Day two of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance’s conference, titled Back to the Skies, saw a panel that included Daniele Cagnatel, President and CEO of Sekisui Aerospace, take to the stage to share his vision for Industry 4.0. It’s not just about tech, or a new way of manufacturing, said Cagnatel, but about how we do business.
Sekisui is a market leader for innovative and cost-effective aerospace composite structures, including brackets for Boeing’s 787. Cagnatel shared that over the past few years Sekisui has moved from using robots for tasks to allowing systems to make decisions, including when and where to load furnaces. We have moved from a tool to an information system.
Cagnatel described manufacturers as traditional in how they organize work and tasks. We’re now looking at how we digitally connect our
systems to save money in the back office, allowing staff to focus on making decisions instead of making transactions. Sekisui reviewed its processes over recent months to map out the transactions that don’t need to occur.
It’s clear Cagnatel and Sekisui are focused on empowering staff. When asked if changes are coming from top-down or bottom-up, Cagnatel answered, both. He sees industry 4.0 as a driver of organizational change, making day-to-day work more interesting for staff.
A recent example of how Sekisui is reimagining their work comes from the shop floor. Staff radio-tagged every part, in total thousands. Using data analysis, staff were able to identify which parts move and which don’t, what gets used more frequently and where problem parts are. Cagnatel described this as another example of employees making decisions instead of carrying out transactions.
Cagnatel closed with two points, One, this is not a project, but instead a new culture. And two, we look at our work as a way to connect with and engage people as part of a company growth activity. As we digitize our world, the only limit is our imaginations.