Presenting the fusion between physical and digital realities in industry at BIEMH 2018

A total of 42,000 visitors attended  BIEMH in 2018, which closed on 1 June, an edition that was an “absolute success” as per the organisation. Technology transformed into business during a week at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, a Biennial event with 5% more visitors, new spaces of interest for companies and their digital transformation.

Innovation was the driving force of the industry, becoming the true protagonist at the BIEMH. TECNALIA harnessed this opportunity to showcase new solutions by reproducing a digital factory and simulating a “real” working environment in which up to four robots collaborated to create, select and assemble automotive and aeronautic parts. The entire process had its own “digital twin”, a digital representation of a process or product, which digitally and faithfully reproduces the behaviour and performance of its real version. This new technology allows for a rapid and effective evolution towards zero-defect versions, more efficient and adapted to their environment.

In this sense, the people who visited our stand could get a first-hand vision of our innovations and technologies that we are leading in the field of digitalisation, developed entirely with companies to achieve zero-defect products, increase process efficiency, optimise the consumption of materials and energy and maximise safety in industrial environments. For this, during the 5 days we took the trends on the digital transformation of the industry to our 4.0 stand by means of four well-differentiated areas: the first one represented the “real” working environment of a 4.0 factory and its “digital twin”; the second one, the star, was 3D manufacturing; the third one was dedicated to companies, which had a tool to design their 4.0 strategy; and the fourth one revolved around the training and profiles that Industry 4.0 needs.

The great changes that are taking place in this new industry have led us to increase our activity with companies, deploying Industry 4.0 in the last year by more than 30%. We currently collaborate with over 180 companies, which has resulted in a total turnover of 50 million euros since the last Biennial in 2016. To achieve this, today over 400 people work at TECNALIA on projects related to digital transformation.

If you want to see our experience at the Biennial, don’t hesitate to visit our Flickr album.