HCL and Portuguese firm partner to provide industry 4.0 services to manufacturing firms

Noida-based information technology services firm HCL Technologies has partnered with Portuguese firm Critical Manufacturing to provide industry 4.0 services, consulting and support to manufacturing customers.

Industry 4.0 refers to the increasing automation and digitalisation of the manufacturing industries.

The partnership will allow HCL to offer services, consulting, training, and aftermarket support to complex industries, especially in the hi-tech and medical space, the companies said in a media statement. 

Critical Manufacturing provides software for automation and manufacturing in the high-tech industries, such as photovoltaics, electronics and semiconductors firms. The partners will initially focus on North America and Europe, the companies said. 

Customers of the Maia, Portugal-headquartered firm's manufacturing execution systems (MES) will see an increasing level of intelligence being built into the solutions. 

“For manufacturers to fully leverage the potential of industry 4.0, MES becomes a critical component for consideration. HCL’s partnership brings the much-needed amalgamation of Industry 4.0 with MES to achieve the end-to-end digitalisation between various plant floor systems, while also providing a holistic environment for real-time information exchange and efficient decisions,” said GH Rao, president, engineering and research and development services at HCL Technologies.

HCL said that the partnership allowed the firm to access a market-leading product with a reputation for quality, reliability, and deep industry applicability  

"Their background maps nicely to the HCL’s blueprint of working with partners that surpass market standards, to allow us to bring the full breadth of our offerings to our joint customers,” Rao added. 

Francisco Almada Lobo, CEO and president of Critical Manufacturing said that the company's strategy is to work with a few partners with in-depth expertise in delivering manufacturing digital transformation with MES and leverage their capabilities on a global basis.

"This ensures standardisation in both approach and execution of their services. HCL is well-known in the complex discrete market for both consulting and implementation. We have been rapidly growing over the past year, and we needed a partner that could match our scalability,” said Lobo.

MES are IT solutions that help companies improve and optimise the manufacturing process. The market for these specialised solutions is expected to grow from $11.8 billion in 2019 to $ 23.0 billion by 2024 at a Compound annual growth rate of 14.3% from 2019 to 2024, according to research firm Markets and Markets. 

Both internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) play pivotal roles in shaping the manufacturing industry.  

Europe is already ahead of others in the adoption of emerging technologies. A fortnight ago, a report by Capgemini Research Institute found that the continent was in the forefront in the adoption of AI (artificial intelligence) in manufacturing. 

Last week,  HCL had opened two new delivery centres in Lithuania to cater its digital transformation capabilities for clients in the Baltic, Nordic and Benelux regions in Europe.