Meet the new factories of the future

The best winter athletes in the world are preparing to represent their country at the 2022 Winter Olympics soon. One of the favorite disciplines for many supporters, with a nice Belgian delegation as well by the way, is undoubtedly biathlon: an exciting combination of marksmanship and cross-country skiing that catches the eye precisely because of its versatility. But also in our Belgian manufacturing industry we have wonderful multidisciplinary top athletes.

With the annual presentation of the Factory of the Future Awards, which will reach its ninth edition on Thursday, February 17, Agoria and Sirris each time highlight the state of the art of the Belgian manufacturing industry. The awards are for the manufacturing companies that are furthest along in their transformation into factories of the future. A factory of the future is an agile, digital, technological and people-oriented manufacturing company that succeeds in continually innovating intelligently and creating great value for its customers. In this way, even in a hyper-competitive global economy, it is able to sustainably anchor manufacturing activities in a country like Belgium, where labor is expensive.

That sounds all well and good, you may be thinking, but how do you recognize such a company and, above all, how can you (for example, as a modest SME) become one yourself? 

The answer to that question begins, like the training of Olympic biathletes, with the step-by-step development and sustainability of excellence on several tracks simultaneously. "Dare to change. Dare to let go of the past. Don't play defense," said about this several years ago, at a previous presentation of our Factory of the Future Awards, then keynote speaker Ronnie Leten (chairman of Ericsson and previously CEO of global compressor technology leader Atlas Copco).  

To practically guide your company in its ambition to become factory of the future, or on its Industrie 4.0 journey in general, Agoria and Sirris developed a framework and guidance program around 7 integrated transformations on advanced manufacturing technology, integrated engineering, process digitization, networked production, people-centric organization, sustainability and smart manufacturing. These 7 transformations together form a practically usable, but at the same time strategic bundle of inspiration to arrive at a concrete action plan. 

The title of Factory of the Future is only awarded to companies that can demonstrate a certain level of maturity during a rigorous assessment. Thus, the winners are true model companies, which you can emulate to shape your own transformation journey: what steps can you take to smartly automate your production? To make your organization green, transparent, maximally cost-efficient and people-oriented? Etc. 

Rightly proud

We are quite proud that our Belgian manufacturing industry now counts 48 official Factories of the Future. The newest of these will receive their award on Thursday, Feb. 17. Together, these companies have invested more than 1.9 billion euros in our country over the past 6 years, and between 2015 and 2020 they also recorded more growth in terms of productivity, turnover and jobs than the rest of the manufacturing industry. Just to say: a track worth exploring!

Curious about the winners of the 2022 Factory of the Future Awards and the reasons for their success? Follow the online presentation of the Factory of the Future Awards 2022 for Dutch-speaking Belgium on Thursday, February 17, 2022 from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. This event, announcing and presenting the new factories of the future in our country, will be streamed integrally from the brand new BluePoint Green Key Studio in Brussels. Flemish Minister of Economy and Innovation Hilde Crevits will present the awards. 
Register here!

Would you also like to know more about the winners in French-speaking Belgium? Then also follow the online presentation of the "Factory of the Future Awards 2022 - Wallonie" a joint initiative of l'Agence du Numérique, Agoria Wallonie and Sirris on Feb. 17 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Learn more here.