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connections
Are we ready f or the Internet o f Things? The digitization of the world continues persistently. As physical objects and the v irtual world of data become increasingly connected, the automation industry faces a real challenge. This raises the question: is Endress+Hauser prepared for the fourth industrial revolution?
The Internet of Things: how manufacturing and
Raw material pricing/ stock exchange
Raw material storage
Smart supply network Continuous optimization of the product flow in line with supply and demand
Raw material storage Traffic flow optimization
Supplier
JS: Bitte Wortwiederholung vermeiden. Digitization is changing our personal and work lives at lightning speed. Across a swathe of industries including travel, book retailing, transportation and communication, business models are changing. Even social interaction is taking place more and more on electronic displays. No wonder: every 18 months, computer chips are doubling in power and the price of information is cut in half. Nowhere is the pace of development so fast as in the world of bits and bytes. And in no other industry is the next trend so difficult to forecast. What does that mean for Endress+Hauser? The digital transformation has long since impacted the industrial sector. As automation and information technologies converge, experts predict this will lead to radically different production flows. The boundaries between production, warehousing and administration will be transparent and the systems for production, sales, customer and supplier management will grow more tightly meshed. Exactly where this development will lead to is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: it will alter the entire value chain. And it’s in our own best interest to have a hand in this transformation. Open systems But hasn’t digital technology been part of the automation industry for 30 years? Hasn’t Endress+ Hauser used highly automated production systems for a long time now? Doesn’t every measurement point have a chip that captures, stores and forwards information? What is so new about the much-vaunted ‘Internet of Things’ and what causes ‘Industry 4.0’ to be hailed as revolutionary? Two things, actually. For one, connectivity is reaching beyond enterprise borders for the first time. It’s penetrating every business, production and automation process, from
Raw material storage Self-monitoring inventory Smart Grid Optimized energy supply and consumption
the field device to the customer’s ERP system (SAP). Where as today’s information flow remains heavily fragmented due to system boundaries and with some tasks still being completed manually, the Smart Factory of the future will automatically collect and analyze all of the marketing and operations data and distribute it to the right places (see graphic). Secondly, connected devices supply enormous amounts of data that, when intelligently analyzed, open the door to a world of new possibilities. “The question at the moment is, how do we take this data and generate information from it that creates a benefit which the customer is willing to pay
Intelligent transportation
