Networked production

Intelligent, autonomously acting workpieces and machines are revolutionising industrial manufacturing. An Industry 4.0 or smart factory can react autonomously to fluctuating conditions and manufacture customised products economically.

Modern production lines are typically required to manufacture increasingly customised products in small-volume batches with maximum efficiency. Rigid, inflexible and centrally controlled processes stand in the way of “customised production” which is steadily growing in importance. In Germany, the term “Industry 4.0” has been coined for the reorganisation of industrial production: the interconnection of machinery, plant, workpieces and products is giving rise to intelligent manufacturing systems capable of controlling themselves and one another with no manual intervention. Thus, in an ideal case, the workpiece already knows which customer it is intended for and carries with it all information relating to the place and time it is processed. Once the material is in the machine, it flags up any deviation from the standard process, determines when it is ready and knows how it will reach the customer. A comprehensive project of this kind has still to be realised. However, initial part-projects have already been implemented in industrial practice.

Technology offers major potential

Industry 4.0 is more than a vision of and for the future,” emphasises Dr Verena Majuntke, Senior Solution Architect for Industry 4.0 at Bosch Software Innovations GmbH. “This technology offers major potential for machine and component manufacturers. We are already seeing new business models today that will develop further over the next few years.” The initial step is to equip components and machines with necessary Industry 4.0 features, such as sensors, actuators, machine-level software and network access. This lays the foundation for capturing relevant data from multiple machines that can be evaluated in a second step, thereby putting companies in a position to meet forecasts and automate decision-making processes. In predictive maintenance, for example, these methods are already delivering benefits by making it possible for companies to respond to maintenance requests faster and more precisely.

The essence of the smart factory

Similar concepts are also being developed under the name smart manufacturing or smart factory. Dubbed the Industrial Internet or Industrial Internet of Things, the term used in the USA covers significantly more than just industrial production. The essence of all the concepts, however, is the same: cyber-physical systems allow products, devices and objects to interact beyond classical application and industry boundaries. By connecting to the Internet and the Cloud, the physical world becomes merged with the digital world. Essentially, all cyber-physical systems are microelectronic systems with their own computing ability, communication and networking components, as well as sensors and actuators. As a result, they are able to perform all data recording, processing and output functions independently. They are integrated in the form of an “embedded system” in larger systems or objects, such as in mobile robots, pallets and components or communicating production machinery. Networked via cyber-physical systems, for example, production processes can react in real time to fluctuations in deliveries or orders.

Networking beyond all boundaries

However, cyber-physical systems are not limited to manufacturing, as Professor John Fitzgerald emphasises. The Director of Research in Computing Sciences at Newcastle University says: “They could be a mass of people with their individual smart phones, they could be all the devices in a smart electricity grid or agricultural logistics where harvests can be re-planned based on the quality of data taken from sensors on a combine harvester.” The ever-increasing networking of objects that interact beyond classical application boundaries opens the way for new network-based products and services. In future, cyber-physical systems will also make important contributions to solving society’s great challenges, such as mobility, security and health. The Quintessence of Industry 4.0 Detailed information about Industry 4.0 can be found in the 16th issue of “The Quintessence”. Download the free “TQ by EBV” tablet app to read it.

(picture credits: Shutterstock)

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