Sandvik Coromant Facility Recognized as Industry 4.0 "Lighthouse"

The World Economic Forum has recognized Sandvik Coromant’s production unit in Gimo, Sweden, as an advanced Industry 4.0 facility. The plant has been selected as a Lighthouse site, which means it deploys a wide range of Industry 4.0 technologies and use cases at scale.

Each Lighthouse is selected from a survey of over 1,000 manufacturing sites based on their success in adopting Industry 4.0 technologies and demonstrating tangible benefits. According to the World Economic Forum, the Gimo facility of Sandvik Coromant has created a digital thread through its production processes that has significantly raised labor productivity. One example, Sandvik’s “touchless change-over,” allows design patterns to be changed automatically, even during unattended shifts.

“Digital machining is a key Sandvik Coromant offering for our customers,” says V R Vijay Anand, head of digital machining. “Our recognition as an advanced adopter of Industry 4.0 endorses our understanding and maturity in this complex area. It also endorses the fact that we build digital offerings which deliver tangible business value to our customers.”

The World Economic Forum aims to build a network of manufacturing Lighthouses that it hopes will address the problems confronting industries in both advanced and emerging economies when it comes to investing in advanced technologies. To aid the learning and adoption of technologies by other companies, Sandvik Coromant and the rest of the lighthouses in the network have agreed to open their doors and share knowledge with other manufacturing businesses, the forum says.