-
Landscape and Challenges of Spanish SMEs: SMEs in Spain, which employ more than 9 million people, face significant challenges in adopting digital technologies due to their legacy of limited technological integration.
-
Digitalization Strategies: Strategies were presented to implement predictive maintenance and technologies such as digital twins for more effective and sustainable asset management.
On June 13, 2024, the Industrial Maintenance Digitalization Conference for SMEs was held at the Universitat Politècnica de València. Organized by PMM Innovation Group, the event brought together experts in digitalization and industrial maintenance with the aim of providing SMEs with the necessary tools to address digital transformation.
The event began with a presentation by Dr. Luigi Amendola PhD., who outlined the current landscape of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Spain. According to 2023 and 2024 data, there are 1,307,860 SMEs with employees in the country, employing a total of 9,143,223 people. The distribution by size reveals that 38.4% are micro-enterprises (1-9 employees), 5.51% are small enterprises (10-49 employees), and 0.89% are medium-sized enterprises (50-249 employees).
Amendola highlighted a common challenge for many SMEs: “A large part of Spanish small businesses carry a legacy in which technology has not been important, not even in terms of management and operational efficiency.” This diagnosis underscores the urgent need to advance toward digitalization to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs in the industrial sector.
In this context, the importance of improving internal processes to increase operational efficiency was emphasized. The experts presented various digitalization strategies, including the implementation of predictive and corrective maintenance systems. Technologies such as digital twins were also discussed, which enable an accurate virtual representation of physical assets, facilitating more effective and efficient management.
One topic addressed was collaboration with other entities, as well as the possible applications of digitalization in different sectors, presenting success stories of companies that have implemented these technologies with positive results. Practical insights were provided to launch digital transformation in the company, highlighting the importance of being more organized and using a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) to optimize control and management of plant maintenance.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn about different ways to implement maintenance digitalization and avoid common mistakes. The application of CMMS directly impacts the sustainability and effectiveness of companies, as it digitizes and automates maintenance processes, simplifies work order coordination, offers mobile applications, and ensures secure integrations with software and IoT sensors. Customers experience a +125% ROI, +50% in productivity, +35% savings in work order scheduling, and +45% in planning.
The event was rated as “Excellent” by 75% of attendees, who highlighted the usefulness of the presentations in contextualizing the challenges of digitalization and obtaining practical ideas to implement it in their companies. The conference provided a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, fostering innovation and progress in SMEs.
Due to the success and beneficial impact of the event for the industry, additional editions are planned for the coming years. For more information about the event, you can visit the official Conference page.
