ECOPRODIGI was happy to partner with PI (stands for ‘Product Innovation’) Marine conference, held between 20th and 21st of January in Hamburg. The PI events, as they state in their own website, are “dedicated to increasing collaboration, productivity and efficiency across the Naval Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Shipbuilding industries”. The Conference offered the project an exquisite opportunity to reach out to multiple businesses, end-users and experts in maritime industry and share some of the early results in a unique setting.
The PI Marine event’s main goal is to bring together key personnel from shipyards, fleet owners and operators to network and share lessons learned. The main focus was on digital innovations and integrations, smart manufacturing and lifecycle management – thus the key aspects at heart of ECOPRODIGI as well. Therefore the project partners, namely Project Manager Milla Harju from the University of Turku, Kari Sillanpää from Meyer Turku, Mads Bentzen Billesø from DFDS and Justas Kavaliauskas from Western Baltic Engineering were right on the money with their presentations.
It was evident that the solutions in terms of digital tools are plenty; the two-day event featured up to 30 presentations including 40 speakers and panellists on different product innovations and processes, shared by 197 participants from 111 organisations. Curiously, one of the main questions that was brought up on several occasions, in fact concerned the end-users themselves: is the workforce ready to implement the grand solutions provided by the many colours of digitalisation?
Consequently, one of the key lessons learned in ECOPRODIGI thus far as highlighted by the Project Manager Harju in her presentation on Monday morning, was indeed the fact that in order to reach the full potential of digital tools, the staff and crew using them need to be brought in from the very beginning of their development. In addition, proper training is needed to ensure the correct implementation and adaption of the new processes and use of tools. However this training can also be delivered by the very tools the industry is now learning to use: as showcased in the event, the e.g. VR/AR possibilities and discreet event simulations seem endless!
Please download Ms Harju’s presentation on ECOPRODIGI here.
