The first Industrial Revolution in the 1700s was the mechanization of production using water and steam power. The second introduced mass production with the help of electric power. The third industrial revolution is also called the digital revolution, and it’s where industrial companies around the globe are today: using electronics and information technology (IT) to further automate production.
The digital revolution and the invention of the transistor make it possible to automate production processes with a high level of control. Industry 4.0 promotes more extensive computerization based on new technologies including cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things. Intelligence and an ability to communicate are being distributed down to individual machines and components. The goal is the creation of the “Smart Factory,” which uses technology to deliver greater adaptability, resource efficiency and ergonomics, as well as better information exchange among customers and business partners.
Writer Greg Farnum delves into how smart programmable devices like safety cameras can turn safety systems into “a dynamic partner in packaging machine productivity.” Krones, the German bottling line behemoth, has embraced Industry 4.0 to reduce its machines’ energy usage, material usage and material waste while improving its customers’ productivity. When it comes to safety, Farnum reports on how Krones revised its safety engineering model down to the safety position switches, which are now intelligent and communicating over the AS-Interface Safety at Work (ASIsafet) network.
Krones also has standardized on control systems from Austrian automation vendor B&R, maker of the Ethernet Powerlink motion-control network and openSafety safety network—both of which are now open standards managed by the Ethernet Powerlink Standardization Group (EPSG). Stefan Schönegger, EPSG managing director, had this to say about the importance of networks and dynamic safety to the future of manufacturing: “The volumes of data that need to be transferred are growing rapidly, as are the number of motion axes to be synchronized. These tasks demand high-speed data communication down to the level of individual sensors and actuators—with no compromise in hard real-time capability across expansive networks.”
Schönegger admits that occupational safety has yet to receive the attentionit deserves in the context of Industry 4.0. ”Safety measures that limit the flexibility of production processes or hinder them from achieving their full potential are clearly counterproductive. Confining individual machines to safety cages is not the way to go," Schönegger says. “If our goal is to have machines and production cells adapt their configurations based on individual workpieces, we need the freedom to add or reorganize machine modules dynamically.”
Fieldbus-integrated safety control systems are an essential component of a modular machine design, says Schönegger. “The real revolution of Industry 4.0 will be fueled by openness," he adds. “With openSAFETY, a production line—including all of its dynamically configurable modular units—can be managed as a single safety unit. Operators benefit from unbridled performance without the restrictions of protective barriers.”
Regardless of the type of network employed, it’s clear that with so much local intelligence and increasing demands for industrial communications, Industry 4.0 might also be called the networking revolution, or the age of the industrial Internet. Network specialists of all stripes are likely to be at the forefront of the revolution.
