Zafer Gökhan Bekil , the founder of ARGEPLUS , talked about how his company uses artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and productivity in the marble-natural stone industry. He also shared his plans to develop new products and services supported by artificial intelligence for the industry.
Can you briefly tell me about yourself and your company?
I am the founder of Zafer Gökhan Bekil, ARGEPLUS Advanced Technology Machinery Systems and Consulting Industry. and Trade Ltd. Co., and I am a Mechanical Engineer. Our company serves as the first implementer and pioneer in the region of the “+Advanced Technology Machine Systems and +Engineering Based R&D Consultancy” concept. As it is known, all kinds of work to be done for national R&D / innovation, the establishment of technological production infrastructures, industrial development and growth are supported by the grant funds provided by our country’s public institutions and organizations.
Within the scope of the R&D / Innovation programs provided by TÜBİTAK, our company was entitled to receive support from TÜBİTAK grant funds and was established after the innovative R&D project was approved. Developing intelligent machinery and advanced technology systems in line with Industry 4.0 targets are our main fields of activity. We provide services as ARGEPLUS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY and carry out R&D projects in these areas to prepare the intelligent machinery and equipment infrastructures of the factories for the Industry 4.0 transformation of the companies and to carry out the quality control processes with artificial intelligence-based machinery and robotic systems.
For companies to make their investments with the support of grant funds and to minimize their risks while using their investment resources in their technological transformations, we provide support to companies both in the purchases of our projects and in the projects and investments of the companies in other fields with our Engineering Based R&D Consultancy service. We continue our studies and projects to contribute to engineering and technology-based developments in the national and international arena and play an active role.
Do you have activities for using artificial intelligence in the marble-natural stone sector? What are the usage areas in this sector?
ARGEPLUS develops R&D projects on artificial intelligence-based machine systems. In this context, we have studies that we have started for the Industry 4.0 revolution and carried out for the target sectors we have determined. One of them was successfully completed with the support of TUBITAK.
“Qplus Vision – Artificial Intelligence Based Natural Stone Selection Line” project.
ARGEPLUS has developed and worked on the systems for the Industry 4.0 industrial revolution, which we can specify under the main headings, such as intelligent quality control mechanical systems and artificial intelligence. Based on our R&D studies, quality control, production, decision-making, etc. In the processes, there are machine and robotic systems that are free from human labour, error-free, fast and self-learning, which will allow human factor-based processes to be automated and artificial intelligence-based. These systems have now become mandatory for intelligent factories and high-value-added products.
Companies operating in the marble sector can have the opportunity to perform the operations defined in the following five main headings with the unmanned workforce with the system developed.
+Selection by colour ratio
+Selection by pattern
+Selection by brightness ratio
+Selection according to size sensitivity
+Selection according to crack rate
marble travertine tile production lines, errors caused by human labour are eliminated. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to make specific selections for customer groups and to prevent quality errors.
How do you ensure that the artificial intelligence in your machines is safe?
Contrary to popular belief, artificial intelligence is not a system that acts with the reflexes of an organic life form. Of course, not for now. If you are asking whether you mean safe or not making mistakes, the answer would be as follows: Artificial Intelligence- based selection line is a system that is specially trained for each customer. Customers take primary school students who still need to complete their education from us. These machines have an advantage over people, and how you teach them in seconds learn and shape their behaviour accordingly. In a short time, you have a mechanical staff with a doctorate who knows your experience.
How will artificial intelligence change the natural stone processing industry, and what are some of its future applications?
The basis of being able to produce value-added products is to process and sell the ore we have, especially if our resource is mine. For this reason, a national natural stone product standard will be formed with the selection of artificial intelligence in the marble sector, where there has yet to be a national standard. With this system, the mechanical properties of each product included in the package and its recipe can be labelled on marbles and travertines, and customers will also have the opportunity to see the printouts showing the quality of each product they buy. In this way, our country’s natural stone industry will rise to a point that determines quality in the international arena. The fact that the quality standard will reach a neutral position will arouse particular interest in the world market. The most fundamental change of artificial intelligence will be the opportunity to offer high accuracy and customer-specific products in quality and product standards.