Turning data into knowledge

US company Sight Machine, founded in 2011, has developed one of the leading production analysis platforms. The software-as-a-service solution transforms machine and sensor data into usable knowledge by which companies can improve their processes and manufacturing quality. Sight Machine uses flexible algorithms to analyse data from industrial cameras, sensors and factory software. Among other features, the system provides companies with real-time reports on quality problems, retrospective analyses of product variations and errors, or predictive analyses to improve processes.
www.sightmachine.com

Developers of cyber-physical systems

Synapticon, which was established in 2010, specialises in hardware and software for connected systems involving the intensive use of sensors and actuators. The company offers flexible products and tailored solutions in the fields of robotics, self-driving vehicles, industrial automation, special-purpose machinery, and the Internet of Things. Using the DYNARC platform, developers of cyber-physical systems are able to construct, configure and program distributed computer systems fully integrating actuator control, sensor data acquisition and broadband data processing.
www.synapticon.de

Smart locating

Swedish company Locusense has developed a location system for indoor use which is able to identify the positions of objects solely over wireless communications networks. To do so, the objects are fitted with a Locusense tag. Based on a number of fixed reference tags with known positions, smart antennas can determine the positions of any number of “mobile” objects. No complex and costly configuration is required. New tagged objects are automatically detected. The cost of this solution is kept down thanks to cheap components and the low power consumption of the tags.
www.locusense.com

Build-your-own Augmented Reality

The Bitstars company has developed a software-as-a-service platform which its customers can use to create their own Augmented Reality applications. The concept is founded on very simple and intuitive operability. The platform is a user-friendly tool for creating 3D content for Web, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality applications. The generated 3D content can be easily integrated into websites as well as being used in Augmented and Virtual Reality apps for Google Glass, smartphones and Google Cardboard. Previously this almost always needed expensive custom-made software.
www.bitstars.com

Precision automated handling

The aim of Magazino, founded in 2014, is to integrate warehouse logistics systems into Industry 4.0 and connect them to the Internet of Things. To that end, the company has developed a system that permits precision handling of single items. Equipped with a state-of-the-art camera system and a gripper mounted on a three-axis linear system, the Magazino Kado enables automated handling of single items in automatic picking and into-stock procedures. The imaging system precisely detects every object on both single-type and consolidated load carriers. The handling system can be linked to existing warehouse facilities.
www.magazino.eu

Real-time imaging

Rialgo Realtime Systems develops complex real-time signal processing systems for its customers. Founded in 2010, the company develops software systems for Industry 4.0 and Smart City applications, as well as applications for automated monitoring and quality assurance which demand real-time signal processing (imaging), bulk data processing and highly efficient data communications. One example of an application is the fitting out of production lines with camera systems that perform visual inspections and automatically detect defects.
www.rialgo.de

(picture credits: Fotolia: olly)

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The experts around the table all readily agree that Industry 4.0 is not really a revolution in technology terms: “Cyber-physical systems, combining hardware, software and connectivity, have been around for quite some time,” states Georg Kube, Global Vice President Industrial Machinery and Components at SAP. He therefore sees Industry 4.0 more as a much accelerated evolution than a revolution. Prof. Dr Alexander Ferrein, head of the Institute for Mobile Autonomous Systems and Cognitive Robotics at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences, also believes that the technologies needed for Industry 4.0 already exist and are being used: “A new feature is that the technologies have been getting steadily cheaper, and now are affordable to smaller businesses too.” As a result, more and more sensors are being used in manufacturing industry, so providing the basis for machines to become intelligent and act autonomously within unstructured environments. For Prof. Ferrein, whose research is focused on artificial intelligence and cognitive robotics, that is the foundation for one of the key innovations in Industry 4.0: “It will take us a major step forward especially in terms of collaboration between people and machines, or robots, in the near future.” That view is shared by Dr Wilfried Kugler, Vice President Operations of viastore, a leading international vendor of turnkey logistics systems and warehouse management software: “We have been interconnecting our systems for the last 15 years. So it’s nothing new for us. Of course, robots are already being used in warehouses today, such as for picking and packing heavy goods. But they are rarely operated as assistance systems, collaborating with and supporting the people – which is one of the typical features of Industry 4.0. I see a lot more potential in that direction.” Thomas Staudinger, Vice President Vertical Segments and Technical Marketing of EBV, also emphasises that specific Industry 4.0 products do not normally need to be developed. “Mostly it’s a case of adding connectivity and security functions to existing machines. That is generating some exciting new ideas on the basis of technologies that are already currently available.” And it is just that attribute which he regards as the revolutionary aspect of Industry 4.0: “Industry 4.0 brings together lots of elements that have existed for some time, and which now are able to enhance each other.” Examples include Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which has suddenly made available vast numbers of IP addresses to boost the connectivity of all kinds of objects, as well as the dramatic falls in mobile communication costs.

