PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2019

JUBILEE PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 06/19 www.petpla.net 24 Digitalisation – Industry 4.0 Industry 4.0 describes a concept frequently associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), additive manufacturing, digitalisation and integration of data and workflows, remote moni- toring, multi-disciplinary engineering, and automation of controls through machine learn- ing and predictive analytics. Industry 4.0 supports what has been called a “smart factory”. Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical pro- cesses, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralised decisions. What is next to digitalisation and Industry 4.0? Five questions for Dr-Ing. Matthias Schopp, head of Engineering Systems at KHS in Bad Kreuznach, Germany What’s your position on digitisation as one of the people responsible for research and development at KHS? In its implementation digitisation is more of an evolution than a revolu- tion. Much of this has been going on for years: new functions in individual assemblies are successively chang- ing lines and machines; components are becoming more intelligent and expanding the possibilities of super- ordinate control systems; network- ing is creating added value, such as in process monitoring or machine diagnosis. We’re integrating these and many other aspects to form a turnkey system. In doing so we ask ourselves two questions: what’s the relevant added value for our customers? And what’s the relevant business model for us? In which direction do you think Industry 4.0 will develop? Industry 4.0 will create greater transparency in processes and in doing so make the operation of a line much more efficient. We can already see some of its manifestations: the evalu- ation of sensor data collected along a line, for example, allows local and superordinate functions to be improved. Other characteristics will ensue – such as for self-optimising lines. How will this work in practice? In the DnSPro* research project we measure the foaming on filling machines with the help of cameras. The idea behind this is that in the future the machine can optimise itself to suit a new product as the auto- mated variation of the filling para- meters replaces the manual adjust- ment process. Applications like these won’t be available in the near future, however. Don’t developments like these make machine operators redundant? No. Our aim must be to make human operation of the increasingly complex technology demanded by the market easier. With the help of artificial intelligence we want to make self-learning and self-optimising sys- tems feasible which with their great flexibility can be managed by humans and thus enable highly efficient, cost- effective operation. This isn’t just our vision but that of the entire industry, also of our partners. www.khs.com * DnSPro = sensor-based subsystems with decentralised cooperation for Industry 4.0 production systems, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). How must KHS develop to also be successful on the market of the future? As part of the mission statement process managed by our parent com- pany Salzgitter we’ve made customer orientation the value of the year. We’ve received constructive feedback from many of our customers all over the world. On this basis we at KHS will focus on effecting even better cooperation across our divisions and departments in the future. In doing so we’ll make a further move towards the customer – and not just from a sales point of view. After all, every single action counts within a company – regardless of in which department.