Mecspe 2021: the evolution of digitalization in the manufacturing field

The 19th edition of Mecspe, the fair dedicated to Industry 4.0 and manufacturing, ended on Thursday 25 November.

The event, organized by Senaf at BolognaFiere, achieved important results: 2,024 exhibitors met 48,562 visitors in the 13 thematic pavilions organized for the occasion, finally giving the possibility of an in-person meeting between professionals and addressing the 3 main subjects of the event: digitization, sustainability and training.

Techsol participated together with TiQ with a stand inside the Digital Factory, which includes various operational areas: from information technology to industrial sensors, from cloud manufacturing to software solutions. A new approach to production that offers companies real-time production visibility (production status, inventory, customer orders), prevention of operational errors, improvement of product quality and asset efficiency, automatic collection of material and material traceability data.

Techsol and Tiq are two consulting and software development companies that deal with the optimization of business management, through MES solutions – able to obtain information quickly and concisely on the progress of the various production processes – and Supply Chain Optimization solutions – for better leading of the production planning and scheduling needs.

Mecspe was the occasion to present the collaboration that involved the two companies in order to enrich and innovate the t.fabrica solution, Techsol’s MES / MOM platform, with integrated Supply Chain Management functions to manage the production sector in all its aspects.

Thanks to the demos available to visitors, it was possible to demonstrate how t.fabrica focuses on Advanced Process Control by creating horizontal integration between the lower levels of the production plant and vertical integration up to the highest management levels. It is in fact a data exchange hub that collects all the information relating to the systems, reworking them and making them available. The data takes on value and becomes consumable information.

From different machines, processes, languages and information, a single system is obtained for the total management of the production process, from the supply of incoming material to the storage of the finished product or semi-finished product.

This edition of Mecspe has focused attention on the needs of the manufacturing sector, on the need for digital and ecological transformation of the industrial processes of our companies, hence the need to provide the right support thanks to specific skills and customized projects.

The digital transformation process will be facilitated thanks to funds from the PNRR, which entrusts a fundamental role to the Competence Centers and Digital Innovation Hubs, introduced by MISE in 2018 as part of the National Industry 4.0 Plan, with the allocation of 350 million for 2021 -2026.

The Plan is an evolution of the previous Industry 4.0 program, introduced in 2017, with respect to which it is characterized by three main differences:

– The expansion (already in place starting from 2020) of the scope of potentially beneficiary companies thanks to the replacement of hyper-amortization (which by its nature constitutes a benefit only for companies with a positive tax base) with specific tax credits of variable entity depending on the amount of the investment, but compensable with other tax and social security debts

– Credit recognition no longer on an annual horizon, observing the investments made throughout the two-year period 2021-2022 (thus giving companies a more stable framework for planning their investments)

– The extension of eligible intangible investments and the increase in credit percentages and the maximum amount of incentivized investments

These innovations are aimed at least partially compensating for the uncertainty of the post-pandemic macroeconomic framework, supporting companies that invest to innovate / digitize their production processes. The increase in productivity and greater efficiency achieved by these companies will contribute to increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of the production chains in which they are integrated, with positive effects on employment. *