2020 was full of challenges for many industrial sectors; however, the market in Latin America grew by more than 35% in imports and implementation of new machines and systems, said Carlos Mortera, international director for Latin America of the Manufacturing Technology Association (AMT).
The director, who represents more than 700 machinery manufacturers, shared that during 2022 multiple opportunities have been presented for the metalworking industry in general through the Latin American industrial ecosystem.
“This year, without considering automation and metrology, we are reaching consumption in Latin America above 7,500 million consumption in the year. We believe that we will return to 2019 numbers, above 8,500 in 2023, for sure.”
According to a study conducted by McKinsey & Company, most heavy industry sectors are in the mid-stage of digital maturity.
From the association, they monitor the transformative technologies that are helping to change the traditional manufacturing floor and encourage the adoption of digital manufacturing.
TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
1. Digital twin and digital thread
Digitization of designs, simulations, product or process launch case documentation are some of the implementations that can be carried out thanks to this first transformative technology.
“The addition of these digital tools, which are software systems and applications, enables a product launch to be much faster than it has been in the past.”
The director said that his clients in the automotive industry have reported various success stories; An example of this is that, previously, the model platform change took seven years; currently, it takes them three.
2. Adoption of additive manufacturing
The industrialists of the region have adopted this technology as a complement to their operations, with which they are able to manufacture prototypes, production tests with metal parts and alloys with greater ease and speed than was done in the past.
3. Augmented reality and virtual reality
Thanks to these technologies, applications are developed to carry out predictive and preventive maintenance and avoid adverse environments for human beings.
“Through the AMT, we have projects where preventive maintenance routine platforms begin to be released through virtual reality lenses. In addition, thanks to collaborations with agencies and research centers in Latin America, such as the Artificial Intelligence Center of the State of Nuevo León, we are grounding the needs of medium and small industrialists in developments and applications, from industrial safety to predictive maintenance. and preventative”.
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4. Cognitive automation
This type of automation combines artificial intelligence so that robots obtain one or 2% of the cognitive capacity of the human mind. “The machines learn to discern, and that is an important advance for the industry.”
5. Commercialization of robotics through automation
This aspect brings the incorporation of robotics closer to traditional metal-mechanical manufacturing in operations such as loading and unloading, revision, among others.
6. Mobility through electric cars
In Latin America, the AMT has the initiative smart retrofitting: update many of the solutions that were offered for traditional combustion systems and that will now respond to the demand for components for electric mobility.
7. Interoperability
The director highlighted that there is more and more homologation of architecture standards for machine communication. An example of this is MT Connected, a freely accessible communication protocol that has taken a place as the foundational basis for achieving machine interconnectivity.
“Through the efforts made by many AMT associates and the research we carry out in the association, we have achieved that there are already legacy machines that we can take towards 4G through adapters that allow them to transmit their data to improve productivity. ”.
NEW PROCESS
Carlos Mortera pointed out that one of the fastest growing industries in Mexico is that of molds, dies and tooling. Although it is not a consumer of manufacturing technology at the automotive level, technologically advanced processes are being carried out.
“We are talking about forming the cavities of plastic injection molds with high-grade aluminum that includes stainless steel or different types of materials.”
On the other hand, he highlighted that the use of polymers and composite materials has been implemented that allow investment in a mold or product development to be 30 or 40% of what it cost previously.
OPPORTUNITIES
The countries of Latin America have various opportunities as a result of the movements of reshoring, nearshoring and now, friendshoring. “For geopolitical strategy because of what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, American transnational companies added the concept of friendshoring: take their supply chains to allied countries and with similarities in the formation of values and beliefs”.
He reported that there is no uniformity in the preparation of Latin American companies to receive opportunities; however, these are more aimed at well-positioned markets as manufacturing poles, such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica.
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