WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 02/2018

Hannover Messe
meets CeMAT
NEWS AND MARKETS
The concept of Industry 4.0 was first introduced in
2011 at Hannover Messe, with an aim to create a
smart factory scenario, in order to take
industrialization to the next level. Since then the fair
grounds of Hannover Messe have been the place where
all the technological developments in regards to
Industry 4.0 are premiered first.
Author: Sushen Doshi, International correspondent for World of Industries
Broadly speaking, Industry 4.0 is nothing but the merger of operations
and information technology, in short the bridging of
digital and physical production systems. Although the output of
any manufacturing process is a physical object, manufacturing inevitably
begins with information. Throughout the process, continuous
flow of data, information and actions between the physical and
digital worlds takes place. This flow occurs through a series of steps,
known as the physical-to-digital-to-physical (PDP) loop. To make it
into a reality, Industry 4.0 combines relevant technologies that sum
up it’s physical-to-digital-to-physical flow.
n Physical to Digital: Sensors, augmented reality, machine vision
n Digital to Digital: Cloud, simulation, data analytics, cognitive and
artificial intelligence
n Digital to Physical: advanced robotics, additive manufacturing
Six years since the talk of Industry 4.0 began, the question is how
far are we today? In other words: what are the desired and achieved
technological maturity levels, and what are their benefits? In the
last few years, the developments have been quite rapid and these
technologies are now beginning to show initial signs of maturity.
Today, companies are focusing on the lower hanging fruits of Industry
4.0 like enhancing productivity, automation and the optimization
of operational processes and predictive maintenance. In
the next stages, Industry 4.0 offers the more mature goals like increased
flexibility, occupational safety, better utilization of energy
16 WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 2/2018