The HARTING Technology Group is a leading global supplier of industrial connectivity technology for the three lifelines "Data", "Signal" and "Power" with fourteen production sites and subsidiaries in 44 countries. One of the incentives for HARTING to join SEF Smart Electronic Factory was that the association tests future technologies in concrete use cases and evaluates their benefits. HARTING will develop and test demand-driven new smart concepts for the connectivity of highly flexible production facilities.

"The SEF Smart Electronic Factory supports manufacturing companies in the digital transformation with field-tested solutions. HARTING covers the important aspect of connectivity in production. In the future, we will bundle these competencies and develop new solutions for the market together with the other members. This also gives us the advantage of immediately testing the developments in real factory environments, which serve as evaluation platforms for the association," explains Andreas Huhmann, Strategy Consultant at HARTING Stiftung & Co. KG.

In a first joint project, the potencials of using the SmeC (Smart electronic Connector) will be evaluated. The SmeC is a connector that features state-dependent automatic locking as well as other smart functions. In the specific project, key functions of the SmeC that have a particularly high benefit for the user are to be determined. This will enrich international standardization with relevant user requirements. This increases safety and simplicity in the operation of Industrie 4.0 production plants.