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Opening ceremony of comcross croatia production facility and conference "Industry 4.0 - Challenges and opportunities for Slavonia"
A facility worth almost 18.5 million kunas was opened with a ribbon cutting and a conference on smart industry in eastern Croatia. It is a headquarters of the comcross croatia company, which has found its place on 1,800 square meters in the Nemetin Eco-Industrial Zone in Osijek, where, in addition to the administrative building and certified training centre, a modern plant for the production of electrical communication cabinets, the only one of its kind in Croatia and in entire region, has been established. Comcross, a company that primarily deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of telecommunications networks in Croatia and Germany, thus became a leader in Industry 4.0, and along with the complete digitization of the production process, it also strengthened its competitiveness on the international market. Participants of the conference were Ivan Radić - Mayor of Osijek, Josip Miletić - Deputy Prefect of Osijek-Baranja County, Antun Kovačić - director of the Osijek Electrical and Traffic School, and Igor Šugar - marketing director of the company Rittal.
Technology combined with physical processes
- I am proud because today we are presenting an object that is important for us, for Osijek and Osijek-Baranja county. We have been operating since 2016, so this is the culmination of our work so far, which marks a step towards the future and the employment of about 20 engineers and technically educated employees in a production facility that brings the integration of information and communication technologies with conventional physical production processes, according to the parameters of Industry 4.0 - Slobodan Ribić, director of comcross croatia, pointed out at the opening ceremony, revealing that automation of production will save an average of 42% of time per project, primarily thanks to 3D models when designing cabinets, CNC processing of elements and wiring with the help of 3D visualization. Thus, the realization of some production processes, which normally take more than 7 hours, will last only 45 minutes.
The new administrative building was built in 2021, and in addition to 800 square meters of office space, 1,000 square meters of production and storage space were planned and built. Machines, equipment, tools and certification of the entire production plant were co-financed from the EU program "Strengthening the competitiveness of companies through investments in digital and green transition", i.e. through the project "comcross - production plant", and from the total value of the project of 8.5 million kunas, the European Union co-finances just over 2.25 million. In all of this, it should be noted that the new facility is decorated with a 50-meter-high telecommunications tower, because comcross croatia also deals with the construction of lattice towers, but also with the design of technical protection systems and the design and construction of photovoltaic power plants.
- I am proud because today we are presenting an object that is important for us, for Osijek and Osijek-Baranja county. We have been operating since 2016, so this is the culmination of our work so far, which marks a step towards the future and the employment of about 20 engineers and technically educated employees in a production facility that brings the integration of information and communication technologies with conventional physical production processes, according to the parameters of Industry 4.0 - Slobodan Ribić, director of comcross croatia, pointed out at the opening ceremony, revealing that automation of production will save an average of 42% of time per project, primarily thanks to 3D models when designing cabinets, CNC processing of elements and wiring with the help of 3D visualization. Thus, the realization of some production processes, which normally take more than 7 hours, will last only 45 minutes.
The new administrative building was built in 2021, and in addition to 800 square meters of office space, 1,000 square meters of production and storage space were planned and built. Machines, equipment, tools and certification of the entire production plant were co-financed from the EU program "Strengthening the competitiveness of companies through investments in digital and green transition", i.e. through the project "comcross - production plant", and from the total value of the project of 8.5 million kunas, the European Union co-finances just over 2.25 million. In all of this, it should be noted that the new facility is decorated with a 50-meter-high telecommunications tower, because comcross croatia also deals with the construction of lattice towers, but also with the design of technical protection systems and the design and construction of photovoltaic power plants.
The City of Osijek has created a stimulating environment for entrepreneurs
- Comcross is one of the first tenants in our zone in Nemetin, so it is an excellent example of everything that this zone, as well as the City of Osijek, offers to current and future investors. The comcross company built its facility even before the deadline of 24 months, and thus took advantage of all the privileges that this zone offers, which was certainly a wind at its back, and the fact that it will employ around 20 employees is especially pleasing, because we have created a stimulating environment for entrepreneurs, which we continue to work on - said Ivan Radić, the mayor of Osijek, noting that the economic boom, as well as the attractiveness of this industrial zone, is proven by the newly contracted 9 out of 11 plots in the second phase. In the context of comcross, the City of Osijek has been supportive from day one, so in addition to the 100% co-financing of the land, it also co-financed the municipal contribution, which will be completely abolished for all new investors due to the new measure.
