizations are ready for this “turning point” and it is here that certain operators in the different sectors come into play, providing technologies, services and skills to support companies in this transformation path.
It is precisely in this direction that One Team, Platinum Partner of Autodesk, a company that operates in the technology sector, is moving, offering solutions, skills and services to support companies in the manufacturing and AEC sector, in their process of digital transformation and value generation.
Riccardo Perego, CEO and founder of One Team, tells us about it: “The digitalization of processes is an imperative for companies of all sizes, from large organizations to SMEs; It is a duty for all companies operating in the technological field to support them in this path. We, as One Team, focus in particular on the digitization of all business processes, the integration and elimination of information silos, with a view to an extended and distributed company”. This was the first comment of Perego who, since he founded the company together with another partner in 1997, has been an active protagonist of an increasingly pressing innovation process. “The technologies that, together with Autodesk, we make available to companies are precisely aimed at this, so they range from more ‘ready to use’ solutions such as CAD and PDM, to more complex ones such as PLM platforms that allow complete integration not only within the company, but also with the outside. Moreover, in a period of great innovations, the areas related to CAM and simulation are also absolutely strategic for us”, summarized the entrepreneur.
Sustainable innovation
The adoption of collaborative platforms, which allow the entire management of product development and production, absolutely in line with the main trends of Industry 4.0, represent an obligatory step. One Team looks beyond, starting from the concept of smart manufacturing, fundamental to project companies towards the future, today it aims at a business model based both on technological innovation and on skills, services and relationships aimed at the sustainability of the company and people. Better production processes, smart-working, access and sharing of information through simple and secure cloud solutions, must, therefore, support the concepts of digitization of industrial processes, such as automation, robotics, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, etc. “In fact, in a period of great discontinuity, like the one we are experiencing, it is essential for everyone to make the most of the possibilities offered by great technological innovations, that must see us as architects not only of the digitalization of processes, but also of the optimization of consumption and environmental protection” comments Riccardo Perego and continues: “And I am not only talking about reducing energy consumption, but also avoiding the use of components and raw materials that could be polluting, expensive or unavailable. Our research projects, our CAM and simulation software solutions can offer an important help in this regard and make a concrete contribution to sustainability”.
Integration between AEC and manufacturing
When we talk about sustainability it is inevitable that we immediately think of the environment and the spaces in which we move and live, in relation to which the theme of construction and infrastructure assumes a crucial role, a sector that has much more in common with manufacturing than it may seem at first glance.
In fact, Digital Transformation, which in recent years has changed and continues to transform our way of life, certainly does not exclude the construction, construction and territorial infrastructure sector. In this context, BIM (Building Information Modeling) is becoming increasingly popular, a method that allows you to control and monitor the management costs of the building throughout its life cycle and, therefore, to reduce costs without compromising its quality, also reducing the environmental impact.
This paradigm does not only concern civil engineers and architects, but must necessarily also affect manufacturing producers, and must not be perceived exclusively as an obligation, but also as a great opportunity.
Concretely, BIM for Manufacturing applied to building products (for example windows, elevators, sanitary ware, modular kitchens, etc.), allows manufacturers who organize themselves to create BIM models of their products to access with the relative catalogs to the large world portals of building components, and to offer designers the opportunity to easily insert their products into their BIM projects, complete with both the 3D part and all the related technical information. From this derive an extraordinary visibility, even at international level, and a great loyalty of those who will then influence purchasing decisions. In this regard, the estimates of the marketing departments of some companies provide redemption values of access to portals (ie the percentage of accesses that then turns into purchases) about ten times higher than those of traditional marketing actions.
Producers and builders united in the green
Another point of conjunction between the manufacturing world and that of construction and infrastructure, concerns the theme mentioned above, that is, that linked to energy saving: “The containment of energy consumption in fact involves both the specific production processes and the users inside the factory, such as offices and the various work areas.
In this regard, we have an important international research project called ECOFACT, funded by the EU with over twelve million euros, under the Horizon 2020 Program, which consists in allowing manufacturing industries to optimize the energy performance of their production systems, in line with their relevant production constraints (time and resources). The theme is carried out by introducing at the same time a new approach of ‘green marketing’, through the concept of environmental energy signature of the manufactured products and from the point of view of the life cycle of the asset” says Perego.
This project, which started in November 2020 and will end in 2024, consists of a consortium of twenty members including universities, research institutes and technological and industrial partners, coming from different European countries (Spain, Italy, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Ireland and Germany). Specifically, One Team is responsible for creating the Digital Twins, hosted on a web-based digital twin platform, of the departments of certain factories, in order to simulate the real behavior of the same by forcing some input parameters (production shifts, use of renewable energy sources, etc.). The ultimate goal will be to provide a dashboard with a dashboard of indicators that operates as a holistic decision support system. The core of the ECOFACT platform will be built at a high level (Apps and Services) through a “multi-service” approach, which provides an innovative combination of functionalities for the advanced management of process/product design and production, in a sustainable and energy-efficient way.
“Certainly we are in a difficult and uncertain period, but every entrepreneur knows that behind every difficulty there is always a great opportunity: it is up to everyone to seize it and we, as One Team, are available to support companies in this complex but exciting challenge” concludes Riccardo Perego with a final reflection.
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