Industry 4.0: the next industrial revolution? Intelligent factories that link up every part of the production chain with next-generation wireless automation could mark a sea change in manufacturing. The first Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century when the power of the steam engine was harnessed and manufacturing first became mechanised. The second revolution came about when mass production techniques were deployed in the early 20th century. And the third (the one we’re in now) came over the next few decades as electronic systems and computer technologies helped to further automate production lines. So what’s next? According to some industry experts from Siemens and Bosch, a new period of manufacturing technology dubbed ‘Industry 4.0’ will be upon us within the next couple of decades. At its core are cyber-physical systems made up of software, sensors, processors and communication technologies, according to Brian Holliday, divisional director of Siemens Industry Automation. “These are systems that have both a computational element and a physical interaction with the real world,” he says. “What it essentially means is there will be increasing levels of intelligence in devices that are used in industrial environments like factories. We’re moving on to being able to communicate wirelessly with a broader range of devices in an industrial environment. That means, for example, not just the internet of things, as we would understand it in the consumer environment, but intelligent industrial devices communicating with each other in a way that is dramatically beyond what is available today.” Up until now there hasn’t been a way of linking the isolated elements of production chains, according to Dr Werner Struth, who sits on Bosch’s management board and oversees production system development, among other things. “Data network technology such as RFID1 chips – mini transponders – will offer the opportunity to gather more data and to map entire production units, stretching all the way from the supplier to the customer,” he says. In other words, each product has its own digital information embedded into it that it can share with machines via radio signals as it moves along the production line. Bosch has already started testing the feasibility of RFID technology in production lines at its Homburg plant in Germany, where the company manufactures diesel injectors. Customised parts can be made more easily when each product has its own RFID tag, a situation that could lead to customised mass production. This idea ties in with the opportunities that 3D printing is creating for more customisable manufacturing. But while some have said that additive manufacturing itself represents a new industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 is a more allencompassing concept. “If you’ve got an intelligent factory that has removed the data discontinuities between what the ERP2 system has clearly identified as customer orders right through to production scheduling and the materials needed, then the ability to produce customised goods on a mass scale is improved,” says Holliday. Even though the term ‘Industry 4.0’ was first coined by a group of scientists and business/ industry executives that advises the German government on how to develop its technology strategy, Germany isn’t the only country looking towards the next generation of manufacturing processes. For example, a UK science minister selected robotics and autonomous systems as one of the “eight great technologies” that the government believed the UK would excel in and that deserved particular support. He awarded the research field £15m in a bid to increase the strength and productivity of research. And a similar agenda is being pursued by the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) in the USA. 1 RFID: radio-frequency identification 2 ERP: enterprise resource planning 82 Language skills Extras Explore 6 Production and industry Read the article below and answer these questions in note form. 1 What is the main idea behind Industry 4.0? 2 In what way does Industry 4.0 go beyond the ‘internet of things’? 3 What advanced technologies are at the core of Industry 4.0? 4 How will production change in the light of Industry 4.0? Reading 14 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODE3MDE=