Interview with Márton Maár of Transmoduls: Target machines must operate with as little human intervention as possible

Transmoduls Kft. specializes in designing and manufacturing industrial automated machines and equipment for the automotive industry, among others. The company manufactures high-automated integrated machines, production lines, computer-controlled assemblers, manufacturers, measuring and control systems using a combination of technologies such as robotic technology, laser technology, and assembly technology and metering technology.

AP: How does the Fourth Industrial Revolution impact your company?

MM: This phenomenon started out of necessity: with my colleagues we responded to the needs of our clients, so we could keep at the forefront of new global trends. Two key factors that determined our corporate direction were the efficiency and quality of our solutions. These goals have, of course, have been present since the beginning. Nowadays, it has been supplemented by the fact that manufacturing is done more precisely, possibly without human intervention.

According to Márton Maár, CEO of Transmoduls, there are also moral issues in Industry 4.0

How does Industry 4.0 affect the target machine manufacturers?

We have to keep in mind that the goal of an integrated machine is to make assemble products with as little human interaction as possible. I'm pretty sure the industry wants to work with more and more smart machines – those that have a wide range of integrated technology incorporated into them. It will be a significant challenge for target machine manufacturers to make the production equipment flexible as well. Our machines must be designed at a higher level. As devices are evolving and gaining more control points, traceability and control will not require personal presence. Precise statistics can be filtered from the data generated during production. An exciting IT revolution is taking place.

How does this change affect people?

Moral issues are being pushed into Industry 4.0. Our clients are having a great deal of work shortages, which is a global problem. Our job is to solve their problems. If the number of operators is insufficient, then we need to design machines with little human intervention. I believe that that eliminating these processes will cause companies to hire more highly skilled people, as simpler jobs will be out of the market and replaced by machines.

When should people gain higher skills to prepare for this change?

Right now is the right time. The government has stopped the economics training dumping, so a radical change is needed. Factories will have less work available for lower skilled employees, creating an urgent demand for higher education. The machines will be more complex: so they will require quality operators who can handle them and skilled workers who can maintain them.