- Shiftec to provide LIBERTY Steel with sensor technology to enhance safety and efficiency
- Investment from government-backed Innovate UK’s ‘Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge’
- The two-year trial forms part of LIBERTY’s adoption of Industry 4.0 automation
LIBERTY Steel Group and Shiftec, two members of the sustainable industry leader GFG Alliance, are partnering to deploy sensor technology with the potential to enhance safety and improve efficiency at industrial sites.
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 program 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.
Visit the LIBERTY Steel Group website to read the full media release
