PROM FACILITY, OPEN HOUSE FOR THE MOST ADVANCED RAPID PROTOTYPING LABORATORY IN ITALY
Over 200 companies and researchers on Friday, June 30 at Polo Meccatronica, the Mechatronics Hub, to exchange views on the challenges of Industria 4.0 and learn about the Trentino model that combines training, innovation and enterprises.
Printers for additive manufacturing and 3D scanners, laser cutting, metrology, mechatronic and digital prototyping, precision measurement, ICT for industry, cyber security and much more, guaranteed by European funds. The ProM Facility at the Mechatronics Hub in Rovereto is a place where innovation is shaped by state-of-the-art equipment, in some cases unique on the national scene, and a highly qualified staff: a laboratory where businesses can transform their ideas into real products to be tested, where researchers have the opportunity to conduct complex experiments and where students can train to become “4.0 industria” workers. “The industry of tomorrow is being designed here – commented the vice-president of the Trento Province Government Alessando Olivi – thanks to a system vision that in record time saw the creation of a bold project anticipating the 4.0 topics. ProM will open its doors to researchers, experts and entrepreneurs all over Italy tomorrow, Friday, June 30, at a high technical and scientific event dedicated to exchanging views on the prospects of smart manufacturing and to the deepening of all the novelties of the Trentino laboratory, stemming from the collaboration between the Autonomous Province of Trento, Trentino Sviluppo, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, the University of Trento and Confindustria Trento. Over 200 participants registered to the Roundtable “Industria 4.0 prospects” and to the technical workshop, which will include internationally renowned speakers from Australia, Canada and Singapore.
A laboratory that, month after month, gets more fully equipped with machinery, new skills and new local, national and international collaborations. The ProM Facility, the most advanced mechatronic prototyping lab in Italy, is based in Trentino and is the result of a multidisciplinary approach that combines mechanics with the latest knowledge on digital technology. The latest generation prototyping machines, for a total value of 6 million Euros, are housed in a total space of 1,500 square meters. These include 3D metal and polymer printers, a combined laser cutting machine for tubes and sheets of various materials, 3D scanners, a semi-automatic electronic card prototyping line, a collaborative robot manipulator, an engine test bench and a supercomputer for deep neural network training and more. Among the new pieces of equipment, the recent installation of the awaited milling machine combining additive and subtractive processing, unique in Italy and worth 1 million Euros. All this was possible with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The workshop will be officially presented tomorrow, Friday, June 30, at the “ProM Facility Open House” event, a technical-scientific initiative that will see the participation of about 250 companies and researchers from all over Italy and talks by international experts of the industry.
The event was presented today at a press conference and was an opportunity to showcase the latest technologies introduced in the facility.
“Just three months after signing the protocol, the ProM Facility works at full speed. A project on which the public entity worked with conviction – emphasized Vice-President of the Province of Trento Alessandro Olivi – to create a place where production, research and training meet and experiment together, with positive effects on the Trentino system and the affirmation of this site as a benchmark for innovation at international level. ”
The floor was then given to Paolo Pretti of Trentino Sviluppo’s Operations Department, who introduced the program of the ProM Facility Open House event, which will see prominent players of the national and international landscape of the industry meet in Rovereto. “The interest in ProM is already very high, as shown by the large number of participants who will be attending tomorrow’s event and above all by the projects already started in collaboration with the companies. This is the result of a Trentino system that has been able to work together in a common project. ”
The press conference then saw the participation of representatives of the four main partners of the ProM Facility: Flavio Tosi, President of Trentino Sviluppo (“The great value of this lab lies with the people who will run and use its machines and with the Trentino system that has been able to work together for a common goal “); Andrea Simoni, Secretary General of Fondazione Bruno Kessler (“This Facility reflects the principles of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: short time from decision to implementation, synergy between competences and multidisciplinarity, from mechanics to cybersecurity”); Dario Petri, Director of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Trento (“We have immediately found ourselves in line with the principles underlying this project that enhances the social impact of research, a basic concept in engineering”) and Roberto Busato, director of Confindustria Trento (“ProM is a center of excellence that stimulates the competitiveness of our companies. Trentino has proven to know how to be ahead of its time with a center that today could be called 4.0 Hub “).
The program
The event will open at 9.00 am in the Piave’s Hall of Trentino Sviluppo (Via Fortunato Zeni 8, Rovereto) with the round table “Porspects of Industria 4.0”, which will include Tullio Tolio, with Cluster tecnologico Nazionale Fabbrica Intelligente, Giovanni Notarnicola, with Porsche Consulting Srl, Filippo Giannini, with Siemens SpA, and Sabina Cristini with Siemens SpA and ANIE Automazione.
The event will continue with an intensive technical workshop, from 11 am to 5.30 pm, entitled “Implications of additive manufacturing in design and production” dedicated to the potential and prospects of 3D printing, a technology that is revolutionizing production guidelines and methods around the world. The workshop is linked to the strategic research project “3D printed metallic foams for biomedical applications: understanding and improving their mechanical behavior”, funded by the University of Trento and coordinated jointly by the Department of Industrial Engineering and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanic Engineering. The training action was organized under the coordination of Matteo Benedetti (moderator) of the Department of Industrial Engineering – University of Trento; Paolo Bosetti, Department of Industrial Engineering – University of Trento; Matteo Leoni, Department of Civil Engineering, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering – University of Trento and Amos Collini, Center for Materials and Microsystems, Fondazione Bruno Kessler. During the two sections, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, famous experts from all over the world, ranging from Canada to Japan, will be giving talks.
The event will wrap up at the ProM Facility with the opportunity to provide participants in-depth information on the machines with the support of the technical staff.
Photos and interviews by the Trentino Sviluppo Press Office