It is all part of the broad Industry 4.0 initiative that emerged in Germany but which is now both a global phrase and activity. Still a message more transmitted than received, some of its promoters are leading by example.
At the IMTS trade show in Chicago in September, global machine tool maker Yamazaki Mazak was pointing to its iSmart technology, something that it is actually rolling out through its own factories. Mazak iSmart Factory offers an industrial internet platform solution for manufacturing, including hardware and software machine monitoring solutions that connect directly to production equipment. It makes use of US-side initiative MTConnect, an open-source, royalty-free manufacturing protocol that connects devices and systems from different suppliers to capture and share information in a common format. MTConnect is not much talked about this side of the pond, however.
Another machine tool giant, DMG Mori, highlighted at both shows how it is kitting out some of its machines with sensors – 60 of them, as it happens. ‘From Big Data to Smart Data’ is the tag line. Its Sensor Pack i4.0 is available on certain CTX beta and gamma TC turning machines and also supplied on some monoBLOCK and duoBLOCK machining centres. A machine equipped with such sensors has been running in German bearing expert Schaeffler’s factory for some time, too.
Cutting tool giant Sandvik Coromant was talking apps, cloud and big data at both shows. It was promoting use of Bluetooth-connected tools and mobile apps, as well as tool- and machine-generated data collection followed by cloud-based analysis.
It is using this in two of its manufacturing plants, one in the US and one in Sweden, supporting plant and operation comparison, allowing anomalies to be tackled.
Finally, Siemens introduced machine-tool-to-cloud link ‘Fleet Manager for Machine Tools’, a new app for its MindSphere platform. The latter is ‘Siemens Cloud for Industry’, which interlinks physical products and production facilities with digital data. The new app interfaces Sinumerik 840D sl controls to MindSphere, which is a platform on which the company bundles a range of services for manufacturing companies treading the Industry 4.0 route. Siemens has its own Industry 4.0 demonstrator plant, at Amberg, Germany, too.
Clearly, an increasing number of technology suppliers talking about and promoting Industry 4.0 technology are also ‘walking the walk’.
This article was first published in the October 2016 issue of Machinery magazine.