FEATURE Automation Technologies
Technology as an enabler for Industry 5.0
Cyril Perducat, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Rockwell Automation, explores the technologies industry will embrace on the path to Industry 5.0
T
he pace of change over the last few decades is only set to accelerate in the coming years, which includes industrial
automation, too. Various technology trends have propelled enterprises into Industry 4.0 so fast that Frost & Sullivan has already delivered an Industry 5.0 blueprint to guide the journey. Edge and cloud integration, converged development environments, artifi cial intelligence (AI) and autonomous production have shifted today from emerging technologies to critical solutions.
The phrase Industry 4.0 was fi rst coined in 2011, and there was a lot of learning over the past 10 years of what it could deliver. The Covid pandemic has accelerated many of its dimensions toward Industry 5.0. Remote connectivity, advanced engineering with multiple digital twins, mixing physical and digital assets and the change of human-machine interaction are all driving industry to Industry 5.0.
Industry 4.0 vs 5.0
Some question whether it’s too soon to look at Industry 5.0 when all the promises of Industry 4.0 has not yet been delivered. However, there are fi ve changes that are attainable and impactful in Frost & Sullivan’s comparison of Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0:
• Delivery of customer experience; • Hyper customisation; • Responsive and distributed supply chain;
• Experience-activated (interactive) products; and • Return of manpower to factories. 26 April 2022 | Automation
Human resources are scarce and industry is able to bring more capabilities to them. Also, by delivering systems that make the human-machine interaction more effi cient, it can be made more impactful whilst remaining safe.
Leveraging technology It will be crucial for manufacturers to leverage technology if they are to advance to Industry 5.0. During the Automation Fair 2021 in Houston, US, Rockwell Automation outlined four crucial areas where technology can be leveraged: • The evolution of cloud, edge and software;
• Universal control and converged integrated development environments (IDEs);
• AI native operation management, including software as a service (SaaS) and digital services; and
• Autonomous systems and augmented workforce.
To enable control at the enterprise level, systems with software-defined architecture and the underlying hardware will be needed. This does not mean that existing hardware is becoming obsolete, or that every part needs to be smart, but it makes the entire system – from the device to the edge and the cloud – fundamental. In the converged environment, control, safety and motion all come together and must work in an integrated way. This is especially true with the growth of robotics, where the boundaries between control and robotics are becoming more blurred. Here, safety is fundamental since this is a more complex architecture, and won’t work if it’s not safe.
AI at the core
Operations management becomes more effi cient when AI is native to the architecture and is at the level of the enterprise. We can think of AI in terms of process modelling, which can help simplify systems by translating system output into valuable data insights. FactoryTalk Analytics LogixAI is a modelling engine that enables closed- loop optimisation through four steps: observe (sensor), infer (model), decide (controller) and act (actuator). Finally, by transforming from automated systems to autonomous systems, it enables better decisions to expand human possibility. AI can be used to generate blocks of code, like individuals working together peer-to- peer, but one of them is AI, augmenting human possibility.
This could deliver further value to customers. The autonomous system is reimagining the fundamental principles of autonomous control systems, so there’s no need to rip and replace – existing systems can be augmented with new technology. However, it cannot just be technology innovation, as it has to be accessible and understood by users to succeed. We have to innovate on the user experience point of view, bringing it to all products, experiences and models. In a digital native world, innovation extends beyond technology and features.
CONTACT:
Rockwell Automation
www.rockwellautomation.com
automationmagazine.co.uk
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