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BUSINESS AND TRAINING
BUSINESS AND TRAINING
Industry 4.0
demonstrated
at Caleffi Italy
By Eamonn Ryan
In the past couple of years, Industry
4.0 has been the buzzword du jour
across the world.
The name refers to the trend of automation and data exchange
in manufacturing systems in such a granular manner that the
smallest of bottlenecks can be addressed just in time.
In Italy, enthusiasm for Industry 4.0 has been bolstered by the
government, which hopes the adoption of Industry 4.0-empowered
technology will make its manufacturing sector more competitive. The
country’s 2017 Budget Law introduced new and expanded tax incentives
for companies investing in technological and digital systems that fit the
4.0 model. These incentives included accelerated depreciation on tangible
and intangible operating assets, tax credits for R&D, and support for SMEs
and innovative start-ups.
Plumbing Africa visited a number of Caleffi Italy’s manufacturing facilities
last year as part of a small contingent of the South African plumbing
profession – Plumblink commercial manager and now CEO Gary
Chandler, IOPSA executive director Brendan Reynolds, CalAfrica general
manager Patrick Gordon and Plumbing Africa editor Eamonn Ryan - and
it’s clear from those visits that a desire to acquire the benefits of full
automation has sparked the imaginations of Caleffi management. Having
already since 2013 been on the path of modernising operations through
automating and digitally monitoring the shop floor. Today, it is pushing
the boundaries of automation even further.
Caleffi Italy today boasts some of the most fully automated manufacturing
plants in the world, producing, with only the occasional human hand in
sight, millions of plumbing and HVAC products that also find their way to
South Africa.
To better capture the African market, Caleffi Italy’s local agent CalAfrica
is currently reinforcing its presence among South Africa’s plumbing and
construction merchants and planning its expansion into Africa. CalAfrica
has the exclusive rights to distribute Caleffi products in South Africa,
Namibia and Botswana.
Caleffi is targeting central Africa in the coming years, says export
manager Fabio Rossi, and will throughout 2020 attend various shows
and exhibitions in the region to test the waters. It also supplies Italian
construction companies operating locally in Africa.
It was as part of this expansion drive into Africa, that Caleffi Italy
invited the South Africans to their home region north of Milan to see for
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
March 2020 Volume 26 I Number 01