manufacturing | Industry 4.0
production machines are fully connected and coordi- nated. The moulding machine, for example, will choose its dryer based on its expected throughput and will communicate the required start time to it, leaving the material distribution system to manage the rest. Moretto laid out its Moretto 4.0 strategy for “smart
Industry 4.0 will blur
boundaries in production: Renato Moretto, Moretto
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,” Moretto claims. Moretto already has an extensive suite of products
that can be integrated into an Industry 4.0 environment, including its One Wire materials transport, X-Max drying, Gravix and Gravimo blending and X Cooler temperature controllers.
Compounding interest Industry 4.0 is not only an issue for injection moulders and a number of extrusion and compounding compa- nies are investigating the potential. Coperion Director of Marketing Bettina König says there is a clear interest in Industry 4.0 emerging from its polymer production customers and some of the larger compounders. “It’s all about Big Data and interpreting the data,” she says, identifying areas such as predictive maintenance and product tracking among the major attractions. The company is already integrating Industry 4.0 OPC UA interfaces into its control system products to allow
So what is Industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0 is frequently referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution mobilised the mechanisation of production using water and steam power; the second introduced mass production with the help of electric power; the third brought in the use of electronics and IT to “digitalise” auto- mated production. The fourth industrial revolution – In-
dustry 4.0 – sees digital manufacturing move from “centralised” to “decentral- ised” production – a transisition made possible by technological advances that reverse conventional production process
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logic. Within an Industry 4.0 environment, industrial production machinery no longer simply “processes” the product but communicates with it and automati- cally adapts to changing demand. For producers of plastic parts,
Industry 4.0 holds the potential to become a game-changer, allowing every processing detail to be attached to a component for immediate recall from anywhere in the world at any time. The challenge, of course, is to turn that vision to reality. Industry 4.0 for Plastics Processors is a new conference from Applied Market
INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2017
Information (AMI) that brings together expert speakers to discuss how Industry 4.0 can be applied to plastics processing, what manufacturers can hope to achieve, how data should be managed, and how production can be secured. The one-day event will take place on 7 March 2017 in Cologne, Germany, and will be an essential event for anyone considering an Industry 4.0 manufacturing strategy. For more information about Industry
4.0 for Plastics Processors, visit the conference website or contact Conference Organiser, Emily Renshaw. Tel: +44 (0)117 314 8111; Email:
er@amiplastics.com
http://www.amiplastics.com/events/event?Code=C791 www.injectionworld.com
customers to specify and develop fully integrated processing and materials handling systems that meet specific networked data needs. Sven Wolf, Managing Director at compounding
extruder maker Leistritz says that the extrusion sector is a little slower in investigating the opportunities of Industry 4.0 than, for example, injection moulders. However, the company has Industry 4.0 compliant equipment in its product line and is seeing good demand for it. “Industry 4.0 for us really started at the K2013 show with our introduction of the iMAXX 27,” he said. The iMAXX 27 has since been supplemented with the introduction at K2016 of the iMAXX 35. Both are said to feature an “intelligent” design that allows integration of additional capabilities such as real time torque measurement, on-line closed loop viscosity control, and colour measurement systems.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.vdma.org ❙
www.engelglobal.com ❙
www.kraussmaffei.com ❙
www.wittmann-group.com ❙
www.arburg.com ❙
www.haitian.com ❙
www.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu ❙
www.dr-boy.de ❙
www.negribossi.com ❙
www.piovan.com ❙
www.sepro-group.com ❙
www.motan-colortronic.com ❙
www.moretto.com ❙
www.coperion.com ❙
www.leistritz.com
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