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SUPPLEMENT FEATURE MACHINE BUILDING CLARITY IN MODULARITY


Industry 4.0 is helping machine designers to rethink their modularisation strategies. That’s because designers are finally getting the tools they need to engineer the mechanical, electronic and software components of a design in a coordinated manner, says Neil Beaumont of Lenze


sufficient flexibility at the software level to meet the requirements of specific machines, applications and users.


F


or machine builders, modularisation provides a host of advantages.


Breaking designs down into standard functional units, and developing modules to fulfil those functions, can dramatically reduce the development and testing work required to produce a new machine. Instead of starting each job from a blank sheet of paper, engineers can apply ready-made solutions to common tasks. The efficient reuse of design approaches and components enabled by modularisation cuts the development cost of new machines and machine variants. It allows new products to be delivered to the market more rapidly, and reduces faults and quality problems, since much of the new machine’s functionality has already been proven. But modularisation brings challenges


too. Designers may have the freedom to pick different module kits, but each standard module has fixed functionality. That inevitably restricts flexibility. It also creates the risk that the final machine actually does more – and costs more – than the application requires. To avoid this trap, companies need a scalable approach, with ‘families’ of modules that fulfil the same function at different sizes or capacity levels. Optimising such solutions is tricky,


however: too many options mean excess cost and management complexity, too few means the right solution is not always available. Modularisation can also make it more difficult for OEMs to differentiate their offerings from competitors’: Machines built from identical or similar module kits tend to look, and work, alike. The requirements of Industry 4.0 bring further challenges to module design. For machines from different manufacturers to work together seamlessly, interfaces must be programmed uniformly and compliant with industry communications technology, but modules need to retain


S1 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018 | INDUSTRY 4.0 & THE IIOT 0


The combination of stronger hardware and software integration and greater flexibility is paving the way for a new era of modularisation


THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY Manufacturers of drives and automation technology can do much to help customers meet their modularisation goals. That support starts at the hardware level, with the availability of complete, scalable product ranges with a focus on standard components. The adoption of standard communication technologies – the nervous system of Industry 4.0 – aids the integration of components within machines and of machines with each other. On the horizontal level, that means the use of standards such as Ethernet or deterministic buses like Ethercat. In the vertical direction, it includes PLCopen and the OMAC PackML standard. The right software offerings are an


increasingly critical part of machine designers’ value proposition for their customers. In a 2014 analysis by market research company Quest TechnoMarketing, 92 percent of the mechanical engineering companies consulted saw software solutions as an important competitive advantage. This is another area where technology providers can make a real difference, providing tools and environments that allow


companies to take a modular approach to software as well as hardware development. The Lenze FAST application software toolbox, for example, provides pre-tested and validated software blocks for common control applications. By enabling the creation of technology modules that can be combined with each other this approach typically eliminates around 80 per cent of the work required to develop machine control software from scratch. While parameterised function blocks


like the Lenze FAST system make it easier to adjust individual modules, engineers also need quick, reliable ways to bring different combinations of modules together, eliminating the time consuming and costly software modifications required to complete different machine designs. This can be achieved using standardised software structures such as the Lenze Application Template or the PackML standard. Existing and therefore proven machine software modules can be brought together quickly to generate a new programme based upon the new machines individual mechatronic components. The resulting program conforms to a standard that all engineers within the company understand. Which in turn allows a shared rather than individual responsibility towards the machine code. The combination of stronger hardware and software integration and greater flexibility is paving the way for a new era of modularisation. The simple functional modules of the past are evolving into sophisticated ‘machine modules’ that can handle more complex tasks such as winding or product sealing. Integrating those modules into a complete solution is becoming quicker, easier and cheaper. That means engineers can focus more of their time, effort and expertise on creating the features that add extra value for their customers, and which differentiate them from their competitors.


Lenze E: sales.uk@lenze.com www.lenze.com T: 01234 753200 /AUTOMATION


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