Industrie 4.0
The Connected Industry is here. Entire operating flows are being transformed. Flexibility and individualized production and logistics are prerequisites for remaining competitive.
Intelligent, efficient, Industrie 4.0
Industry 4.0 offers endless opportunities for manufacturing companies. Small businesses in particular have new challenges to overcome. The road to the smart factory is not lined with intelligent machines alone.
Manufacturing facilities that share information with work pieces and call a technician for help if needed? This vision becomes reality with Industry 4.0. Machine production is networked into a self-learning system using cutting-edge communication technology – resulting in a smart factory. The foundation for this modern industrial revolution is the Internet of Things (IoT), which enables continuous data exchange between all participating units – from the production robot to inventory management to the microchip. This connects all production and logistics processes together, making our industry more intelligent, efficient and sustainable.
Small steps to the smart factory
To move closer to this vision, more and more companies are integrating smart machines into their production process. Trumpf , one of the world's largest providers of machine tools, uses laser cutting machines with intelligent lenses, for example. If a lens become dirty, it automatically sends an alert to the maintenance team. This saves the company unnecessary servicing and cleaning costs.
Software manufacturer SAP has gone a step further in digitization: In the Open Integrated Factory, an autonomous process chain, work pieces inform the various manufacturing systems about how they should be processed. The machine can register the work piece's information, manufacture different versions of a given product and even learn new production processes while doing so.
Security gaps
Smart machines are not uncommon even in small businesses these days.. To counter the risks of cyber attacks, research institutes such as the Fraunhofer Institute are working on new approaches to industry security. Complex attack scenarios are modeled in virtual test laboratories, in order to optimize existing security systems and develop targeted prevention strategies.
Smart training
In the display categories Digital Ecosystems and Automation, Motion & Drives at HANNOVER MESSE showcase in presentations, demos and conferences how closely the virtual and real worlds will interconnect in the future.
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VDI Nachrichten - Core competency Technology
VDI nachrichten distinguishes itself from the competition with articles based on in-house research and exclusive weekly topics and demonstrates journalistic excellence in the age of industrial transformation and digitisation. The newspaper’s primary focus is the manufacturing and processing industry segments. Other key topics include technologies from production engineering, networked production, automation technology, product and process design, automotive and traffic engineering and the energy industries.
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