Finding useful business cases
Yet Industry 4.0 must not become an end in itself, according to Dr Kugler. “If there is no customer benefit, even the most advanced technology is useless. The main priorities are throughput, availability and cost-effectiveness.” Georg Kube is routinely confronted by the question as to the benefit of Industry 4.0: “Many companies have become aware of Industry 4.0 due to the hype surrounding it, and they are asking themselves – and us – how they can utilise the technologies to their benefit.” Often there is even no need to install new hardware, as Kube reports: “One of our customers, a chemicals company, has been recording and saving all its sensor data and plant maintenance logs for years, but was unsure what exactly to do with them. We were able to analyse the data and search it for patterns indicating impending failure, such as of a pump. The plant can now be serviced before a failure occurs.” Maintenance costs have been cut as a result – and so the investment in the technology has been worthwhile. This illustrates precisely what Kube regards as the biggest challenge of Industry 4.0: finding useful business cases.

Varied benefits
Thomas Staudinger also takes the view that Industry 4.0 can only be successful if a balance is achieved between the cost of its implementation and its benefits: “If a smart product costs ten or twenty times more, it will be difficult to find arguments in favour of it. But if, for example, I can spend five euros installing a sensor, a microcontroller and a communications interface in a 5,000 euro motor to warn me of impending damage to the motor, then I can offer added value that customers are willing to pay for.” Nevertheless, the benefits of interconnected products in Industry 4.0 can be quite varied, as Dr Kugler explains: “One of the promises is that products will be cheaper to make. But Industry 4.0 can also help enhance quality in the processes and the product.” Georg Kube cites the customisation of the manufacturing process as another benefit: “With Industry 4.0 it is possible to configure a product individually and put it into production quickly – at a cost close to that of volume production.” Generally, the SAP executive sees three objectives for Industry 4.0-related measures: being able to sell products more cheaply, generating new sales based on new services, or selling more products based on the facility for customers to tailor them individually to their needs.

Predictive maintenance a core application
Kube sees major opportunities in relation to service especially: “In my view that is a core application for Industry 4.0, and some of the applications are now being devised.” Wilfried Kugler cites an example from his own company: “We are currently working on a solution which implements agents into our software systems and links them to our service centre. The software agents detect impending problems in the customer’s plant and actively notify our service centre. A service technician is able to intervene actively on-site before anything actually happens. We offer customers this boost to plant availability as an additional service – and they are willing to pay for the benefit it delivers.” But Prof. Ferrein is confident that service will not replace traditional manufacturing industry: “Someone is still ultimately going to have to be making things. One of the ideas underlying Industry 4.0 is that the boundaries between machinery and service will be eliminated, and that there will be no defined production locations, but I do not see it that way. Present-day manufacturing industry possesses a wealth of know-how in making its products, and that is not so easy to simply shift to the Cloud.” Nevertheless, Cloud technology, in conjunction with high-quality communications networks, does open up entirely new possibilities: “It is today already possible to control all the operations of a warehouse in Singapore from a data centre in Germany,” Dr Kugler reports. “The vital question is therefore: what services will still have to be resident in a machine at all, and what services will be handled over networks or on the Cloud?”

Data protection can be properly implemented with the right ­levels of awareness
This does, however, give rise to another question which Thomas Staudinger highlights: “Who does the data actually belong to? The customers who generate it, or the service providers who analyse it at their data centres?” The experts around the table all agree that this is a question which has to be contractually agreed in detail between the customers and their service providers. They regard statutory provisions as helpful, but not essential. “The law is only ever of limited use in relation to access rights and data protection. The matters have to be contractually agreed, and that demands trust between the IT provider, the system integrator and the customer,” Wilfried Kugler states. Georg Kube adds that migrating data or processes to the Cloud is not necessarily insecure: “It is very difficult for SMEs, especially, to protect their servers against cyber-attack. On the other hand, IT security is the core business of Cloud service providers, so a Cloud environment is often better protected than an individual IT system.”

