News 
From November 3rd to 19th, MicroLean Lab presented, in the heart of the Saint-Imier Technology Park, the new autonomous micro-plant demonstrator. Many industrialists discovered this revolutionary way of machining parts.
This demonstrator consists of a series of technological blocks required to manufacture microtechnical products with high added value. From raw material stock to finished product, parts and tools move from one block to the other in an agile and autonomous manner. By exploiting the data collected and analysed during the manufacturing process, the artificial intelligence of the micro-plant allows production parameters to be adapted in real time to guarantee perfect components at first attempt.
“Our goal is to offer the Swiss microtechnology industry the opportunity to experience the potential of digitalisation”, explains Florian Serex, head of partnerships and development at the MicroLean Lab. Formed as a community of interests, this experimentation centre currently comprises four major watchmaking groups and a dozen small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The MicroLean Lab is not only a response to digitalisation but also to current socio-economic and environmental challenges. Micro-factories will make it possible to manufacture and consume products in a much more sustainable and responsible manner.
Given the small size of the technological blocks, they will consume far less energy and surface area than current factories. Taking as a reference the micro5, a 5-axis milling machine developed in 2016 by HE-Arc Ingénierie and today integrated in a block of the micro-factory, it occupies five times less floor space and consumes ten times less energy than traditional machines. For more information: www.microleanlab.ch.
November 12, 2020