DRWO4.0 National Workshop - Slovenia

On 19th of June 2024 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as part of our new project Interreg Danube region DRWO 4.0, the Wood Industry Cluster and Faculty of Design organized a national stakeholder workshop on the topic of introducing Industry 4.0 in the Slovenian wood and furniture industry.

The workshop was attended by 28 participants from 12 companies and three research and educational institutions.

Among identified key challenges for the Slovenian wood processing industry is the increase in automation and digitization of processes, which would increase the efficiency and competitiveness of companies in the industry.

The DRWO 4.0 national workshop aimed to engage stakeholders to participate in the action plan development for the transformation of the Danube Region forest-based industry towards Industry 4.0. The aim of the workshop is to identify first-hand the main challenges faced by companies in the automation and digitization of production and operations and to find possible solutions in an open discussion.

Programme of the workshop was:

·        Presentation of DRWO4.0 and state of the art of forest-based industry in Slovenia (Bernard Likar, Wood Industry Cluster)

·        Challenges of digital transformation in the wood-processing industry (Andreja Kutnar and Jakub Sandak, InnoRenew COE)

·        The importance of digitization and Industry 4.0 and how to achieve successful implementation with cases of smart, digital and sustainable I4.0 innovation (Tomaž Vidonja, DigitalFlowz and Darko Toplak, Info-Digital)

·        Examples of good digitization practices in the wood-processing industry (Denis Stepančič, Podgorje and Jože Homar, Menina)

·        Discussion on DRWO 4.0 and their assessment of possibilities for the Slovenian forest-based industry transformation according to the I4.0.

Key highlights of the workshop:

Digital transformation has been a constant development in wood companies for several years. However, there is no appropriate software (IT) solution on the market that would adequately support and allow easy customisation for the business needs and management of processes specific to the wood-processing industry. Therefore, development of IT software for a wider group of wood-processing companies seems to be right step forward.

Companies are faced with lack of staff with a proper IT skills and experience.  Implementation of trainings on concrete IT topics should be in focus and thematic visits between companies in the industry (later also outside the industry) with the aim of exchanging practical experience.