Biesse: Regione Marche approves the “Intelligence 5.0” project for the development of advanced industrial diagnostics systems

Biesse presented its new project “Intelligence 5.0 – from Cyberphysical systems for the creation of ‘self-aware’ machine tools to innovative models for evolved industrial services.”

Among those present was Mirco Carloni, Vice President of the Regional Council for the Marches.The project, which is within the scope of the MISE Smart Factory contract notice, received the approval of the Regional Council for the Marches with deliberation no. 155 (22 February 2021), which authorises a financial contribution covering 3% of the agreed cost, that would be an addition to the 2.4 million from the MISE. The total investment, over the course of 36 months, amounts to €6.837 million, with 4.9 million being provided by Biesse and the remainder by Università Politecnica delle Marche.
 
The Intelligence 5.0 project is part of Open-I, an ecosystem created by the Biesse to promote and advance innovation through partnerships and collaborative efforts with qualified subjects all around the world (universities, research centres, dedicated public entities, etc.). The project was born with a contract notice by the MISE that, through the Ministerial Decree of 5 March 2018, made resources from the ministry's Fund for Sustainable Growth available for the development of highly innovative projects. The area of application is the smart factory or digital manufacturing, and more specifically the development of Intelligence 5.0, an advanced IoT solution based on a network of collaborative sensors applied to numerical control machine parts for predictive diagnostics. Not only does the system provide predictive analysis for possible machine breakdown or malfunction, but it also – and this is the 5.0 step – acts as a smart user interface for the operator enabling optimal use of the machines.
 
“This project is the tangible outcome of active synergy between Businesses and Institutions,” stated Biesse CEO Roberto Selci, “enabling research and development projects that guarantee increased competitiveness and growth in specific sectors. Intelligence 5.0 is part of the digital transformation that we have been actively promoting for several years now as a company, with the objective of advancing the digitalisation of factories and offering our customers increasingly advanced solutions that simplify and optimise work management and factory productivity. We are proud that the project has received initial ratification by the MISE and a quota of co-financing from Regione Marche, which is evidence of the strategic role the Biesse plays for the local industrial network.” 
 
“With this innovation agreement we are contributing to the creation of a major investment project that will strengthen the success of the Biesse and of our companies in the global mechanical supply chain,” stated Mirco Carloni, Vice President of Regione Marche.  “This is an especially important investment for our territory since the use of digital technology will improve the quality and reliability of our products and set us up as a new model for the development of ‘Smart Factories’. We are proud of this programme both for the positive impact it will have on competitiveness and because it advances the professional qualifications of human capital with the employment of over 60 professionals over the three-year period. The new regional government came to this decision with the objective of encouraging the quality of innovative investments that boost the competitiveness and the drawing power of the Marches with our manufacturing infrastructure. One of the priorities of this Council is, in fact, to support businesses in our region through strategic investments that make the most of the specialisations and competencies present in our area. With the crisis caused by the pandemic this priority has become a necessity and the Council intends to respond with immediate action.” 
The project presented today follows on the heels of another important initiative: “i4Q - Industrial Data Services for Quality Control in Smart Manufacturing,” financed by the EU's Horizon 2020, a financing programme created by the European Commission with the objective of supporting and promoting research. i4Q engages 24 subjects from 10 different nations with a total budget of over €11 million and a duration of 36 months. Partners include the CERTH Centre for Research and Technology (coordinator), IBM, Engineering, Whirlpool, DIN, the University of Valencia and the University of Berlin.