Threshold Innovation for Regional SMEs Building Toward Industry 4.0: Process Optimization and Technological Advancement for Post-Pandemic Recovery

卡莫森学院为维多利亚、温哥华岛和不列颠哥伦比亚省的学生、社区和企业提供服务。根据加拿大制造商和出口商协会的数据，加拿大在制造业的技术采用和创新方面排名都很低，在与大城市地区没有联系的较小的跨行业企业中尤其如此。许多当地中小企业在生产率提高、流程优化、技术进步和创新潜力方面落后，因此该项目专注于处于变革门槛的公司，展示了坚持不懈并准备在大流行后的经济中创新。Camosun的项目涉及九家当地中小企业和工艺优化和技术进步中心，主要涉及化学改装、数字模拟、材料集成以及机电一体化和自动化领域。化学改性是指在食品和饮料生产中通过改变化学性质来改善口感的技术。数字模拟以数字孪生(DT)和离散事件模拟(DES)为中心，以解决效率和流程分析问题。材料集成包括广泛的选项，包括3D打印和用于产品重新设计和原型制作的复合材料制造。机电一体化和自动化将专注于制造业，使用标准化方法提供有用的成本效益解决方案，以确定工艺要求、评估安全考虑因素、评估风险，并提供利用常见硬件、电子产品和开源控制系统的选项。这四个研究方向结合在一起，通过小规模的流程优化，影响到从水产养殖和酿酒厂到电动汽车和海洋运输，再到文化和遗产部门等各种合作伙伴，从而影响到从工业3.0向工业4.0转移的中小企业的先进制造业。该项目的核心是致力于培训学生和员工，不仅扩大高素质人员的数量，而且建立一个理解的基础，一个地方和区域学习平台，在中小企业建立更先进的技术方法来支持其业务的过程时，为它们搭建一个脚手架。流程优化是一种培训企业以不同方式思考的方式；门槛创新是I4.0早期阶段的当地制造商学习如何在最近的全球大流行后实现可持续和规模化增长的一种方式。

Camosun College serves students, communities, and businesses of Victoria, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia. According to the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, "Canada ranks poorly in both technology adoption and innovation in manufacturing," and this is especially true in smaller cross-sector businesses not connected to large metropolitan areas. Many local SMEs lag in productivity enhancement, process optimization, technology advancement, and innovation potential, so this project focuses on companies at the threshold of change, demonstrating persistence and poised to innovate in a post-pandemic economy. Camosun's project involves nine local SMEs and centres on process optimization and technological advancement, primarily in the areas of chemical modification, digital simulation, materials integration, and mechatronics & automation. Chemical modification focuses on the manipulation of chemical properties to improve taste in food and beverage production. Digital simulation centres on digital twinning (DT) and discrete event simulation (DES) to address efficiency and process analysis. Materials integration encompasses a broad range of options including 3D printing and composite fabrication for product redesign and prototyping. Mechatronics and automation will focus on the manufacturing sector to provide useful cost-effective solutions using standardized approaches to identify process requirements, assess safety considerations, evaluate risks, and provide options that utilize commonly available hardware, electronics, and open-source control systems. These four research streams combine to influence advanced manufacturing for SMEs moving from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 through small-scale process optimization impacting a wide variety of partners ranging from aquaculture and breweries, to electric vehicles and marine transportation, to the culture and the heritage sectors. Central to this project is a dedication to the training of students and employees, not only expanding the number of highly qualified personnel, but building a foundation of understanding, a local and regional learning platform that scaffolds SMEs as they build a more technologically advanced approach to the processes that underpin their businesses. Process optimization is a way of training businesses to think differently; threshold innovation is a way for local manufacturers in the early stages of I4.0 to learn how to grow sustainably and at scale after the recent global pandemic.