GFG Alliance companies to play key role in £10m programme for smart technology in factories

Under the two-year project, Shiftec will test and pilot its Aquila system, which uses a system similar to GPS to track the precise position of people, equipment and vehicles around factories in real-time. The system reduces workplace accidents, enhances the efficiency of movement and integrates with Shiftec’s high-speed, long-range network solution initially developed for remote control operation of equipment. This control solution is building on Shiftec’s Gemini system, which has already been proven in the film and television industry as well as defence.

The £10 million programme is being funded by Innovate UK through its Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge, which is part of the government’s larger Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Shiftec will trial the technology at partner companies in the metals, engineering and industrial sectors including LIBERTY’s Speciality Steels’ site in Stocksbridge and its Pipe Mill in Hartlepool. Also involved in the consortium are the Materials Processing Institute and TSC Simulation of Nottingham.

The technology falls under the umbrella category known as Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, whereby artificial intelligence is used to enhance the productivity of workplaces.

This system can allow for a wireless method of controlling heavy equipment and vehicles. It can intervene automatically to prevent imminent accidents, and it can identify small ways to make processes more efficient which, over time, add up to a great deal.

Aquila has potential applications well beyond steel – including applications in food plants, chemicals factories, aluminium smelters, marine, aerospace as well as the automotive and motorsport industry.