Digitization of production processes with qualified workers
Comcross was also congratulated on the new building by Josip Miletić, the deputy prefect of Osijek-Baranja County, who emphasized that the east of Croatia has really something to show for the industrial transition, as positive trends are also being followed in the education of the workforce, which due to the cooperation of entrepreneurs and the County with the University of J.J. Strossmayer in Osijek and middle schools, is increasingly more professional and qualified.
This is exactly what Antun Kovačić, director of the Osijek Electrical and Traffic School, talked about in his presentation, focusing on the new ELPROS Regional Center of Competence, which, in addition to student education and practice with local entrepreneurs, also enables additional teacher training. Kovačić pointed out that the cooperation between ELPROS and comcross started 7 years ago, when they started with the education and retraining of adults, but also with new educational programs for students, with which students began to acquire new knowledge and experience in accordance with the demand of entrepreneurs.
- Digitization of production processes does not mean a lack of need for workers, but only increases productivity, the speed of production of the final product, as well as safety when eliminating possible errors in production. The production of telecommunications cabinets is a machine job, which still requires the influence of workers, and automation only enables this work to be less physically demanding, with greater time savings - emphasized at the end of the conference, Igor Šugar, director of marketing of the Rittal company, who gave a video presentation and a tour through the demo bus. His colleagues presented the equipment and processes that comcross croatia will deal with in the new production facility, equipped exactly with Rittal machines and solutions.
- Comcross is one of the first tenants in our zone in Nemetin, so it is an excellent example of everything that this zone, as well as the City of Osijek, offers to current and future investors. The comcross company built its facility even before the deadline of 24 months, and thus took advantage of all the privileges that this zone offers, which was certainly a wind at its back, and the fact that it will employ around 20 employees is especially pleasing, because we have created a stimulating environment for entrepreneurs, which we continue to work on - said Ivan Radić, the mayor of Osijek, noting that the economic boom, as well as the attractiveness of this industrial zone, is proven by the newly contracted 9 out of 11 plots in the second phase. In the context of comcross, the City of Osijek has been supportive from day one, so in addition to the 100% co-financing of the land, it also co-financed the municipal contribution, which will be completely abolished for all new investors due to the new measure.
Digitization of production processes with qualified workers
Comcross was also congratulated on the new building by Josip Miletić, the deputy prefect of Osijek-Baranja County, who emphasized that the east of Croatia has really something to show for the industrial transition, as positive trends are also being followed in the education of the workforce, which due to the cooperation of entrepreneurs and the County with the University of J.J. Strossmayer in Osijek and middle schools, is increasingly more professional and qualified.
This is exactly what Antun Kovačić, director of the Osijek Electrical and Traffic School, talked about in his presentation, focusing on the new ELPROS Regional Center of Competence, which, in addition to student education and practice with local entrepreneurs, also enables additional teacher training. Kovačić pointed out that the cooperation between ELPROS and comcross started 7 years ago, when they started with the education and retraining of adults, but also with new educational programs for students, with which students began to acquire new knowledge and experience in accordance with the demand of entrepreneurs.
- Digitization of production processes does not mean a lack of need for workers, but only increases productivity, the speed of production of the final product, as well as safety when eliminating possible errors in production. The production of telecommunications cabinets is a machine job, which still requires the influence of workers, and automation only enables this work to be less physically demanding, with greater time savings - emphasized at the end of the conference, Igor Šugar, director of marketing of the Rittal company, who gave a video presentation and a tour through the demo bus. His colleagues presented the equipment and processes that comcross croatia will deal with in the new production facility, equipped exactly with Rittal machines and solutions.
The project was co-financed by the European Union from the instrument for Recovery Aid for Cohesion and European Areas "REACT-EU". The content of this article is the sole responsibility of comcross croatia d.o.o. for designing, implementing and maintaining technical systems.
