Industry 4.0 / IIoT

Increased electromagnetic interference, or EMI, can adversely affect system efficiency and increase down-time by interfering with analogue control signals and industrial communications between devices and systems.  By Dave Armitage, Schaffner USA

The Columbus Manufacturing 2020 report highlighted rising adoption levels of advanced technologies such as IoT and analytics among manufacturers, as physical and digital operations begin to overlap. Some in the industry still struggle to develop an effective digital strategy – but it is clear they must make the jump to stay competitive. Stephen Fox, Business Development Manager at Columbus UK explains why digital is no longer a choice in manufacturing, drawing on the experiences and insights from digital leaders at top UK manufacturing organisations.

Softing Industrial Data Networks will show smart gateways for multi-protocol process control and a mobile plug and play solution for configuration and maintenance of field devices at the trade show SPS smart production solutions from 26-28th November, 2019, in Nuremberg. With smart gateways and mobile enterprise solutions, Softing Industrial Data Networks presents itself at the SPS 2019 trade show as a partner for the process industry on its way to digitalisation.

  Preventing unscheduled down-time is one of the most effective cost reduction measures in any production environment. Mitsubishi Electric offers practical solutions for both machine tools and robots. 

Faster time to market and increased production flexibility can be achieved using Mitsubishi Electric’s M8 Series CNC controllers with Direct Robot Control (DRC) functionality. Both the large touchscreen M800 and the M80 models offer DRC as standard. It allows machine tool operators to program and use robots quickly, direct from the CNC panel without specialist robot programming expertise.

The highly differentiated power management, analogue and sensor solutions from ON Semiconductor can make it faster and easier to turn opportunities into unbeatable products. Plus, Farnell has helped designers like you discover new ways to deliver across tens of thousands of design projects, especially as a long-standing design partner of ON Semiconductor.

Drawing on a decades-long heritage of expertise in analogue, mixed-signal and digital semiconductor technology, Analog Devices (ADI) will launch an industry-first portfolio of Industrial Ethernet solutions at SPS 2019 to address communication challenges within Industry 4.0, Smart Factories, and the digital transformation.

The Italian manufacturer TOI (Things on Internet) has developed 4ZeroBox as the hardware component of its 4ZeroPlatform, a plug-and-play data gathering, processing and reporting system designed to optimise Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing and factory-maintenance processes.

Siemens has extended its Industrial Edge offerings for the machine-oriented Sinumerik Edge to include more new applications. With the new software, the company is helping machine tool users to improve workpiece and process quality, increase machine availability, and further optimise machine processes. With Edge Computing, large volumes of data can be processed locally on the machine tool. 

Mitsubishi Electric has extended its MELFA articulated arm and SCARA robot offering to include a range of delta robots. These combine Mitsubishi Electric’s award-winning servo technology with the latest mechanicals from e-F@ctory Alliance partner Codian Robotics. This combination enables the user to achieve reliable performance in higher speed pick and place operations, with the advantage of simple set-up and programming from one the markets main automation brands.