The Ohio Manufacturing Institute, University of Cincinnati and Ohio partners recently hosted a workshop featuring a delegation of industry, university and economic development representatives from the Baden-Württemberg state of Germany. The March 27th international workshop featured discussion on how Ohio and Germany are participating in the fourth industrial revolution, or “Industry 4.0,” the current trend of manufacturing technologies maximizing efficiency through automation and data exchange.
The workshop included keynote addresses by representatives from GE Aviation and Baden-Württemberg addressing the question of automation and how the workspace will evolve in the future. Panel discussions on “Smart Factories – Towards the Factory of the Future,” and “Work 4.0 – How Next Generation Industries Will Change the Working Reality of the Future” included three experts IMR’s Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainability (M&MS) program – moderator Glenn Daehn, Fontana Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and M&MS Deputy Faculty Director, and panelists Jay Sayre, Assistant Vice President for M&MS and IMR Director of Innovation and Ned Hill, Professor of Public Administration and City and Regional Planning, who was hired in 2015 through the M&MS program. The workshop concluded with an evening reception attended by state government and university dignitaries.
Presentations from the Industry 4.0 workshop are available on OMI’s website: https://omi.osu.edu/Industry4.0