INDUSTRY 4.0


Why interconnected production is key to encouraging growth and increasing resilience in the Irish manufacturing sector


By Eoin Garrigan, Business Development Manager for Ireland, SEW-EURODRIVE


I


f Ireland wants to be a bigger powerhouse globally when it comes to manufacturing output and innovation, we need to stand up


to the ever -changing outside forces affecting our production quota. Ever since 2020, supply chain shocks and unexpected demand fluctuations have become the norm, leaving engineers and factory floor managers trying to fight fires whilst keeping lines moving. Many factories have hundreds of drives, gears and


motors across their production lines. Yet when these components operate in isolation, never sharing data, remaining controlled from one central unit, things can go wrong very quickly. Minor anomalies in machinery performance don’t


get picked up, meaning production can come to a halt through just a single drive failure, increasing costs and resource usage, which either gets passed onto customers, or erodes profit margins.


SO, WHAT’S THE FIX? A good starting point is increasing the connectivity of your production line. While this might sound like an arduous task on the face of it, in reality it can be done in baby steps, starting with introducing sensors on your most critical machinery, and working towards a fully synchronised system that forecasts issues before they hit production. This shift begins by addressing the challenges that


I’m hearing crop up in so many conversations with manufacturers in Ireland; from the congested energy grids to the fragmented, cross-border supply chains. The manufacturers that are proving to be the most successful in all of this, not just in Ireland but globally, are the ones that have made the swap to smarter drives.


Frustrated at their already stretched engineering teams being dragged away to tedious maintenance jobs on aging drives, some factory floor managers have fast-tracked the switchover to advanced connectivity.


Through sensors, and newer drives with built-in


networking capabilities, those in production and maintenance planning gain greater insight into energy usage, equipment performance and drive or motor health.


BUT WHAT’S THE IMPACT? Simply put, real time monitoring through interconnectivity lets you fix issues like overheating or excessive vibration before they spiral into bigger problems like complete drive failure. In industries with fluctuating demand, connected drives let factory floor managers divert production loads to rebalance capacity, stopping energy waste during idling whilst maximising resource usage at peak times.


On the production line, energy costs drop and 20 September/October 2026 Irish Manufacturing


efficiency rises, allowing you to put your engineering teams back where they’re most valued: thinking of innovative ways to improve your throughput and further modernise your factory. While it can be daunting to invest in new technologies, especially when you know it comes with the need for training and upskilling your existing team, the long-term cost of standing still is far greater. And, if a complete introduction of sensors and software capabilities across your equipment feels like too big a shift, making the upgrade from IE1 or IE2 motors to IE3 and higher can help reduce your yearly operational spend too. We’ve seen it firsthand with some of our own


clients, including an indigenous OEM in the food industry that approached us with a particularly challenging processing application. We proposed a solution incorporating servo motors in conjunction with our range of Variable Speed Drives (VSDs), providing closed loop control on a synchronised conveying and lifting system. This enabled precise coordination between the drives, delivering improved accuracy, enhanced performance and greater energy efficiency. Overall, building resilience starts with thinking


smarter, combining data with the right equipment choices and practical improvements to deliver lasting impact on your production. That’s where Irish manufacturing will regain its competitive advantage against wider European and global counterparts.


www.sew-eurodrive.co.uk www.irish-manufacturing.com


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