A developing kaleidoscope. A wide and valuable range of technological opportunities to drive footwear into a new dimension, depicted by ASSOMAC (the Italian association of machinery manufacturers for the leather industry) as “the age of 4.0, that is, the fourth industrial revolution based on the interconnection, between machinery and leather industries, and the exchange of digital data. A complicated challenge, especially in some industrial sectors, such as the footwear one, which hang on manual skills a great deal. Therefore, the company’s digital information is not just a tool to make faster what we are currently up to, but an essential corporate change to enhance our competitiveness”. The scenario is crystal clear. Simac Tanning Tech, which is underway at Fieramilano Rho, will perfectly spotlight it. “Such are the main themes that mark out the innovation trends and applications at the fair – point out organizers -: traceability of semi-finished products, both in the early start and in the manufacturing products, big data; automation and robotics, remote servers network, cloud computing; 3D printing applications; new materials and implementation of nano-technologies, Wearable Technologies; shoe customization and comfort; Internet of things and a network of economic micro sensors to apply to product; opportunity to convey instructions to the staff, both in the production and in the maintenance phase; chemical, energy and process sustainability; need for reorganization of the “very last stage”, that is, sales channels, to address the final consumer, and distribution areas all over”. Such long list is evidence – wraps up ASSOMAC -, that “the industry keeps going, thanks to each single company that, day by day, consistently carries out technological research about products and processes”.
Footwear at Simac Tanning Tech: innovation 4.0, 3D printing, nanotechnologies. And much more
