Flagship factories aside, most manufacturers are likely to take a phased approach to in introduce IIoT or Industry 4.0. The M262 controller from Schneider Electric was introduced for making the transition to smart automation…
Industry 4.0 News & Insights
Growth of Digital Twins in Manufacturing Automation
Digital twinning is an interesting technology gaining momentum in applications across a wide range of industries and organisations. It enables planners to improve plant and equipment utilisation with the aid of digital models (twins)…
Securing IIoT Deployments is Critical
Connectivity is at the heart of Industry 4.0 and IIoT implementations, and securing IIoT deployments from cyber-attacks is critical to this. A successful cyber-attack on an IIoT system can result in the loss of…
Transforming IIoT Big Data into a Usable Currency
Industry 4.0 and IIot are largely about connectivity of equipment and devices to improve the way we work. In this article, we look at transforming IIoT big data into a usable currency.
In manufacturing the…
Phoenix Contact joins growing CC-Link IE TSN Support
Mitsubishi Electric is releasing its first 102 factory automation products compatible with the CC-Link IE TSN next-generation industrial open network. Increasingly, many third-party makers are also joining them. Phoenix…
AI in Factories: Using it to Improve Productivity
Applications using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in factories to improve productivity are growing. Behind this are several factors from availability of smart machines, greater processing capabilities, increased access to sensor data.
The drive to Industry…
Self Driving Robots collaborate in Life Sciences
Automation lends itself to the manufacture of mass produced disposable medical devices and the bulk processing of samples. The main reasons for this are speed and repeatability, and removing contamination risks in a clean…
OPC UA TSN: Will it change Industrial Ethernet?
There has been a lot in the automation press and online about using OPC UA over Time Sensitive Networks. The resulting OPC UA TSN certainly could be the basis for a vendor independent real-time…
CC-Link IE TSN Specification Released
The CC-Link Partner Association has announced the CC-Link IE TSN specification. It is the next generation network based on the current CC-Link IE Industrial Ethernet. Development meets future market demands for…
Omron vision for Digitalised Machine Automation
Omron Automation has produced a positioning paper outlining its view of digitalised machine automation. It considers the core technologies needed to realise a smart digitalised manufacturing infrastructure.
The fourth industrial revolution will be a convergence…
Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Factory Automation
In their white paper Business Models for Smart Machines, Schneider Electric argues for machine builders to think about creating sustainable competitive advantage for their organisations. They need…
IIoT Controller Hardware offers Profit from Industry 4.0
For manufacturers investing in IIoT or Industry 4.0, the challenge is to improve automation in a way that improves the bottom line. Most of the control strategies employed today evolved in response to a…
What is EcoStruxure from Schneider Electric?
Commercial, political and environmental pressures are driving organisations to make more with less. This means they need to increase productivity with fewer resources, and using less energy. Thus, connectivity offered by the Internet of…
CC-Link IE | Enabling Industry 4.0 Open Gigabit Ethernet
UK manufacturing is recognising that low productivity is a problem. The time has gone when producers were prepared to accept new products based on low introduction costs, but higher unit costs.
The growing recognition of…
What does IIoT mean for Automation?
To begin with, it is hardly surprising that engineers are confused about what IIoT means for the automation of their industry. A recent study by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers showed only 8% of…