The role of chemical engineers in Industry 4.0

Francesco Mura, Saras digital platform manager and Carlo Guarrata, Sarlux CEO

Sarlux CEO, Carlo Guarrata, took part in the meeting entitled ‘The Chemical Engineer in Industry 4.0’,
organised by the Italian Association of Chemical Engineers (AIDIC) and the University of Cagliari,
in partnership with the Saras Group. The meeting was held on 22 November 2017
in the Main Lecture Hall of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.

Laura Pilia, Process Control Automation Systems Manager at Sarlux, and Francesco Marini,
AIDIC co-ordinator for Sardinia, Chairman of Sarlux and Deputy President of Confindustria

The central theme of the debate was the status of the chemical industry in industry 4.0 systems,
in a production context which is well on the way to becoming fully automated and interconnected.

Hence the important role which chemical engineers can also play
in the digitization era of the fourth industrial revolution.

The meeting was held at Cagliari thanks also to the close and fruitful relationship
which the Group has always maintained with the University. From 1998 to the present time,
more than 300 students from Cagliari University have spent time at the Sarlux site
for research and drafting of their degree dissertations or for post-degree work experience and training.

Giacomo Cao, Director of the Department of Engineering, Laura Pilia and Francesco Marini

And indeed, both the Vice Rector, Francesco Mola, and the Director of the Department of Mechanical,
Chemical and Material Engineering, Giacomo Cao, stressed the important role played by the University
– always supporting and promoting stable relationships with companies and the economy –
in training highly qualified workers, meeting the HR needs
of industries both on the island and on the mainland.

‘The chemical engineers who graduate at Cagliari find a job immediately after their three-year course,
and in general, demand for this profile will continue to be high: Texas alone over the next decade
will need some 10,000 chemical engineers’ stated Giacomo Cao.

Carlo Guarrata, speaking of the importance of industry 4.0 from the viewpoint of safety and operational excellence,
raised a further point: ‘women and men are not replaceable, if an operator was only needed to close valves,
we could use actuators, but a thinking head is irreplaceable’.

Gilberto Callera, Deputy Chairman of Wec italia and member of the Saras BoD

The meeting was also attended – among others – by:
Francesco Marini (AIDIC co-ordinator for Sardinia, Chairman of Sarlux, Deputy Chairman of Confindustria),
Michele Mascia (University of Cagliari),
Laura Pilia (Process Control Automation Systems Manager at Sarlux),
Simonetta Palmas (University of Cagliari),
Gilberto Callera (Deputy Chairman of Wec italia),
Francesco Mura (Digital Platform Manager, Saras),
Michele Bargiacchi (Business leader, Honeywell),
Alessandro Brambilla (University of Pisa and senior partner, Alpha process control),
Fabrizio Caschili (CEO, Ecoserdiana),
Filippo Trivella (CEO, Alpha process control),
Pietro Pirellas (Plaftform Foreman, Assemini Ecotec),
Antonello Mavuli (Production Manager, Fluorsid)
and Raffaele Avella (Director, AIDIC and Wec Italia).

The Group recently organised the #digitalSaras Open Day in the Industry 4.0 Laboratory
of the Saras industrial site at Sarroch.

The meeting was attended by more than 50 graduands of the Faculty of Chemical,
Mechanical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari.

These future engineers were able to listen to and question components of the Digital team
and increase their knowledge of the way in which augmented reality and big data are changing the world of industry.