EDGE Group PJSC (‘EDGE’ or ‘the Group’), the UAE’s globally recognised advanced technology group, has been awarded the prestigious ROI-EFESO INDUSTRIE 4.0 Award 2022 in the ‘SMART WORKFORCE’ category for Best Implementation of Industry 4.0 solutions in 2022. ROI-EFESO Management Consulting AG awards the coveted accolade annually to companies that implement forward-looking and successful pioneering solutions in the areas of Smart Factory, Smart Production, Smart Products & Services, and Smart Supply Chain Management.
The award was presented by Dr. Lucas Johannes Winter, Managing Director, Contakt GmbH, to Reda Nidhakou, Senior Vice President Strategy & Portfolio Management, EDGE, at the official ceremony held on 24 November in Munich, Germany.
Mansour AlMulla, Managing Director & CEO, EDGE, emphasised the importance the group places on the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies across its operations: “Digital transformation, and specifically Industry 4.0, is a key pillar of EDGE’s overall strategy. It has helped us achieve significant results and accelerated growth as part of our product development roadmap as a UAE Industry 4.0 champion, while introducing significant efficiencies into our operations. This award is a clear recognition of our global manufacturing capabilities, and our continued focus on redrawing the boundaries across our industry from an Industry 4.0 perspective.”
With multiple submissions received from global manufacturing powerhouses, 10 companies were shortlisted, with four announced as winners for 2022 – EDGE Group, AUO Corporation, Mangelberger Elektrotechnik GmbH, and RITTAL GmbH & Co KG, following an extensive six-month review process and votes from an independent jury of 30 Industry 4.0 experts.
EDGE is the first company operating in its field to have been presented with the INDUSTRIE 4.0 Award. Previous winners of the ROI-EFESO INDUSTRIE 4.0 Award have included Infineon Technologies AG, Robert Bosch GmbH Bamberg, Siemens AG, and BMW Group AG Plant Regensburg, among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nidhakou said: “It is a great privilege to receive this globally recognised and prestigious award. It is testament to the incredible work which our teams across EDGE Group are doing to drive manufacturing efficiency and to deliver on our overall Industry 4.0 strategy and roadmap. We look forward to continuing this journey and pushing the boundaries to become a global lighthouse of modern manufacturing.”
As EDGE expands the range of its capabilities to a wider industrial base, it is adopting advanced Industry 4.0 technologies to create efficient manufacturing processes in all areas of its product development journey, and is upskilling and training its workforce in the adoption of these technologies across the operations of its extensive portfolio of 20 cutting-edge companies.
The group is a major UAE Industry 4.0 Champion, part of the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) Champions Industry 4.0 network, with an aggressive product development roadmap built on a strong industrial blueprint which has seen it pioneer more than 50 indigenous advanced technology capabilities, bringing superior products and solutions to market to meet domestic requirements and for global export.
Upon presenting the award to EDGE, Dr. Winter said: “A tree begins with a seed – an Arabic proverb that has a lot in common with our winner from the Middle East – a region of the world that has developed strongly in recent years and continues to grow impressively in the industrial sector. The speed of implementation of EDGE’s smart factory elements such digital shopfloor management, machine connectivity, Industrial IOT, using predictive data, cobots, AGV, VR/AR applications is simply outstanding. On top of these achievements one thing struck us most – the deep understanding that nothing beats a company with a best-in-class learning curve.
“Today we honour the foundation of this success, its manifestation in the EDGE Learning & Innovation Factory (LIF), a dedicated academy facility for systematic and exhaustive upskilling of the workforce. Training goes hand in hand with practice-oriented simulation and technical demonstrators of various applications. This delivers a powerful and adaptable training setting that is most probably unique worldwide. Congratulations.”
EDGE’s success in embedding Industry 4.0 technologies has been recognised through its Industry 4.0 Future Factory submission. The group has embarked on a three pillar strategy that ties together operation excellence, industry 4.0 technologies, and talent development through its Learning & Innovation Factory. The EDGE Industry 4.0 team collaborates closely with a range of industry partners to drive rapid improvements in overall equipment effectiveness, digitising the shop floor, enhancing product quality, and developing predictive maintenance capabilities. This has led to transparent operations, improved employee experiences, and enhanced productivity.