plant management | Industry 4.0
Skills will have to change: Thorsten Kühmann, VDMA
tion as it means manufacturing industry having to deal with issues that have not in the past been top of the agenda . “One thing that is very important is data security. Data traveling to the cloud or wherever must be secured,” he says. “And the skills of people working on the shop-floor and in management have to change. Attitudes will have to change but let’s be certain, there is no way around Industry 4.0.” A key element of Industry 4.0 is the exchange of data
and information between machines and this is only practical with standardised interfaces. With machines and processes becoming increasingly complex, existing hardware interfaces are now reaching their limits and a major initiative of the VDMA and the European umbrella association Euromap is the development of standard- ised interfaces for Industry 4.0 communication. Euromap is developing new interfaces based on OPC
Unified Architecture (OPC UA). This platform is an independent interoperability standard that ensures the secure and reliable exchange of data in the field of industrial automation across a number of industries. Several projects for injection moulding machines are running at the moment. These include Euromap 77 for the exchange of data between injection moulding machines and central computers or manufacturing execution systems (MES). “Exchanging more data between machines can be
used to increase the efficiency and quality of the products,” says Dr Harald Weber, responsible for Technology and Research at VDMA. “We distinguish between the vertical connection to central computers/ MES and horizontal connections between machines on the shop floor. MES systems can be used to collect process data for quality assurance and quick response in the case of deviations. With increased data exchange between machines, the overall process can be opti- mised. It is also possible that the data collected during the production of a compound is delivered with the compound itself, so that this information can be used in the subsequent processing.
“In order to enable communication between machines from different manufacturers, standardised interfaces are necessary. We have already received requests from several extruder manufacturers to create interfaces based on the existing projects for injection moulding machines. Standardised interfaces are of use for both the machine manufacturers and their custom- ers due to the reduced effort required for connecting the machines. With defined information models, the configuration effort is much less and the standard is more reliable. However, we are still at the very begin- ning of VDMA/Euromap activities regarding extruders.”
Extrusion developments Nevertheless, extruder manufacturers are starting to add Industry 4.0 technologies to their equipment and systems. “Compounding plants are becoming more intelligent and self-learning, interconnected to other systems and facilities,” says Manfred Wiedmann, Head of Business Unit Materials Handling Compounding Plants at Coperion. “Industry 4.0 brings more transparency and flexibility, as well as better predictability, higher plant availability and smart integration into production networks. This all results in higher productivity. New possibilities will continue to grow along with the volume of collected data and enhanced capabilities to analyse and interpret it. This will be through the development of both hard and smart sensor technology, simulation software capabilities and the building of networks.” Wiedmann highlights several examples where Industry
4.0 is already providing new solutions for the compounder. These include: condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, through monitoring of gearboxes and the maintenance tool in the Coperion Production Control Center (CPCC); remote maintenance through the Coperion service box; QR-coding to retrieve online documentation; online service ‘MyCoperion’; and the use of CPCC as an MES for compounding plants with multiple features, such as self-optimisation, traceability, accelera- tion of product changeover and logistic functions.
Right: Coperion offers condition monitoring and predictive maintenance for extruders through its Coperion Production Control Center (CPCC)
40 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2017
www.compoundingworld.com
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PHOTO: VDMA
PHOTO: COPERION
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