What is Industry 4.0?

Today it is common to find news related to Industry 4.0, but are we clear about what this concept is and how it influences our factories?

The idea behind the Industry 4.0 concept is the integration at all levels between the real or physical world and the digital world, seeking to achieve real-time access to production data and metrics, which allows not only monitoring the status of the production and systems, but also anticipate their needs.

This integration can be done at several levels, but it is mainly based on 3:

• Transfer of data from the physical world to the digital world: A digital representation of the factory is created, using the data provided by the machines themselves, or by external measurements.
• Data analysis: Through the use of advanced analytical tools, the data provided is evaluated. The focus of the analysis can be directed according to the needs of the company: evaluation of incidents, performance improvement, maintenance planning, etc.
• Transfer of data from the digital world to the physical world: the final stage consists of transferring the results of the digital world to the physical world, stimulating actions and changes that cause an improvement in the production facilities and processes.

The final objective is to achieve greater knowledge in real time of everything that happens in the factory, and thus speed up decision-making on key elements of it.

The applications of this new approach are unlimited, but we can highlight some that are already an essential part of any factory that tries to compete in today's globalized industry:

• Evaluation of production metrics, to compare speeds and identify bottlenecks.
• Analysis of the performance and state of the machines, to carry out not only corrective but also preventive actions.
• Integration of all production data with analysis tools and artificial intelligence, for the generation of reports and reports.
• Identification of synergies and relationships between processes that allow optimizing performance.
• Readjustment of processes to make them more sustainable, reducing the consumption of energy and raw materials.

In order to direct this transition, companies such as AM SOLUCIONES AUTOMATIZACIÓN, S.L. are necessary, which provide knowledge not only in automation of PLCs and industrial robotics, but also in communications, connectivity between systems, databases, Scadas, IoT and all those elements that allow integration between machines and digital systems.

If you are looking for the opportunities and advantages of industry 4.0, contact AM SOLUCIONES.