Industry 4.0 / IIoT

ASIC design service and IP provider, Faraday Technology, has announced that it has won and delivered several factory automation related ASIC projects, supporting real-time Ethernet, EtherCAT, Profibus, and PLC controllers. In each case, Faraday employs its value-added ASIC and IP customisation service for power-performance optimisation and product lifecycle management to meet factory automation needs within Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) scenarios. 

A broad range of solutions within its advanced Industry 4.0 roadmap has been announced by Analog Devices (ADI), aimed at helping industrial equipment OEMs accelerate their path to Industry 4.0. These new solutions hope to deliver next-generation flexibility, connectivity, and efficiency for today’s existing factory infrastructure.

The food industry is buzzing with digitalisation in every sense, from the farm to the front page of the online store. With this in mind, u-blox invited Haiao Ding, Associate Chief Editor of the Digital Business Times, to talk with Perry Zhang, Principal, Strategic Partnerships at u-blox, about the impact of digitisation on the food supply chain.

Supplier of standardised and customised embedded computer boards and modules, congatec, demonstarted the power of hard real-time communication over Gigabit-Ethernet at electronica 2018. This demonstration showed that real-time data, the base for most Industry 4.0 installations, can still be transmitted in time even when utilising a heavily loaded Ethernet connection.

Sulzer’s BLUE BOX IoT Advanced Analytics has won the Gold Certificate Industry 4.0 at the Swiss Digital Economy Awards in the category Highest Digital Quality. BLUE BOX uses existing pump data to cut costs in pump operation and maintenance considerably. The Swiss Digital Economy Awards are presented by the industry association SwissICT, the Association of Swiss Internet Companies Simsa and the specialist publisher Netzmedien. 

Rebounding from a two-year slump, the non-destructive test (NDT) inspection services market is undergoing an overall transformation. The convergence of various technologies such as Big Data, predictive analytics, digital twin, cloud computing, and smart factories is enhancing growth opportunities in the market, giving rise to several new business models.

An e-book centred on industrial automation as part of All Things IoT has been published by Mouser Electronics as the latest edition in its Empowering Innovation Together program. In the second e-book in the series, Mouser experts examine the technologies, possibilities and challenges related to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Although often perceived as a threat to traditional industries, automation can actually empower artisans to have greater control over skilled manufacturing processes and enable improved product quality. When Denby Pottery, a premier producer of handcrafted tableware, looked at refurbishing its process control systems it turned to Mitsubishi Electric’s distributor BPX to provide a reliable and well-connected solution to efficiently monitor, control and improve their clay production line. 

High penetration of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology in critical infrastructure and the manufacturing sector has resulted in a growing number of potential cyber-attack surfaces. According to a recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan, cyber-attacks within the energy and utilities industries alone cost an average of $13.2m per year.

As digitalisation, Big Data and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) take their course, the classical linear manufacturing model is changing: complex, integrated networks are developing that aim to achieve higher productivity with lower resource consumption. Machines, devices and applications must become smarter accordingly. When it comes to investment decisions, cooperation with an experienced solution partner can bring considerable advantages. At the SPS IPC Drives exhibition in Nuremberg, Mitsubishi Electric is presenting solutions, concepts and collaborations to support companies in the integration of smart manufacturing projects.