On Tuesday 26 October, TIC Council hosted a virtual panel entitled “Quality Infrastructure and Industry 4.0: What’s Next?”
The panel was composed of the following speakers:
· Marcos Heleno Guerson de Oliveira Junior; President, INMETRO
· Dr. Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Managing Director, Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business, and Director, Department of Digitalization, Technology and Innovation United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
· Kenneth Boyce, Senior Director, Principal Engineering, Industrial UL LLC
· Angus Low, Manager, Product Standards Regulations, Rockwell Automation
Moderator:
· Hanane Taidi, Director General, TIC Council
Dr. Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, UNIDO explained that quality Infrastructure (standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment, metrology and market surveillance) are key to the 4th industrial revolution and support the sustainable development for people, planet & prosperity. The achievement of policy objectives is facilitated by a timely and harmonized adoption of standards, which is complementary to technical regulation. Moreover, the rapid development of digital technology will be instrumental for market surveillance, which is necessary to ensure safety & security. The digitalization of institutions, especially National Standard Bodies, will help increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Marcos Heleno Guerson de Oliveira Junio, INMETRO highlighted the major reforms taking place at INMETRO to ensure its regulatory model and quality infrastructure polices help leverage opportunities brought by industry 4.0. Brazil’s reforms and changes will bring more openness, flexibility, agility and partnerships with the private sector.
Angus Low, Rockwell Automation explained how smart manufacturing (smarter end points, data analytics, scalable computing, mobility and visualization) are reshaping the future of industrial automation. However, greater connectivity and integration also increases risk, and effective regulatory frameworks are needed so manufacturers are able to focus on competitiveness, innovation and growth opportunities. Therefore, he suggested that sStandards and regulations should not be: overly complicated,too prolific and ahead of the technologies. He concluded stressing how standards and regulations can benefit manufacturing, by listening the requests of the customers, the voice of the manufacturers, and the evolving integration of the digital world.
Finally, Kenneth Boyce, UL, explored the new opportunities and challenges brought by technological advances, which can be addressed with the establishment of a strong foundation of trust and with the development of validation methodologies at the speed of technologies. The strategic issues deriving from these challenges can be tackled by 1) funding from government bodies to bring together expert teams from industry, research institutions and industry to advance solutions and 2) public-private partnerships that leverage the independent third-party testing, inspection and certification sector.
If you wish to know more, you may have a look at the presentation and the recording of the event.
Check our list of webinars to find about more about TIC Council’s work in providing thought-provoking presentations on the current market trends and legislative developments around conformity assessment.