As CEO of Nor-Dan Composites and Manager of Norsk Komposittforbund, a national association for the composites industry, Hansen was pleased after spending time at Mechatronics Innovation Lab (MIL) in Grimstad. Together with seven other companies specializing in composites, she took part in the GCE NODE Maturity and Level Up Program.
“We spent two highly interesting days at MIL, where we were introduced to state-of-the-art robot technology. Our industry has been slow to adopt the use of robots in production processes. We are participating in this program to speed up the implementation of robots,” says Hansen.
Her composites association had already been in contact with MIL to set up similar workshops, when a connection between the composites industry and GCE NODE was established.
“We decided to participate in the NODE program, which was already configured to achieve our objectives. It turns out that GCE NODE has other facilities and programs that we could find useful for our industry. The Business Development Lab is one example,” says Hansen.
After the initial workshops at MIL, which also included a digital maturity test, each participating company is visited by a representative from MIL, who will make an analysis and write a report on how the company could benefit from automation.
“The goal is to increase value creation and competitiveness through the use of digital technology. Participants will gain insight in how digitalization and automation can enhance their processes,” says Bjørn Saltermark, Project Manager at GCE NODE.
There is room for a few more participants in the Maturity and Level-Up Program. For more information and to sign up, please contact Bjørn Saltermark.
The first group will finalize their program in 2019, whereas a new group will be enrolling in the first half of 2020. The program, which will include a total of 32 companies, is funded by Stiftelsen Teknologiformidling.
“GCE NODE has facilities and programs that we could find useful for our industry,” says May Britt Hansen, Manager of Norsk Komposittforbund.
