Industry 4.0 / IIoT

At this year’s Smart Industry Expo, HARTING is demonstrating its range of automation solutions for improving the efficiency of manufacturing logistic processes based on the concepts of Integrated Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) and will be on stand S244. HARTING’s approach to smart manufacturing is based on the addition of intelligence to manufacturing processes with the aim of achieving a high level of connectivity, visibility, awareness, and adaptability at all stages in the supply chain. 

The digital integration of industry, energy and logistics is gathering pace, with traditional boundaries between industries breaking down, productivity rising and new business models popping up like mushrooms. In April 2018, HANNOVER MESSE and CeMAT will lend their combined weight to this trend and take Industry 4.0 to the next level. Together they will open a window on a future in which digitised production, integrated energy systems and intelligent logistics solutions will radically change the way we live, work and do business.

  At this year’s Anuga FoodTec event (Cologne, 20th to 23rd March) Rockwell Automation will showcase smart products and solutions that deliver greater connectivity, agility, flexibility and efficiency - the primary drivers behind smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

  While technology such as AI, robotics and the IoT are significant in their own right, it is the combination of these technologies that will really impact Industry 4.0. However, to successfully converge these technologies, you need to invest in software. In this article, Stefan Reuther, Chief Sales Officer at COPA-DATA, explains why servitisation will improve the onboarding process of new software.

Adopting aspects of the fourth industrial revolution, the interconnection and digitisation of products, business models and value chains, otherwise known as Industry 4.0, is something that almost every industrial process is capable of, and as more manufacturers and businesses adopt the principles and more common protocols are implemented, the benefits become more accessible.

ABB will showcase its configurable building control sensor at this year’s Light + Building trade fair in Frankfurt from 18th-23rd March. The new ABB-tacteo KNX sensor is an individually configurable control element for intelligent building control of luxury hotels, public buildings and high class residential buildings.

On 7th and 8th March 2018 at the WWK Arena in Augsburg, Germany, the CADENAS 19th Industry Forum will take place. Engineers, purchasers and marketing specialists can find out about trends and innovations in the area of Strategic Parts Management, Electronic Product Catalogues as well as BIM. Top-class speakers of renowned companies will give numerous lectures to the professional visitors on how costs can be sustainably reduced in engineering with the Strategic Parts Management PARTsolutions.

Industry 4.0 and The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), presents huge opportunities for British manufacturing over the next decade, and the inaugural Smart Industry Expo 2018, taking place on 10th -12th April 2018, will leave visitors in no doubt that the 'smartening' process of industry and manufacturing is going to change the face of global industry forever.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018, the ‘Readiness for the Future of Production’ report was released and it highlights Britain as one of 25 countries in a positive position to benefit from Industry 4.0. However, much of the media coverage following the release of the report has centred on the threat these technologies pose to jobs. Here, Martyn Williams, Managing Director of automation software provider, COPA-DATA UK, explains why automation could create more jobs than it replaces.

Festo will be showcasing its new developments and solutions for smarter automation, at this year’s Drive’s & Controls Exhibition in the Smart Industry Expo. Festo will be presenting new developments and products in Industry 4.0 technology; as a user within their own production, as the leading provider of training equipment and courses and as an automation product manufacturer.