Finnish micro-factory highlights path to business success

Tim Sandle for Digital Journal:  The ANT Plant is a Finnish industrial innovation that involves constructing a micro-factory. This approach can challenge the existing practice of mass production in countries with low production costs. A plant is to be set up in the U.S.
The Finnish micro-factory approach challenges the established model of a large manufacturing plant and workforce. Such traditional plants are effective at producing standardized goods at a rapid rate. However, they are less effective at niche production and their high set-up costs require the large scale production of goods at a relatively low cost in relation to the sale price.
In contrast, the micro-factory concept is based on robotics and a flexible approach to manufacturing. Then key selling point is that the factory can be set-up and put to work very quickly. Once established the manufacturing of products is straightforward. The designers of the concept - EID Tech (Kuopio, Finland) - operate partnership agreements to allow for the upkeep and to cover the lifespan services of the micro-factories. This helps, according to Jari Helminen who is the CEO of EID Tech, to reduce the operational expertise of the company who purchases a micro-factory.
The speed of the micro-factory construction process can be seen in the video below:

Full Article:
 

Comments (0)

This post does not have any comments. Be the first to leave a comment below.


Post A Comment

You must be logged in before you can post a comment. Login now.

Featured Product

PI USA - Do you know Hexapods?

PI USA - Do you know Hexapods?

With six degrees of freedom and extremely versatile motion and positioning capabilities, hexapods find applications in Aero-Space, Automation/Assembly, Life Sciences, Microscopy, Optics, Photonics. How can a hexapod help your application?