Welcome

It is a great honour for members of the academic and research staff from „George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș - Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology in collaboration with Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences to invite you to the International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering - INTER-ENG 2021. The conference will be jointly organized and hosted by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of „George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș.

The main theme of the Conference is announced as:

Innovative Aspects of Industry 4.0 Concepts Aimed at Consolidating the Digital Future of Manufacturing in Companies

The conference scope is to provide a professional and scientific forum for engineers and research scientists from universities, research centers and industry to present research works, contributions and recent developments as well as current practices in engineering.

The INTER-ENG conference will also offer the opportunity for companies in engineering to present their products and services.

The scope of the conference includes, but is not limited to the following major topics as they relate to the industrial and electrical engineering and industrial management:

• Advanced manufacturing technology
• Manufacturing process modeling
• Automation and robotics in manufacturing
• Sensing and control
• Manufacturing system design and operations
• Biomanufacturing
• Micro/nano manufacturing
• Lean manufacturing
• Additive manufacturing
• Non-conventional manufacturing process
• Manufacturing process control
• Sustainable manufacturing
• Advances in gear and transmission manufacturing
• CAD/CAM/CAE integrated systems
• Manufacturing tools and equipment
• Education for sustainable manufacturing
• Remanufacturing, reuse and recycling
• Value creation by sustainable manufacturing
• Quality control in manufacturing
• New and advanced materials
• Information systems technology
• Advanced software technology
• Intelligent systems and technologies
• Parallel and distributed computing technology
• Power and energy systems
• Optimization techniques

Integration of the concepts of Industry 4.0 in the production environment which form a complete value chain from providers to customers and all enterprise’s business functions and services

Industry is a central pillar of the European economy, and the EU production sector represents more than 95 million jobs. Nowadays challenge is to ensure that all industrial sectors make the best use of new technologies and to manage their transition to higher value products and processes, commonly known as ”Industry 4.0”.

Currently, manufacturing production is determined by international competition and the requirement to rapidly adapt production to market needs. But manufacturing companies are facing a huge challenge in implementing Industry 4.0 solutions. The concept of the industry is not only limited to the manufacturing system, but also comprises the supply system and the sales system of the enterprise, its entire value chain which constitutes a globalized system of links of all the enterprises including all their functions and services.

These demands can only be met through the radical advances of current manufacturing technology supported by Industry 4.0 which is integrating business and production processes, as well as integrating suppliers and customers into the company's value chain.

Through vertical networking of the smart factory’s cyber physical systems, changes in stocks or demand or even faults in equipment are quickly addressed. Both production and maintenance management of the factory can be organised automatically and independently of each other. With real-time virtualisation of everything in the factory, parts and equipment can be located anywhere and the workflows are self-organised for optimum efficiency.

Horizontal integration brings the efficiency of the network to other outside organisations, such as subcontractors, suppliers, logistics service providers, distribution points and customers. As products become more integrated with the Internet of Things, through embedded electronics and communication technologies, the link with the manufacturer is maintained throughout its life cycle.

Exponential technologies represent one of the major characteristics of Industry 4.0 serving as a catalyst for improvements in the manufacturing process. These technologies are evolving and enabling change at an accelerating pace. Innovation through exponential technologies can help manufacturers develop faster, be more flexible and unlock new forms of value.

Governed by vertical and horizontal integration and enabled by cyber physical systems, as well as by the internet of things, the organisation of a factory of the future will be more flexible, changeable, decentralised, and not as deterministic as today’s organisations.

Meeting these advances is different, because at present there are only a few ”islands” of the Industry 4.0 concept.

Delays of manufacturing companies in adapting to the transformations produced by digitization will lead to low competitiveness, with adverse effects for their future. The better the new technologies of ”Industry 4.0” are understood and applied in practice, the more these companies will gain a competitive advantage.