Powder & Bulk Solids Moving Industry 4.0 from Concept to Implementation and Value Image courtesy of Festo AG & Co. KG By John S. Forrester, Managing Editor, Powder & Bulk Solids November 28, 2016
Much buzz around the concept of Industry 4.0 has been generated among North American engineers and C-Suite executives in manufacturing firms, but few companies are implementing the technology and software on an enterprise-wide level. As industry debates the value of investing in Industry 4.0 systems and anxieties flare over security issues and logistical concerns, many observers posit that the manufacturing world, whether companies like it or not, is on the cusp of a major transition toward mass adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) production solutions. I think the motion toward Industry 4.0 has already started moving and I don t think we can stop it at this point. Not if the market is driving in a certain direction, said Ben Hope, technology driver for advanced manufacturing & industry 4.0 at Festo Canada, in an interview with Powder & Bulk Solids. Hope is delivering a presentation on advancements in technology-aided production, Industry 4.0: The Future of Manufacturing Begins Today, as part of Powder & Bulk Solids Montreal at the Advanced Design & Manufacturing Expo in Montreal, Canada on Thurs., Dec. 1. Festo Corp. is an international manufacturer of process control and factory automation systems company based in Germany. Germany and Japan are considered the furthest along in the digitization and connection of internal operations and forming partnerships throughout horizontal value chains, according to the 2016 Global Industry 4.0 Survey released in April by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). A high speed robotic handling system with CPX/EMCA and virtual communication capabilities. Image courtesy of Festo AG & Co. KC As those two countries take the lead, others are expected to ramp up Industry 4.0-related efforts. The professional services firm estimates that global industrial products companies will invest $907 billion annually from 2016 through 2020, with the spending projected to focus on software and applications, including manufacturing execution systems (MES), sensors and other digital technologies, and devices used for connectivity.
North America Poised for Industry 4.0 Growth While Europe and Asia have taken the lead in Industry 4.0 progress, North America is somewhat slower to accept the idea and technology. In America, investment in disruptive business models incorporating Industry 4.0 technology by manufacturing companies is expected to see high growth in the coming years, according to PwC, in response to on-going digitization of product and service portfolios. Festo s Ben Hope suggests North American companies start with baby steps when first adopting Industry 4.0 digital capabilities. In North America everyone s still stuck on the concept of Industry 4.0 rather than progressing to how to implement it. I m finding at a lot of conferences this year that s what's happening, and it s becoming stale to a lot of people, said Hope. So now rather than to explain to someone the entire Industry 4.0 infrastructure, why don t we just explain to them the parts of it that are relevant to them and their business. Festo looks at the implementation of the technology from a perspective of value. Instead of suggesting that companies completely revamp their operations at once, Festo helps its North American customers identify parts of their operations where incorporating Industry 4.0 technology can bring the most value. I think the motion toward Industry 4.0 has already started moving and I don t think we can stop it at this point. Not if the market is driving in a certain direction According to Hope, three increasingly popular areas of Industry 4.0 implementation are condition monitoring, energy consumption and optimization, and integrating process information with data into MRP systems. Condition monitoring of automation components can provide data that can be used for improvements like predictive maintenance. Energy consumption and optimization technology s popularity will be driven by the rising costs of energy. We re going to be more and more conscious of the energy we re using and how we use it. In a lot of cases we know say how much energy you used over the course of the day, but we don't know how we re using it and where it s all going necessarily, explained Hope. So if you can track that better and understand it, we can schedule our equipment at better times in the day when energy is cheaper. Or we can segregate how we use different machines at different times. And that s money saved. The third popular area of Industry 4.0 implementation involves connecting process information with data from other machines to integrate into MRP systems, according to Hope. Now you can make decisions dynamically, that reflect what s going on right now. So all along your supply chain you can dynamically adjust what is going on on your floor, said Hope. Right now a lot of
that is done with paperwork and the delay could be a few days before it s actually recognized that we might have an issue in our supply chain or we might have an issue with this machine or something like that. Security Concerns Remain a Barrier to Growth Security concerns appear to be a barrier to growth of Industry 4.0 use in North American companies. An April 2016 Morgan Stanley survey on IIoT named cyber security as the number one challenge to adopting the IIoT. If someone can take control of your manufacturing operation they can potentially take your system down and put you out of business. That becomes a big threat. But new security methods are coming up every day and people are finding ways to do things. A lot of IIoT gateway providers are finding ways to tunnel in and provide ways to get data out without having to sacrifice access to the equipment itself. In October, hackers used the vulnerabilities of internet-connected devices to attack a major company that provides internet infrastructure services, taking down some of America s biggest websites for a day. The attack and subsequent headlines sparked fears among some that hackers might be able to infiltrate Industry 4.0-capable manufacturing equipment. Industry 4.0 enabled equipment. Image courtesy of Festo AG & Co. KC
I think it s a short-term problem that we ll overcome. If you look at in the 90s people said you re crazy if you put your credit card number on the internet. Someone s going to steal your credit card number and today 95% of the population probably buys things online. So it s just a matter of finding ways to secure things and looking at your data and finding how relevant your data is for someone to steal, said Hope. Part of the problem, Hope told Powder & Bulk Solids, is that there is traditionally a big gap between the OT [operational technology] and IT [information technology] worlds. Festo s Industry 4.0 expert said that many software solutions are emerging now which attempt to bridge this gulf between departments and approaches. Newer OT Industry 4.0 solutions incorporate security measures that enable IT security protocols to be upheld when transmitting and receiving data. Another barrier to growth is a lack of understanding of the concept of Industry 4.0 among equipment makers; something that technology and software providers are working to change presently. If you go to a lot of automation equipment builders, machine builders, etc., a lot of them don t know how to implement these ideas. It s still very vague. That s another kind of push [now] by the technology providers is to show engineers how they can start implementing this and how they can start preparing for this, Hope said. Regardless of the challenges facing the manufacturing world in implementing Industry 4.0 solutions, Festo s Hope feels that those who do not actively embrace the digital transformation will be left behind in the dust. Right now, we re at a transition and some people are going to move towards it and some are going to move against it. And I think the way the market is pushing the people that fight against it are going to be at risk of losing their business, said Hope. Comments, questions, concerns? Please contact John S. Forrester, managing editor of Powder & Bulk Solids, at john.forrester@ubm.com.