Integrating cybersecurity into security planning
“The cybersecurity risks will of course rise as autonomous components in industry are increasingly connected to the Internet,” Thomas Staudinger admits. But he is also certain that sound solutions exist to cope with them: “Appropriate software and hardware measures can be implemented to protect the system and the data.” That does, however, mean that a precise definition is needed as to what actually has to be protected: should the systems prevent manipulation of the production process, theft of company data, or copying of a new product by a competitor? “The technologies to handle all those tasks already exist today,” says Staudinger. “They are just not yet integrated globally into security planning.” The current debate surrounding Industry 4.0 can actually offer an opportunity in this respect, Prof. Ferrein thinks. “Many companies in traditional industry are still completely unaware of the security problems that exist. So Industry 4.0 should also be used to instigate an education campaign on the issue.”

Standardisation is helpful, but not essential
As in relation to data protection, the round table participants do not believe that higher instances should be the primary option in terms of standardisation. “I do not think that we can wait for Industry 4.0 to be standardised,” Thomas Staudinger claims. “If we do, there is a risk that the USA or other countries might overtake us in implementing the concept.” Wilfried Kugler takes the same view. He adds: “We already have lots of standardised technologies today, such as the Internet Protocol, helping to deliver good Industry 4.0 solutions.” Georg Kube sums up the standardisation discussion: “Standards would be desirable and helpful, but are not essential. A lack of global standards will not hold back Industry 4.0.”

Engineers will increasingly have to adopt a systematic approach
But what does that mean for the people working in Industry 4.0? “Engineering training will certainly change,” Georg Kube asserts. Interconnected, autonomous products will entail a convergence of mechanical engineering, software and electronics. So future engineers will have to adopt an even more systematic approach than they already do today, Kube believes. “But there is a yawning gulf between the methods and working practices of mechanical engineers and IT specialists, so the various fields will have to be converged even more closely.” This is already happening in universities, as Prof. Alexander Ferrein highlights. “Manufacturing and automation are already inconceivable without IT. What is important is that future engineers should be taught to view complex systems in their totality. Not everyone will be able to do everything of course. But the various subject areas must learn to talk to each other, and to understand the correlations between their respective work.”

Experienced skilled staff will still be needed
Industry 4.0 will also change the working environment for skilled production staff – in a positive way, as Wilfried Kugler confidently asserts: “As a symptom of demographic change, the skilled factory workforce will be getting ever older. Industry 4.0 will provide them with supporting technologies, including assistance systems such as collaborative robots.” In parallel, IT will increasingly be deployed to assist people within the production environment. That is perhaps not a particularly pleasant prospect for today’s older generation but, as Dr Kugler points out, the next generation will be entirely comfortable using tablets to monitor and control industrial plant. “That does not mean that everyone now has to be a computer expert though,” Prof. Ferrein stresses. “We will still in future need people capable of shaping metal by hand, for example. Smaller businesses not engaged in mass production will still be reliant on such people.” The general view around the table is that Industry 4.0 will not lead to deserted factories without a human being in sight. But as Thomas Staudinger points out: “Autonomous systems will take over simple work tasks in future. Unskilled jobs will increasingly disappear. On the other hand, a flexible Industry 4.0 system will create more manufacturing processes in Europe, and so in turn safeguard employment.” Industry 4.0 certainly offers a new major opportunity for the current generation of experienced skilled workers, Georg Kube believes. “Someone will have to feed the knowledge into the expert systems. Experienced staff will be needed to program the new applications.”

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What does Industry 4.0 mean for EBV as a distributor of semiconductors and electronic components?
Antonio Fernandez: Industry 4.0 is inconceivable without micro-electronics. Exciting possibilities are opening up for the entire semiconductor industry to penetrate a new market with new as well as existing solutions. We offer equipment and system manufacturers a comprehensive kit of micro-electronic components enabling them to create applications for the Smart Factory. For EBV, it is a fantastic opportunity to service our customers in a revolutionary challenge, proving our competence in support and our applications know-how.

Is Industry 4.0 currently purely a research topic? Or are there applications in industry that have already been realised?
A.F.: Industry 4.0 is the next big thing happening in factory automation, moving to the next level of connectivity and distributed intelligence. But it is by no means just a vision: we have helped a number of customers to develop solutions for the Smart Factory which are already being applied in practice. Essentially, most of the technologies for Industry 4.0 already exist, and there are already lots of individual solutions being applied in the industrial sphere which have affirmed the promises of Industry 4.0: energy and cost savings, higher productivity and more flexibility.

