FEATURE COVER STORY
Industry 4.0: the fourth industrial revolution
by Paul Murphy, SMC Industrial Automation (Ireland) Limited
This new philosophy affects the
entire value chain, from customers to suppliers, through the factory itself and the logistics chain. It is useless to have an advanced, intelligent factory with the best technology in the world if the suppliers do not supply us with the raw material on time, at the right price and quality, etc. Technology, new emerging technologies
SIF-400: smart innovative factory for training
T
hroughout history, the advent of new technologies and social change have instigated the so-called “Industrial Revolutions”. It all began with the first revolution with the invention of the steam engine in 1827, followed by a second revolution with the introduction of electricity and assembly line in 1936. The emergence of robotics and automation took place in 1960’s which announced the arrival of the third revolution and in 2011, the fourth revolution aptly named Industry 4.0 was born. The Industry 4.0 term isn’t global, although it is the most popular. In France it has been called “The industry of the future”, in the USA “Connected Enterprise” or “Smart Manufacturing”, in other countries “Digital Factory”, but what is clear is that the industrial future, with what has been called “Cyber-physical Systems”, a combination between physical systems and the digital world, is well and truly upon us.
WHY INDUSTRY 4.0? At this point, it is convenient to reflect on why we are talking about Industry 4.0, what is the fundamental reason why everyone is in one way or another taking positions in order to face these challenges. Paul Murphy from SMC explains, ‘’the main reason is that we as consumers will no longer settle for a mass-produced product. We want to personalize the products and services, we want to be able to buy at any time and from anywhere in the world, we want to know from the moment of purchase where our order is, when we are going to receive it and we want innovative products - but we don’t want to pay more or have a longer delivery time’’. Faced with this new landscape in consumerism, companies face a great challenge in this highly competitive global economy: how to satisfy the needs of these new consumers and remain profitable?
SIF-400: smart innovative factory for training
and those to come must always be at the service of the business. For companies, it is very important to analyse whether investing in technology adds value in one way or another to their business. With the aim of offering professional
training in accordance with industry needs, SMC International Training has developed a modular system which simulates a highly automated smart factory, including Industry 4.0 technologies, advanced manufacturing concepts and the reality of the connected enterprise in processes surrounding production, assembly, logistics and management.
Such equipment consists in a highly automated smart factory which is made up of a system which is connected M2M (Machine To Machine) with management software, through which the production of different shaped containers is carried out (square and cylindrical) and with different content (solid, liquid and personalised). Production can be organised into single containers, packs of containers and pallets of packets. To this effect, the whole system is made up of a series of stations, at each station, one or several processes are carried out. This process includes a whole series of supply; manipulation; filling and measurement; verification and load; storage and palletizing; packing and marking; shipment and recycling operations which are carried out using different technologies such as: robotics (collaborative, SCARA, IAV), augmented reality, artificial vision, smart devices (IO-Link), electric actuators, identification systems (RFID, QR, NFC), energy efficiency and OPC-UA machine communication protocol. By means of this Smart Factory,
SMC Industrial Automation (Ireland) Limited
www.smcautomation.ie pmurphy@smcautomation.ie
6 MARCH 2021 | IRISH MANUFACTURING
students will be able to acquire all the skills needed for the ambitious challenges that the 4th Industrial Revolution is in search of to future proof the needs of consumerism.
/ IRISHMANUFACTURING
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