Industry 4.0 / IIoT

HARTING has developed a number of targeted connectivity solutions for the IIoT world of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The fourth Industrial Revolution is witnessing the ever-advancing convergence of the physical with the digital world. The drive to generate added value from data acquired from machines has seen a rapid rise in the number of sensors and actuators.

Signal transmission solutions provider, Belden, has expanded its Lumberg Automation LioN-Power IO-Link System to help industrial manufacturers address fast-growing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity needs through simplified device automation. New updates to the LioN-Power family offer maximum versatility and cost-effectiveness.

As we embark on the journey to Industry 4.0, it is becoming apparent that industry’s reluctance to move beyond 100Mbit Ethernet technology is a very real limiting factor. Here, CLPA-Europe General Manager John Browett argues that the transition to gigabit Ethernet networking technologies has to start now.

The factory of the future, taking into account Industry 4.0, is loaded with sensors and devices that record real-time processes and statuses across the factory floor. A fast, efficient and reliable industrial network is key to successfully sharing and utilising the data being generated. The network architecture should be designed as an interconnected platform, able to link all the nodes together and provide upstream and localised communication.

Working closely with industrial companies, Rittal’s teams create IT infrastructures for use with Industry 4.0 technology, including edge computing platforms. Here, the company has put together tips to help companies implement fast-deploying and secure IT for production environments.  By Paresh Kansara, Rittal’s Product Manager for Industrial and Outdoor Enclosures

Finnish company specialising in the manufacture and service of cranes and lifting equipment, Konecranes, has announced that it has implemented Siemens’ digital innovation platform to accelerate its product development process and connect product and performance data together.

Industry 4.0 is not only revolutionising the way manufacturers operate. It is also transforming how Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems work and what we can expect from them. As a plant and process management tool SCADA has become the industry standard and its market is skyrocketing. 

Recent developments are opening new opportunities and catapulting the industrial robot arm into a journey around the production environment. Robots undoubtably take the drudgery out of many repetitive manufacturing, packaging and processing tasks. Engineers are generally fascinated by the idea of improving production processes and keen to integrate robots, so the decision as to whether one is used or not boils down to economics; operators want to see a good case made for the return on investment before giving the green light.

Industrial markets are reactive, manual in operational transformation approaches. Digital transformation is poised to help organisations pre-empt scenarios, become more predictive and adaptive. At the same time, the transformation journey is unclear, complex and lacks clear ROI benefits. On the benefits side, organisations could become negative latency enterprises, which means customers will predict issues that will happen and prevent them from happening in the first place.

The growth of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and cloud have given a huge boost to the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in Manufacturing 4.0. The interconnectedness of devices has resulted in massive volumes of RFID data that needs to be managed and analysed, prompting RFID manufacturers to develop high-memory tags that can hold more information, software platforms with a business intelligence layer, as well as cloud-based solutions.