Page 40 - Packaging New magazine Jan-Feb 2023

Industry 4.0
and Australia: How are we tracking?
In this PKN exclusive round-table discussion with Open IIoT, Australia’s leading cohort of Industry 4.0 and automation experts, we find out where things are at.
INDUSTRY 4.0 & IIOT
IT’S IRONIC THAT the Covid-19 pandemic, a health crisis that wreaked havoc around the globe, can be considered
as having a positive impact by being the catalyst for widespread Industry 4.0 adoption in Australia.
In the face of lockdowns and work- from-home orders, a number of manufacturers realised that imple- menting Industry 4.0 technologies into their factory floor allowed them to have remote access to their machinery data and to be able to operate production remotely: including making changes and doing maintenance.
With remote access to data, manufac- turers could now predict outputs, make changes as required in their production and pivot as needed – all at the touch of a button, even when they couldn’t physically be on the factory floor. All of a sudden, Industry 4.0 knowledge and technologies became very valuable to many companies, with Statista report- ing that over 40 per cent of Australian manufacturers intend to invest in the emerging technology area relating to intelligent automation and robotic pro- cess automation over the next two to three years.
The Open IIoT Group, an initiative of some of Australia’s most prominent automation brands, founded with the mission of making these complex con- cepts more accessible, has observed a remarkable uptick in Industry 4.0 adop- tion in the last three years.
They share their insights on the state of the industry below.
What has been the feedback from Australian customers who have adopted Industry 4.0 technologies?
Max Jarmatz, man- aging director at Nord Drivesystems, says, “The ANZ market has been one of the most innovative mar- kets for our company
with local customers across a range of industries embracing smart solutions such as sensorless oil change moni- toring, real-time energy consumption feedback, and smart Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). The feed- back that we get from our customers is that smart plug-and-play solutions enable them to install projects faster and with less manpower. Due to mod- ern ethernet-based connectivity, Australian customers can program and service their machines remotely, which is a huge advantage.”
40 ❙ JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2023
WWW.PACKAGINGNEWS.COM.AU