2020 in Factory Automation: Two challenges, 2 solutions

Looking back over the last few months, one thing strikes me most: change - in the sense of digital disruption. This change was prophesied a few years ago and, without question, there were many new technologies and innovations that have improved, if not revolutionized our lives and our work. At the same time, innovative topics, whether technologies or working methods have been in place before or were already in our minds. But we have shied away from using them - they have been a nice-to-have, you might say. Now they are a must-have.

I would like to share two of these cases with you:

 Time-lapse: Digital Transformation

In the home office, in the office and in manufacturing: virtual and digital are two of the most used terms of recent years. This year this has not changed – but the relevance to the use of these terms and the technologies behind them has increased tremendously. In factory automation, machines and systems can be virtually simulated and put into operation for some time now - thanks to a digital twin.  

In addition to saving time on site during commissioning and increasing efficiency in engineering, simulation offers enormous additional values along the entire life cycle of a machine, production line or plant: whether in a very early design phase, in which different concepts can be tested, validated and optimized upfront and components can be dimensioned with the help of simulation, or in the acquisition process, in which machines or plants or their functioning can be presented on the basis of the digital twin. In addition, simulation often eliminates the need for real prototypes and can therefore be used and simulated independently of location, for example in the home office.

Especially simulation took a leap in the last few months because it is now needed to be able to work remotely from a safe spot. But the investment in it is also worthwhile in the long run.

The requirements and customer requests are becoming more and more unpredictable

Keyword toilet paper. Who would have thought a year ago that toilet paper is the go-to product of German consumers during a global crisis? Not me. An extreme example, but one that shows how quickly customer needs change and thus also the demand in the market. Sure, companies aren't planning a pandemic. But the desire for sustainability and resource conservation always remains an issue. However, a company can only produce successfully under such conditions if it can quickly upscale, reduce and react as flexibly as possible. For example, when it comes to the composition of recipes.

For this reason, we rely on standardization in the development of machines and systems. This means that we develop technology in such a way that it works like a modular system. Standardized production modules can be used recurrently and combined with almost any production device. You know the principle from your private environment when you connect a new printer and it can be used via plug and play anywhere and from all devices. In the industrial environment, one could call it Plug & Produce or, for the integration of machines, Plug & Communicate. Achieving this requires a holistic approach and concepts to ensure that all components work together in the end. Once implemented, however, standardization enables a continuous engineering workflow that saves a lot of effort and time and meets the requirements of the market. Find out more here.

Individualization and standardization are two opposing market processes, but in the end, both require and promote flexibility in production.