Industry 4.0 is profoundly transforming the industrial landscape thanks to digitalisation, data analysis and a new interaction between human being and machine. How is Industry 4.0 implemented in such a manual and artisanal sector as that of precision mechanical turning? This is explained by Emmegi, a turning company founded in 1977 and specialized in manufacturing small, turned brass parts. “The turning of small metal parts – the company says – is actually one of the industries that can best and most benefit from the evolutions of Industry 4.0. The turning shop, in fact, and in particular the turning shop that deals with turned small metal parts (such as brass small parts) has always adopted technologically advanced machinery. Numerically controlled lathes are now an indispensable reality, and the machinery and tools that improve quality of the machined pieces and operational possibilities are always well received within a turning shop. Here professionals use advanced and increasingly high-performance production software, capable of reducing processing times, allowing previously complex, expensive or impossible levels of precision, and doing so with very high quality. The use of big data increases the competitiveness of turning shops which can further improve the procurement of raw materials, their use, the recycling and waste management procedures, significantly increasing the value of the work performed. In this sense, also the possibilities offered by modern systems must be considered, which allow us to accelerate the acquisition times of customer requests, offer increasingly precise processing tracking, predict more precise delivery times and optimize all phases of the process. Without forgetting how Industry 4.0 in a turning shop also means greater safety standards and a refinement of the operating protocols capable of putting the industry professionals in the best conditions to carry out their tasks. If the operating principle of the lathes is and always remains the same (processing by chip removal), this has seen ever greater improvement over the centuries. Industry 4.0 is only the latest (for now) process of this extraordinary evolutionary path that accompanies the human being in the will and ability to exploit the raw materials for the construction of components and tools useful for improving the quality of life. An ambitious but absolutely possible mission as the history of turning amply confirms”.
