Don’t miss this interview with Isabel Caviedes, Managing Director of Alhona, for Heraldo de Aragón.
At Alhona we firmly believe that every company has its own challenges, and that the key is to understand what is the right technology to solve them. Choosing the right technology, the right use case and knowing how to orchestrate it all, is what allows you to take advantage of the full potential of AI.
“Technology should not be applied because it is a fad, but with an objective and strategic approach.”
“You have to adapt technology to each challenge, not apply it because it is the fashion.”
At the head of a spin-off of the firm Gestamp dedicated to consulting for the technological transformation of industries, Caviedes believes that AI is “the icing on the cake” that brings a future of fully autonomous factories a little closer.
How far along is Spain in its transformation towards Industry 4.0?
The level of maturity is very diverse. There are very advanced sectors, such as the automotive sector, which is highly automated and digitized, but there are others, such as the naval sector, where there is still a lot of manual operation. And with low automation, it is difficult for Industry 4.0 to be fully implemented. In addition, the reality of each company is very different.
In what way?
Each company faces different challenges, which can be solved with different levels of technology. Depending on their situation, priorities and investment capacity, they apply more or less technology to solve them. For example, a company in which ensuring the quality of its product is critical will invest more to control the product throughout the process.
What is the pulse of the industry in Aragon?
Aragon is now in a great moment. There is constant news of new industrial investments, with very ambitious projects and a clear technological commitment. Moreover, it is in new investments when you can really make a qualitative leap and introduce technology from the beginning. Changing an industry that is already well established is much more costly.
How is AI accelerating industrialization 4.0?
If we talk about industry, AI is the icing on the cake. It is a mistake to want to apply it without having a solid foundation. If you don’t build the foundation first, you can’t expect results. That’s where the difficulty lies, in choosing the use case, the right technologies and knowing how to orchestrate everything to take advantage of the full potential of AI.
Is it still at an early stage of development?
There are many advances, we find relatively autonomous plants, but they still do not solve the complexity that the industry has in a general and definitive way. It is this application of AI to the physical world that is really going to change the rules of the game in the industry.
When will we get there?
We are getting closer and closer. Autonomous driving is a good example. We have been talking about it for more than 10 years and it is still not 100% achieved. Because it’s not just about making decisions quickly and accurately, but doing so in unpredictable environments. In any case, with today’s technology there is already a lot of value to be gained.
Have robots been endowed with intelligence prior to the completion of robotics development for full integration?
It is not just about developing robotics and AI. The key here is how to connect two very different worlds, the operational world (OT) and the IT world. The first is rigid, structured and deterministic. The second is much more complex and flexible, capable of handling uncertainty, but not the rigor needed in the physical world where errors can have serious consequences.
What role do tools such as virtualization or the ‘Digital Twin’ play in the transformation processes applied by Alhona?
Virtualization replicates physical models, such as production lines or facilities, in virtual environments in order to predict, size and optimize logistics and production processes. The Digital Twin goes further. It is a digital replica in time that relays the behavior of a physical model. From there, it allows you to make predictions of future events, either based on real-time data or hypothetical scenarios, anticipating problems and helping with decision making.
SMEs are lagging behind – how to overcome barriers to entry?
Technology should not be applied because it is a fad, without an objective or strategic focus. The important thing is to understand what the challenge is and see which technology is really going to help solve it, thinking about the cost-benefit ratio and with a global strategy at company level and not in isolated pilot projects.
How do you envision the factories of the future?
Fully virtualized and managed from a digital layer, from where decisions are executed autonomously and flexibly, adapting to the circumstances of the environment.
A clear change of job profiles will be necessary…
Yes, they are already changing. Before, the fear was to lose the more operative tasks in the factories, something that began to happen with automation. Now those who have to change are the most qualified profiles, because decisions are becoming more and more automated.
What will this new worker have to be like?
Technology is advancing faster and faster, and not always in the areas you might expect. For example, AI has evolved much faster on the creative side. It is difficult to foresee how the profiles will evolve but, in any case, they will have to be constantly updated, incorporating new technologies and with the ability to adapt to changes.
