Flexible
production with "plug & produce"
Industry is currently
undergoing a fundamental change: we are seeing the integration of all
components of the value chain into the corporate network. The radical changes associated with this sea change do not
just affect companies in the IT sector, even if the development of intelligent
factories is often seen primarily in terms of IT. Even manufacturers of cables
and connectors can make a considerable contribution to this new era with
intelligent solutions, thereby supporting industry and increasing efficiency
and flexibility.
Machines, plants and devices
are made "intelligent" by connecting them to one another using the
"Internet of Things". The resulting
cyber-physical systems form the basis of the intelligent factory of the future - its vision: to generate
maximum flexibility and efficient production with batch
size 1. Cyber-physical systems are functional units with embedded hardware,
software and mechanics. The fact that they are capable of communicating with
one another is opening up new horizons for plant and machinery manufacturers,
who can break plants down into individual modules that only have to be
programmed and tested once. Depending on the customer's requirements, a
mechanical engineer can then assemble the standardized modules in a flexible and
personalized way and feed in the data that is required for production - plug
& produce.
This leads to fundamental
changes in the cabling of an industrial plant. A network cable no longer ends
in the control cabinet; instead, it is run directly to the motor of a machine,
for example. For the manufacturers of connection technology, this means that
the cables with inserts that have previously been used primarily in office
environments now need to be suitable for industrial applications. The cables
must be able to withstand high mechanical stress, extreme temperatures,
vibrations and contamination. In this kind of environment, they may also be
exposed to aggressive media. Ethernet cables used in industrial applications
must also be shielded against much stronger EMC interference, such as that
found in the vicinity of motors or live cables that are generating an
electromagnetic field.
"We
are certain that the "fourth industrial revolution", by
which we mean the increasing networking within production facilities and the
associated transition to a more flexible type of production, as well as the
increasing customization of product variants, will be the defining development
in German industry over the next few years", says Siegbert Lapp, Member of
the Board at Lapp Holding AG. Because of this conviction and its aspiration to
help fashion the industrial production methods of the future, the Lapp Group is
taking part in a number of research projects on the topic. Together with
project partners, Lapp is researching "production work 4.0" under the
leadership of the Fraunhofer IAO. The research mainly focuses on the following
questions: how could the work environment look in a factory of the future, what
kind of tasks will factory workers undertake and how can they be supported in
fulfilling their tasks? "This is important for understanding the entire production
system, that is the plants and operators. We want to use our findings to
develop solutions that are even more suitable for the factory of the
future," explains Siegbert Lapp.
In
addition to this, Lapp is involved in the SmartFactoryKL e.V.
technology initiative run by the German Research Center for Artificial
Intelligence (DFKI). The SmartFactoryKL is a demonstration factory
inside a laboratory, where researchers from the DFKI can use technologies for
the intelligent factory of tomorrow in a production environment as close as
possible to the real world. The DFKI and the companies involved hope that the
resulting findings will help to realize the vision of the new industrial era,
with totally flexible factories manufacturing heavily customizable products.
The solutions developed in this context aim to support companies in achieving
resource efficient and ergonomic production, with dynamic integration of their
customers and business partners into the value chain.
Lapp
is taking the lead on the quality inspection module for the research and
demonstration platform, which will involve testing innovative cabling and
connection solutions for data network cables. Quality inspection includes the
use of a high-resolution camera, which raises a particular challenge in itself
as it must be able to transfer data consistently and reliably at the highest
data rate in the demanding conditions of a production environment. In this
case, the highly flexible ETHERLINE ® FD Cat.6A cable,
together with the field-configurable X-coded M12 data connector, ensures this
function. Data rates of up to 10 Gbit/s are possible for high-resolution
cameras in moving applications. Industrial Ethernet assemblies comprising
robust, resilient cables with M12 connectors, also ensure a reliable connection
in areas where contamination and damp must be taken into account. This
extensive networking paves the way for new possibilities in maintenance and
storage, as well as in production. With this in mind, Lapp is planning on
attaching RFID chips to its cables, among other innovations. If a replacement
were required, a service technician would be able to scan the exact data
directly from the cable and then immediately initiate an order for the required
part from the e-shop.
The "fourth industrial
revolution" has many challenges in store for machinery and plant
construction firms, hardware and software suppliers and, last but not least,
manufacturers of connection technology. To achieve the flexible and customized
vision of production that lies at the heart of the futuristic intelligent
factory concept, companies are going to need innovative solutions that allow
the vertical and horizontal integration of their value creation processes.
Developments that facilitate the processing of large data volumes and
communication between the various components are spurring this revolution on.
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