Terms such as digitisation and Industry 4.0 are heard almost everywhere today. But why? Industry 4.0 is the term used to describe the fourth industrial revolution, which means, after mechanisation, mass production and the digital revolution, we are now in the era of digital networking of machines, products and IT networks, explains Claudia Homburg, marketing, VEGA Grieshaber KG
Industry 4.0
In this context, the Internet of Things (IoT), marks the entry of the Internet into the consumer goods sector, ie the networking of household appliances, consumer electronics, automotive electronics and the Internet. That leaves the third term IIoT, which means ‘Industrial Internet of Things’, which further subdivides the ‘Internet of Things’ and establishes a separate domain for industrial manufacturing.
How’s our plant doing today?
Three VEGA initiatives for secure and flexible process automation lead straight to Industry 4.0
The term IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) refers to networked machines or production facilities, including the associated measurement technology. Its most important advantages include the prospect of being able to react more quickly to inefficient processes or problems, saving time and using smart machine data to control production and operating processes, as well as entire value chains more efficiently. All this should be possible in nearly real time, with the help of intelligent monitoring and decision-making processes. That’s the theory, but what does the actual implementation look like – from the perspective of a field instrument manufacturer like VEGA?
Using the wheel in a new way instead of reinventing it
In the area of measurement and monitoring of level and pressure, VEGA is ready to meet the individual requirements of the process industry. “We are consistently modular. This is a big advantage, because on this basis we can get started at any time,” explains product manager Stefan Kaspar. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel to meet our customers’ current requirements.” VEGA relies on bridge technologies such as Bluetooth. These are future-oriented, scalable solutions that can be integrated into existing systems. They can also provide new ones with a tailor-made basic security configuration, that continues to grow with new capabilities. “It is important,” says Stefan Kaspar, “that users do not have to invest large sums up-front and that the solution can be seamlessly integrated into their existing systems without compromising their security.”
Wireless into the digital transformation
VEGA has a comprehensive offering of Bluetooth technology that covers almost its entire sensor technology portfolio based on a well thought-out, multi-stage concept. In this way, the company wants to react flexibly to different security requirements. Accordingly, the universal display and adjustment module PLICSCOM is available with or without Bluetooth. In the Bluetooth version, this function can be deactivated or reactivated at any time by means of a hardware switch. When used with multiple sensors, the radio function is optional. Bluetooth is already securely encrypted at the interface level when using a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet. In addition, sensor access via Bluetooth is only possible with an access code. Wireless technology can also be applied to older devices: PLICSCOM is backward compatible for most of VEGA sensors already in the field – as far back as 2002.
Secure through a second data channel
The display and adjustment module PLICSCOM is the convenient and economical solution wherever existing systems, which usually only have analogue 4 … 20 mA interfaces are to be upgraded to digital, step by step in a sustainable fashion. Stefan Kaspar emphasises this: “The range meets the NAMUR requirements for open architecture.” The association demands that the IT components be quickly and flexibly integrated since these are generally shorter-lived than industrial process plants themselves. This is the only way for process engineering to keep pace with the 4.0 development. “This is exactly where VEGA’s initiatives start out from: the best possible system availability, security and lean solutions that can be easily upgraded if required.”
Bluetooth offers a form of communication that runs via a separate, second data channel, which makes it function independently of the user channel. In this way, field devices can be analysed in parallel to the existing process control without interfering with plant security and availability. In the future, this local type of Bluetooth communication will be expandable to a complete diagnostic network, allowing diagnostic access from the control room down to the field level possible, also for existing analogue field devices from VEGA. Plant operators will then be able to react faster and in a more targeted manner to errors and detect deviations in the process early by recording the extensive information available in the field devise and taking appropriate countermeasures.
No more empty bins
Just as flexible in use, although a big step ahead in terms of digital intelligence, is the VEGA Inventory System. It offers ideal status monitoring, which forms (or can form) the data basis for efficient process supply and automatic re-ordering. Of course the functions of VEGA Inventory System always support the respective application requirement. Is it supposed to automatically notify the supplier as soon as minimum stock levels are reached? Is it ‘only’ meant to visualise the course of production cycles over different periods of time, locations, media to provide the user with the basis for further action? Or should it be used to simply shorten supply chains to remote sites via remote inventory data being utilised over long distances?
Or is it about integrating and automating inventory directly into an ERP system? The options and possibilities are many and varied and can always be extended later. A plus in terms of security is the free choice of the network host. This task can be carried out locally by the users themselves or transferred to the protected, always up-to-date VEGA cloud. “We want to make life easier for our customers, which is why our measuring instruments function according to the principle of simplicity,” explains Stefan Kaspar. The VEGA Inventory System stands for minimum effort and maximum compatibility – always according to the modular principle.
Vega – www.vega.com
