Page 8 - Industrial Technology September 2020 issue

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Making digitalisation and

Industry 4.0 a physical reality

HOW CAN INDUSTRY ATTRACT THE INVESTMENT NECESSARY TO MAKE
INDUSTRY 4.0 A REALITY? INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY INVESTIGATES

he global manufacturing industry spends a great assemble products. So, we chose a demonstration
deal of time and effort discussing digitalisation application which contains representative tasks that are
and how it will affect production in the future. easily transferred into other industrial applications.”
THowever, many of the ideas and principles The Productivity Master takes blank USB memory
remain abstract, and it is often difficult to portray the sticks from typical cassettes and prints and places labels
many facets of digitalisation in manufacturing in one on both sides of the stick. It then loads a custom set of
place. data on the stick and distributes the stick to the recipient
“The need to give assurance to procurement teams from its buffer storage location. Many typical machine
and the C-suite that their investment in Industry 4.0 and functions can be seen throughout the process, such as
digitalisation is not just a leap of faith but a sound pick and place, component flipping, rotation functions,
business decision is a practical dilemma for many an rotary table control, vacuum and gripper handling, typical maintenance manager for production managers and
engineer or operations manager,” says Steve Sands, head label printing and placement, magazine indexing, storage system operators. ‘Smartenance’ from Festo provides the
of product management at Festo GB. The company has location logging, vision sensing, orientation checking and maintenance engineers with a clear schedule and
taken steps to address this problem by developing a 5m placement’ and component transfer evaluation for the Productivity Master’s maintenance and
long production line, named ‘The Productivity Master’, With cloud connectivity, the Productivity Master is an offers a fast and easy transition to digital maintenance.
that attempts to bring often abstract ideas into reality (see ideal showcase to demonstrate the advantages of the The system consists of two parts: a mobile
panel). virtual world on a physical machine. The machine maintenance schedule in the form of an app for
The objective of the Productivity Master is not to focus operates a fully automated ‘lot size one’ process, allowing smartphones and tablets on the shop floor, and a web
on any single product from Festo, but to showcase orders for USB memory sticks to be fulfilled online from browser interface for managing and documenting the
Industry 4.0 technology and connectivity capability. So, anywhere in the world, producing a customised QR code maintenance tasks in the office. “Smartenance is quick
not only can the machine demonstrate the seamless for the personalised stick. The user can then redeem their and easy for anyone to install, self-explanatory and a
connectivity needed to meet the needs of the future order from the cloud, via the screen or by scanning their simple and cost-effective introduction to digitalisation,”
factory, it will also reach into the cloud and explore the QR code on a Festo Vision Sensor on an exhibition stand. says Sands.
world of digital twins, multiple communication The USB stick will then be produced immediately, printed The Productivity Master also takes advantage of the
networking, big data and online cloud diagnostics. with the users’ personal message, loaded with Festo Dashboards in the cloud. The CPX automation
Sands says: “While the factory of the future will stretch personalised data and stored, ready to be called off by a platform, pneumatic service units and servo drives are all
the boundaries of connectivity, big data, virtual second scan of the code. connected to the virtual world via the IoT gateway.
commissioning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), what will Like the real Festo factory in Scharnhausen, Germany, Operators can immediately gain access to the most
not change much is the way factories will make or the Productivity Master utilises the latest digital important data generated by the machine: such as
temperature, current and speeds of servos, analogue and
digital signals and errors. Air pressure and air
THE PRODUCTIVITY MASTER IN DETAIL consumption can also be monitored and changes logged,
enabling prediction of potential problems in the future.
The Productivity Master is 5m long and constructed of individual cell control, communicating cyclic data to Data can be accessed anywhere in the world and both live
five individual cells that can be replaced with different Festo servo drives, pneumatic valve terminals and and historical data can be viewed without any
functions. This introduces the challenge of not just sensors via EtherCAT and IO Link. In turn, each cell programming or set up, due to the preconfigured nature of
communication between automation equipment in a communicates along the machine using Ethernet, with the dashboards.
cell, but also the communication between discreet cells. the final connections using OPC-UA directly to the cloud “There is a real need to find ways of making Industry
Each cell utilises a Festo CPX-E motion controller as the via the Festo IoT gateway. 4.0 and digitalisation concepts far more understandable
Motion in modern automation is provided by both and accessible if we are to encourage the levels of
electrical and pneumatic means. The Productivity investment required to equip our factories for the future,”
Master represents this mix with low voltage and extra observes Sands. “Festo’s Productivity Master
low voltage drives, seamlessly working closely with demonstrates how many different technologies that are
traditional valve terminals and the innovative intelligent already available can be combined to achieve major
pneumatic Motion Terminal from Festo, the VTEM. In all improvements in automation, operations and
aspects of automation, the choice of technology is maintenance.”
seamless from both pneumatic and electric grippers to By bringing typical application examples onto the
ball screw and pneumatic mini slide systems. Productivity Master, Festo aims to make it easier for all
those involved in the decision-making process to associate
The Productivity Master is a highlight of the Festo Industry 4.0 and digitalisation to real life and therefore see
virtual fair called ‘Industrial Transformation; Smart. how future digitalisation principles can be applied to
Flexible. Digital’. To see it in action alongside other production lines today.
highlights visit www.festo.com/virtualexhibition MORE INFORMATION: www.festo.co.uk

8 INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • September 2020