Insights from Sonae Arauco: Exploring the future and sustainability in Manufacturing
We had a pleasure to interview Miguel Gomes, Senior Team Lead Architect in Sonae Arauco on the Future of Manufacturing & Sustainability. Here is what we found out.
1. With emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, lean manufacturing, robotics, augmented reality, among others. How can today’s engineers adapt to stay at the forefront of innovation?
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, engineers must not only be aware of emerging technologies but also be proactive in integrating them into manufacturing processes. This requires a mindset towards continuous learning and adaptability.
In Sonae Arauco’s case, the key to staying at the forefront of innovation lies not merely in the adoption of these technologies individually or in combination but in applying them in ways that significantly improve our manufacturing processes.
2. How can the concept of sustainability be integrated into manufacturing processes to minimize waste and promote resource efficiency?
Sonae Arauco is a producer of wood-based solutions, a natural, renewable and recyclable raw material, and we have sustainability fully integrated into our company’s essence.
Our model of circular economy, which was several times recognized as a good example, the fact that we integrate a high percentage of recycled wood in some of our product ranges and that we have a products’ portfolio with a notable capacity of retaining CO2 are just some of the examples that show our commitment to the topic.
Once we work with a raw material of great added value but, at the same time, limited pushes us to be very rigorous in the way that we use our wood particles. Thus, all the work being done in the area of our digital plant, where we continuously monitor our processes on real-time, with alarmistics that allow us to be on track with our standards for consumption, is of great support not only to have a better final product but also to be more efficient on the use of our main raw materials.
Capturing all this data, on a daily basis, we follow a continuous improvement strategy, that will further optimize our lines which, in the end, will maximize productivity and minimize all kinds of waste.
3. As Industry 4.0 continues to evolve, what are the key technologies that you believe will have the most significant impact on manufacturing processes?
Thinking about a completely autonomous – Lights Out Plant – the AI will have a critical role as many of the decisions will be done/based on the AI agents that will be managing the processes.
Besides AI, it seems inevitable that all our processes are based on top-knowledge graphs/digital twins.
Having a small team on each site will enhance the utilization of remote assistance/guidance which for sure will be supported by Augmented Reality. But basics first…meaning all these technologies must have a very robust automation process on the shop floor.
4. With the emergence of Industry 5.0, how do you envision the integration of human labor with advanced technologies in manufacturing environments?
At the plant level, it seems clear that the type of functions in a manufacturing context will evolve, as the majority of the processes will be no touch.
People working in the plants will probably change from specialists to multi-task engineers who can act in different areas.
This scenario would mean that, for example, at a centralized control room area, specialists will be supporting all the plants in collaboration with the on-field personnel. AI agents might as well be a great help for problem-solving.
Short Biography
Miguel Gomes graduated in Systems Engineering and Informatics at University of Minho. He has +25 years experience in several IT roles from development to project management and team leadership.
In the last 20 years he’s been working at wood-based panels manufacturing, always in the industrial areas such as production control, planning, quality management and maintenance either as SAP consultant, project manager or team leader in the design, implementation and support of Sonae Arauco’s SAP ecosystem (SAP ECC 6.0+SCM 7.0).
He is currently the Senior Team Lead Architect for the industrial operations and managing a team for project implementation and supporting the industrial area. Working since 2017 in the vision and implementation of Sonae Arauco’s plant of the future, addressing Industry 4.0 pillars such as IoT, cloud computing, big data, advanced analytics, digital twin, and AI.
