COVER STORY
Accelerating changes in Irish manufacturing
T
he global pandemic has created many challenges for Irish manufacturing but within all the disruption there
is also opportunity. As engineers it is time for us to begin to learn lessons and help society to prepare for the ‘new normal’. Mark McArdle, General Manager of automation specialists Festo, looks at how Industry 4.0 and digitalisation has a key role to play in increasing the resilience and agility of Irish manufacturing. “The global pandemic has changed the
way people work, live and behave – and engineering has a fundamental role to play in helping businesses and society adjust to a post pandemic world” says McArdle. The massive, unpredicted, demand spikes at the outset of the crisis induced panic buying of essentials such as flour, toilet rolls and pasta. These challenged many production and logistical capabilities, particularly those based on rigid pre-planning, and now as the economy recovers there are new logistical and supply chain challenges. Most manufacturing businesses were already
8 June 2021 Irish Manufacturing
aware that Industry 4.0 means that a major change is coming and that they need to be ready to capitalise on it but under current conditions it may need to come even higher up the agenda. However, there is still some confusion about
how to deliver it and how long it will be before we see the benefits. For some, the pace of change is too slow and so questions are being raised about where all the smart factories might be. Others are grateful for more time to understand what Industry 4.0 means for them and their business. So, perhaps now is a good time to take stock of how the fourth industrial revolution is developing. The first thing to remember is that digitalisation and Industry 4.0 are not some random or isolated event: they are part of a continuous development and build on the technologies and experiences of Industry 1.2 and 3. The Industry 4.0 roadmap defined an incredibly fast 20-year revolution stretching from 2015 to 2035. This was reconfirmed in the latest edition of the Roadmap V3.0,
published in March 2018. So, we are now six years into a 20-year journey.
NEW TECHNIQUES As we move toward Industry 4.0 implementation the demand for engineers with an excellent understanding of mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics is increasing and is a platform to build upon. Increasingly, we are stretching the reach of an automation engineer to encompass what were previously I.T. topics: including Edge and Cloud-based platforms for collecting, visualising, analysing data and communicating the outcomes to other Cloud-based systems. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence are being adopted in factory automation machinery, guiding our manufacturing decisions, increasing productivity. Changes like these create opportunities and also challenges – so how do we as individuals ensure that we remain informed and relevant for tomorrow? Festo is fully committed to supporting digitalisation and driving Industry 4.0 and is a
www.irish-manufacturing.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
