plant management | Industry 4.0
calls on-site. Leistritz now equips all extruders with a VPN interface for this purpose. According to Leistritz, another important element of
Industry 4.0 is sensors that can be built into the compounding plant. With this feature the quality of the melt processed in the extruder can be monitored. Deviations are reported to the control unit which can adjust the values according to the specifications. This also applies to condition monitoring, where Leistritz says that it is currently working on introducing a vibration monitor for motors and gears. This will then be combined with an oil level monitor. The company says another example is the use of RFID chips that can both identify the screws or screw shafts being applied (compact or segmented) and activate the full power of the drive unit. The extruder control transmits the required parameters to the frequency converter and the pneumatic safety coupling between the drive and gearbox.
Ancillary moves It is not only compounding extruder makers that are focused on Industry 4.0 innovation. Italian ancillary equipment firm Piovan has been investing heavily in providing Industry 4.0 connectivity, taking what can be described as a two-stage approach that recognises that plastics processors are unlikely to be able to make an overnight conversion to fully smart production. Piovan Marketing Director Giorgio Santella explained
Below: Piovan’s Winfactory 4.0 is designed to bring Industry 4.0 capabilities to existing processing plant
at K last year that the company has many customers that want to move to smart manufacturing but have a big existing investment in plant. He says Piovan’s solution for such customers is its Winfactory 4.0 production supervision system, which is designed to allow processors with existing equipment to make the move into an Industry 4.0 environment without the need to reinvest. It uses OPC UA interfacing to allow connec- tion between Piovan and third party equipment.
Further ahead, however, Santella sees Industry 4.0
requiring development of true “cyber-physical” equipment that can not only control local processing but has the capability to evaluate and share data. “In the new Industry 4.0 you have to achieve horizontal integration. That means equipment that can share with systems from any supplier – it will have to communicate with injection machines, extruders and equipment from my competitors,” he says. The company showed its first fully Industry 4.0
capable equipment at K2016 - a Digitemp EVO thermo- chiller, Genesys high efficiency PET dryer, and Quantum E blender. Each features integrated OPC-UA interfacing and enhanced on-board process evaluation and auto-adapt capabilities. This comes at a price that is only justifiable in a true Industry 4.0 production system. “To turn any equipment into a cyber-physical system is not easy. We have to rethink it and decide what is the benefit,” Santella explains. “To the user, the capability of communication alone does not add value. The value is that it truly cyber-physical – capable of auto adapting and then communicating. That is not simple.” Germany’s Motan Colortronic sees Industry 4.0 as an
extension of the networking capabilities that already form part of its ControlNet architecture for smart production. Through the implementation of the OPC UA interface, it claims to be among the first peripheral equipment suppliers to offer a fully platform independ- ent “Smart Factory” production system. A key element in such a solution, the company says, is that the material preparation and distribution system and production machines are fully connected and coordinated. Moretto laid out its Moretto 4.0 strategy for “smart
factory” operation early last year, when CEO Renato Moretto described ancillary equipment as the “hidden driving force” in the world of plastics production. The company says that the interconnection of intelligent items of equipment with business management software will enable the acquisition and processing of huge amounts of data. “By processing this data and sharing it with company leadership it is possible to achieve higher levels of efficiency previously not possible with conventional technologies,” the company claims.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.adlittle.com ❙
www.vdma.org ❙
www.euromap.org ❙
www.coperion.com ❙
www.leistritz.com ❙
www.piovan.com ❙
www.motan-colortronic.com ❙
www.moretto.com
44 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2017
www.compoundingworld.com
PHOTO: PIOVAN
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