What do you regard as the biggest challenges on the way towards implementing Industry 4.0?
A.F.: Rethinking the role of every single system in the factory, looking for how to improve processes, taking advantage of the interaction between the systems, and managing securely the significant amount of data generated.

What can EBV do as a distributor to tackle these challenges?
A.F.: Firstly, we promote the key semiconductors from reliable partners – reliable in terms of desired functionality, as well as in terms of support and delivery capability. We continuously train our technical team in all the relevant technologies, and in the new chips being launched onto the market by our manufacturer partners. This enables our field application engineers to provide customers with comprehensive support in the development process. We also work on reference designs incorporating our specialist know-how in the creation of system solutions. They provide our customers with turn-key solutions for many tasks – including, for example, to interconnect the various elements which have to communicate with each other along a value chain. We are able also to advise developers on the relevant communications interfaces and standards.

What products does EBV offer for Industry 4.0?
A.F.: Basically, all the micro-electronic modules needed to create a complete Industry 4.0 solution: microcontrollers, application processors and FPGAs for control, Ethernet transceivers, switches and wireless modules (Wi-Fi, BLE) for communications. Sensors and analogue front ends to measure physical magnitudes also play a major role in our portfolio, as do hardware-based solutions for data security.

Are there any technological developments in electronics that are geared towards use in Industry 4.0?
A.F.: The use of electronic chips in industry poses particular challenges in terms of robustness and reliability, but also with regard to long-term availability on the market – after all, industrial plant tends to be much longer-lived than consumer products, for example. We can already benefit from new derivatives coming from the automotive market for industrial applications, higher integration of peripherals, focus on real-time Ethernet software libraries and longevity programmes to support industrial life cycles.

Industry 4.0 is also a major software topic – over and above the hardware issue, what else does EBV do to help application developers?
A.F.: We push our manufacturer partners to develop valuable and easy to use software libraries and tools, we offer and support several reference designs and we build and maintain a network of third parties and design centres that can offer very specific support and services to our customers.

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Teaching is her mission: as Professor of Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts, Gesche Joost builds bridges between technological innovation and the real needs of people in their everyday lives. She regards the Design Research Lab that she heads as an intermediary between humans and machines. How can innovative technology be integrated into everyday human life? How can it be handled and utilised properly? Elected one of the “100 Brains of Tomorrow” as far back as 2006, the Kiel-born scientist is currently probing such questions together with her interdisciplinary team. A typical project, for example, is a knitted jacket with built-in electronics which automatically calls for help in an emergency. “We simply could not do any of our research without the Internet. It is the foundation of everything,” Gesche Joost asserts. She is very much at the heart of the online world, and knows how to bring technological innovation closer to people. “I cannot imagine a better Digital Ambassador for Germany,” says Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel. It was he who appointed Prof. Dr Gesche Joost Digital Champion for Germany in 2014.

Is the digitisation of politics so alienated that it needs an Internet Ambassador?
Gesche Joost: Things have changed enormously. In the new Federal Government, everyone is looking to get involved in digitisation – which is a very good thing, and in keeping with the breadth of the subject. Previously, digitisation was approached in a rather half-hearted way. Today there are in fact three ministries working on it. We now also have the first Digital Agenda for Germany – though there is still plenty to be done in terms of vision, and making us fit for the future.

What are your duties as Digital Champion?
G.J.: The role was created by the former EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Her idea was that every EU member-state should send an Internet Ambassador to Brussels. The thinking is that the Ambassador should help drive forward the digital agenda, and promote the idea of the digital single market within the member-states. So my role really is that of an Ambassador, an intermediary between Europe and Germany.

You say that there are three ministries in Germany working on the subject – would it not be more efficient to bundle all the initiatives under one roof?
G.J.: It would have been advantageous to have forged a single digitisation strategy for Germany from the very beginning. But digitisation crosses over a lot of other fields, and has to be covered by all the ministries in their various spheres: digitisation-related aspects in education, the skills shortage, the digital strategy for business, and so on. We are still currently having some issues in terms of co-ordination between different departments – there is no single, coherent vision. But once everyone has understood how important this subject is, we will doubtless be able to make good progress with the current set-up too.

How important is Industry 4.0 in terms of your work as an Internet Ambassador?
G.J.: It is one of the core aspects for Germany. Many people believe we have almost missed out on the initial wave of digitisation internationally, and that our record in terms of Internet business has not been good to date. What we will be able to score highly with, however, is our strong base of SMEs, including lots of global market leaders. If those businesses can succeed in digitally interlinking their processes, and digitising machinery and plant manufacture, they will become even more efficient and competent. Defining the relevant international standards is a key task for the future. That is a vital factor, not just for Germany’s global competitiveness, but for the whole of Europe too.

