Infineon Taps ‘Industry 4.0’ – Inaugurates Connected Production in Austria
Slated as Industry 4.0 live, Infineon pledges on adhering the evolution of next connected production. Infineon Technologies Austria AG announced the inauguration of a very own state-of-the-art in Villach for production, research and development. The expansion is known to foster through 2017 by investments and research expenditure totaling Euro 290 million. The focus is on designing the development and production environment according to the principles of Industry 4.0.
Citing on the next-gen facilitation, Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG said, “Digitization, in other words, connecting the real world with the digital world, is a central topic for Infineon.” “We have the right products and solutions for it, but also see huge potential in using it to gain a head start in the market. With Industry 4.0 we will speed up innovation, and improve productivity and quality. We want to use the solutions developed in Villach in the entire Infineon network and in cooperation with customers and suppliers.”
To tweak the connected production, experts will be equipped with required technologies to integrate into the existing processes. Infineon will also offer qualification measures for employees and create new job profiles: For example, so-called work area controllers will in future monitor production from mobile control consoles and manage the systems.
Visual assistance systems such as tablets or data glasses will support information processing. By 2017, Infineon in Villach expects to have around 200 new R&D jobs. 130 of these are already filled today.
“Industry 4.0 offers us an enormous opportunity to keep and strengthen industrial production in Europe,” said Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria AG. “We’re implementing that now in Villach by connecting development and production with ‘Intelligence 4.0’ and hence being able to offer innovative products for our global customers faster and more efficiently. At the same time we are creating specific examples for the workplaces of the future. We are thus demonstrating, as a location for innovation within the Infineon network, what knowledge-intensive production can look like in everyday production with 13 billion chips produced each year.”
To shape the global trend towards connected and knowledge-intensive production on two levels – On the one hand, by developing and producing microchips and sensors that are used in smart factories. On the other, as a company that consistently uses Industry 4.0 technologies itself on a large scale.
In the new building complex, Infineon is increasingly combining sensor technology with communication and data processing systems. As a result, it will be possible in the future to make decisions in production more and more autonomously. An example of this is status-oriented maintenance, which is initiated by the machine itself. In addition, smart control of energy and resource consumption in the newly erected buildings will reduce costs by up to 15 percent compared with the previous facilities. Infineon is thus underlining its claim to make life easier, safer and greener.
The semiconductor manufacturer also wants to perennially pioneer innovations off the ground in the future.
