In 2018 the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) together with the Liguria Region signed the Innovation Agreement in relation to Ansaldo Energia's "Lighthouse Plant" project.

The agreement outlines that the investment, in addition to the incentives provided for by the Industry 4.0 Plan, will receive a contribution of 25% of the total (20% MISE and 5% Liguria Region).

The Intelligent Factory Cluster managed the identification, on behalf of MISE, of the Lighthouse Plant Enterprise 4.0 (Lighthouse Plant), leading to the selection of Ansaldo Energia as one of the first two Lighthouse Plants finalists.

Ansaldo Energia has invested a total of 14 million euros in a three-year industrial research and development plan, based on the development and application of the main digital technologies covered by Industry 4.0 to the entire production process of its two production sites in Genoa (Campi and Cornigliano).

The terms of the Innovation Agreement signed today by MISE and the Liguria Region provide that Ansaldo Energia’s investment – in addition to the incentives provided for by the 4.0 Business Plan – will be eligible for a contribution equal to 25% of the total (20% MISE and 5% Liguria Region).

X Factory

An innovative program called “X Factory” was launched with the scope of creating real collaboration between startups and innovative SMEs within Ansaldo Energia’s Lighthouse Plant. Over 100 innovative companies participated with the winner being Smart Track and their idea to develop Smart Safety within the Genoa Campi plants. The project was divided into two phases.

The solution fully exploits the potential of Smart Track’s IoT Connected Worker platform with the management of worker safety in complex and multi-site environments in a single web application called SmartStudio.

Numerous floor plans of the Ansaldo Energia plant were digitized with the loading of maps into SmartStudio and 150 anchors were installed to geolocate emergency events.

Following an alarm event, the WeTAG wearable device exchanges information with the anchors installed within the site to communicate its georeferenced position to the central server. The related alarm notification appears on the SmartStudio application, which can be accessed in various Ansaldo Energia points such as the infirmary and the concierge, displaying the floor plan showing a geolocated emergency event.

At the same instant, alarm messages are sent to the security officers via email and chatbot on Telegram, WhatsApp, and mobile phone calls to minimize intervention times and send help quickly.