SFU opens state-of-the-art Smart Manufacturing Hub in Surrey

Simon Fraser University is now home to a new Smart Manufacturing Hub that will help revolutionize traditional manufacturing processes, provide space for innovation and collaboration with industry and train the next generation of the industry's workforce. Housed at the Surrey Campus, the space is the first-of-its-kind in Western Canada, comes equipped with a state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 training system that simulates a highly automated smart factory, and is embedded with artificial vision, collaborative robots, smart devices and more. -Manufacturing is a fundamental human activity. We have been making products since the stone age. Smart Manufacturing, or Industry 4.0, on the other hand, is a concept which only emerged about 10 years ago,- says John Shen, director of SFU-s School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering. -It allows the production of small quantity custom products off the same assembly line with the same low-cost benefit of high-volume standard products, made possible by sensors, digital twins, data analytics, and other modern digital technologies. While the first industrial revolution shifted workers from hand production to steam-and-water powered manufacturing systems, the second revolution saw electricity reach new areas such as production, transport, and homes, while computer and automation technologies became embraced by the third revolution.