To avoid flying service technicians and engineers halfway around the world, OEMs are increasingly relying on remote maintenance. Here, remote maintenance specialist Andreas Hager walks us through the process of deploying B&R's Secure Remote Maintenance solution.
The promises of Industry 4.0 are huge, but any proprietary solution for just one plant will fail due to extremely high costs. An economical solution for Industry 4.0 needs standards in order to enable the reuse of elements for suppliers and the lock-in free maintenance and low-entry costs for users.
Operational adversity is inevitable in manufacturing, there will always be setbacks and periods of difficulty. But meeting adversity with diversity in the way that we approach our operational processes, is key to future-proofing our operations.
The INSPEKTO S70 is easy and quick to set up. The product can be installed by non-experts in 30 to 45 minutes, without the help of a systems integrator or a machine vision specialist.
igus started its digital development journey to develop its products for use in smart factories five years ago. The aim was to make the maintenance and repair of its plastic energy chains, cables and bearings, more efficient and cost-effective. The result of this digitalisation process is the isense suite of sensors and monitoring products, making igus plastic products into intelligent solutions, or “smart plastics”.
In early 2019, the UK’s first smart factory was created, using the newly launched 5G communications network to facilitate quick data transfer speeds. This might be a successful step forward for industry, but George Walker, Managing Director of Novotek UK and Ireland, believes it doesn’t reflect the state of smart manufacturing for many UK businesses. In fact, he argues that most of UK industry is being priced out of the smart revolution.