Does that mean the response to the initiative has been enthusiastic in the other EU member-states too?
G.J.: Yes. Different terminology might be used in different countries, such as “smart production”, or “smart industry”, but what is meant is something similar. Germany is in pole position Europe-wide though. Now what we need to do is quickly merge together all the different threads, as well as keeping our noses in front on the international stage. That also means seeking out good partners in Europe so as to adopt a joint approach.

So Industry 4.0 is not a national topic, but a European one?
G.J.: Yes. It’s certainly important to think in Europe-wide terms, and to view developments from the perspective of the European digital single market. Germany alone will not be in a position to exert major leverage. We need to link up even more closely with international consortia, and we have to be faster in developing standards and best practice – as well as in exporting the relevant solutions. The Asian and American markets have not been dragging their heels. So we have to pick up the pace; and think internationally rather than just German.

Is there actually the necessary awareness for that in Europe?
G.J.: The subject has been very well received, but there is still a lack of momentum in terms of implementation. What is now important is to translate the outstanding results from the research and development sphere into concerted, politically backed industry initiatives on international markets.

Is there not also a need for a legal framework, such as with regard to cybersecurity?
G.J.: A policy framework is important in defending against industrial espionage through cyber-attacks. So IT security and the use of encryption technologies for data traffic are key factors. At the same time, it is also about regaining lost trust from a user’s perspective. Digital technologies are struggling to gain a foothold among SMEs precisely because such smaller businesses do not trust the Cloud, for example. It is important to create better offerings, such as secure Cloud services with servers based in Germany. Cybersecurity might also become an export driver, selling “Made in Germany” based on our high security levels. It would be good to see a joint initiative between industry and policy-makers in that respect – not with small-scale isolated solutions, but based on concerted strength Europe-wide.

The “conventional” Internet is dominated by US companies, who are now also investing a lot of money in the digitisation of industrial production. Can Germany – or indeed Europe – survive and prosper against their commercial power?
G.J.: We do have opportunities thanks to our existing SME base, including a number of global market leaders and “hidden Champions” who have made us competitive on international markets. We have little chance against the financial might of the USA and China though. The money being invested in start-ups in the USA is many times higher than in Germany. That is another reason for adopting a European approach. What is important is that funding is concentrated, and not sprinkled around here and there in dribs and drabs. ‘Think big’ is the motto.

What can policy-makers do to improve opportunities for businesses?
G.J.: Germany might very well take on a lead role, expanding Industry 4.0 to a European scale rather than just a German approach. Germany might engage more on the subject in Brussels, and look to forge Europe-wide network solutions. It is important that policy-makers and industry act hand-in-hand. We need a roadmap to route the relevant solutions in the right direction. The process is too slow for my liking. If we are not careful, our way ahead will be dictated by pre-packaged solutions from Asia or the USA.

What does Industry 4.0 mean for the people working in a Smart Factory? How will the world of work change?
G.J.: Quite a lot will change, and many people are afraid of that. The horror scenario of deserted, soulless, job-destroying factories is rather too extreme a vision, however. That will not happen. Simple activities will increasingly be eliminated though. So we need to invest massively in training skilled personnel. Handling interconnected systems will pose a challenge.
Many of the study programmes in Germany and Europe will have to be engineered so as to cover the new skills profiles of the digital working environment. We already offer good engineering courses. But there are lots of new skills profiles emerging, which will also demand new forms of co-operation between industry and academic institutions to ensure that people are trained in the right way.

You have even called for primary school children to be taught computer programming …
G.J.: Yes, that’s very important. Because in terms of the digital skills of its school children, Germany is in the bottom half of the European league table. We cannot afford that. Programming was included in the school curriculum in England last year, for example. The point is that children are taught digital skills as a whole, not specifically Java or C++. Things such as the use of media, Internet searching, privacy issues and the different types of data cannot be restricted to teaching in computer science classes; they have to be woven into the fabric of all the various school subjects. It appears to be the case in Germany at present that school is the last stronghold of the analogue world. That is unsustainable. If we persist with such a way of thinking, we will be left behind the international competition. That is not to say that we should just be producing little “nerds”. But we do have to be realistic, and ask what skills we need to be teaching in order to enable young people to live good, fulfilling lives in an interconnected digital society. That demands both education and reflection. School today must deliver both.
(picture credits: Matthias Steffen)

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