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By Hilton Marinho, Associate Director for Industry 4.0 at RSI Redes
The number of existing views on how we will use the new technologies in Industry 4.0 is quite diverse. At the moment, virtually all suppliers have products and architectures in their portfolio of solutions that promise their customers to enter this magical world. It is true that there is no single and sure way to guarantee the success of any and all initiatives. As in every era of change, part of the expectations will come true, part of it will not.
However, there is no way to anticipate the outcome of an initiative. The technologies themselves are appropriated to different degrees to different industrial segments. Companies in the same segment can direct the project towards success or failure, depending on planning, available resources, internal culture and degree of maturity.
The coexistence of the IT and TO (operational technology) areas, mandatory in the era of Industry 4.0, in itself is already a challenge: concept and cultures are in most cases divergent.
If we look for inspiration in Bob Dylan's music "then they better start swimming or they will sink like rocks", because "times are changing". The cost of starvation can be very high and companies can really be swallowed by a wave, before they even realize they were already in the water.
On the other hand, where is the crystal ball that will indicate that we are at least swimming in the right direction?
Fables help to understand broad contexts and have the power to stay alive in our memory, helping in the perception of concepts and also problems.
I have compiled three that are already circulating in our market. I believe they are useful in finding the right direction: Big Data and Analytics.
How many apples need to fall?
One of the expectations of Industry 4.0 is based on the ability to store immense amounts of data and infer results from the analysis of that data. The most used use is predictive maintenance. The correct premise is that serial production equipment behaves similarly. With the cheaper infrastructure (sensors, cloud computers, software, internet, etc.) the collection of information about the functioning of this equipment allows the use of Big Data and Analytics technologies, already established in other areas, taking the concept of predictive maintenance to your nirvana.
Success as a whole will depend on establishing coherent correlations, or otherwise, creating a model that will make correct inferences and make the analysis really useful. Part of this assembly is technological knowledge that will be provided by the IT area. The other part is knowledge of the production process and will be provided by the TO area.
Legend has it that analyzing the fall of a single apple was enough for an insight that led to the theory of gravity. The correct question is what made the difference.
Make sure Isaac is part of your team.
Cloud, Connectivity and IIOT: The Laws of Physics
Part of the concepts of Industry 4.0 assumes that the industry has already reached the level of the previous revolution: Instrumentation, Control, Supervision. In several of them, the 4th Industrial Revolution did not start today. It is a constant evolution that is accelerated each time a technology is used correctly. Technology only makes sense when applied in an environment that has been prepared for it to thrive.
Technology is not here to help you find the obvious. If your company's degree of automation is low, do your homework. Make sure Industry 3.0 arrives first.
Skipping steps can be productive and help you avoid mistakes made by others.
However, do not skip steps without planning and awareness.
We already have articles on the internet with hypothetical scenarios that we know are based on the observation of real systems. In one of them, an industry driven by the IIoT wave installed countless state-of-the-art sensors, ultramodern networks connected to the Internet, systems in the cloud, etc. The supreme sum of technologies, all in the state of the art.
As a result, it was discovered that when the fuel valve opened, the gas flow increased. With the gas flow increased, the boiler temperature rose. They were analyzing the pressure now. It seems that when the pressure rises there is a relief valve that opens ... No, the concept of Industry 4.0 did not come to help you in the (re) discovery of the Laws of Physics.
TI and TO: James Bond and MacGyver
Suppose an industry in which the characters Bond and MacGyver worked. In this industry there was an expensive main engine. If the engine stopped, all production would be interrupted, but twenty years have gone by without any major problems.
In IT, infrastructure, networks, servers, Internet, firewalls, everything worked satisfactorily. All equipment and software had been updated two years ago.
One fine day the director, at his work computer, is interrupted by the secretary: "Production has stopped". The engineer in charge is called to the room: "I have been asking for the engine change for eight years…, every year I put it in the investment forecast - the board denies it. In the end, MacGyver being MacGyver: "I'll try to solve it".
After hours of strenuous work, he proudly returns to the director's office: "I did it ... with the help of my pocket knife and pin. It's done, production is back."
Returning to the computer, where he accessed the website of the inn on the beach where he would spend his weekend, the director realizes that the screen has crashed. The responsible engineer called to the room says: "I warned you that we have an annual equipment renewal plan that has not been fulfilled this year. Our last update has not been carried out. It has been two years. Without the right tools, I am unable to analyze the problem. And yet, our support team has been reduced and is overloaded ", in the end, Bond being Bond:" OK, is it for me to resolve? Am I responsible? Do I have carte blanche? " With the agreement obtained: "Dona Silvana, arrange to rent a helicopter, I am going to the supplier to get the equipment to solve the company's problem. Please inform everyone that we will have a scheduled stop for the system update this afternoon and tomorrow by all computers will be changed in the morning ".
Bond continues to work at TI, he will earn an increase in the bonus. The director went to rest at the weekend.
MacGyver, of TO, is about to be fired and will not understand why.
The director found it absurd that he spent eight years asking for millionaire investment for a problem that was solved with a pin.
The pin is still there.
However, there is no way to anticipate the outcome of an initiative. The technologies themselves are appropriated to different degrees to different industrial segments. Companies in the same segment can direct the project towards success or failure, depending on planning, available resources, internal culture and degree of maturity.
The coexistence of the IT and TO (operational technology) areas, mandatory in the era of Industry 4.0, in itself is already a challenge: concept and cultures are in most cases divergent.
If we look for inspiration in Bob Dylan's music "then they better start swimming or they will sink like rocks", because "times are changing". The cost of starvation can be very high and companies can really be swallowed by a wave, before they even realize they were already in the water.
On the other hand, where is the crystal ball that will indicate that we are at least swimming in the right direction?
Fables help to understand broad contexts and have the power to stay alive in our memory, helping in the perception of concepts and also problems.
I have compiled three that are already circulating in our market. I believe they are useful in finding the right direction: Big Data and Analytics.
How many apples need to fall?
One of the expectations of Industry 4.0 is based on the ability to store immense amounts of data and infer results from the analysis of that data. The most used use is predictive maintenance. The correct premise is that serial production equipment behaves similarly. With the cheaper infrastructure (sensors, cloud computers, software, internet, etc.) the collection of information about the functioning of this equipment allows the use of Big Data and Analytics technologies, already established in other areas, taking the concept of predictive maintenance to your nirvana.
Success as a whole will depend on establishing coherent correlations, or otherwise, creating a model that will make correct inferences and make the analysis really useful. Part of this assembly is technological knowledge that will be provided by the IT area. The other part is knowledge of the production process and will be provided by the TO area.
Legend has it that analyzing the fall of a single apple was enough for an insight that led to the theory of gravity. The correct question is what made the difference.
Make sure Isaac is part of your team.
Cloud, Connectivity and IIOT: The Laws of Physics
Part of the concepts of Industry 4.0 assumes that the industry has already reached the level of the previous revolution: Instrumentation, Control, Supervision. In several of them, the 4th Industrial Revolution did not start today. It is a constant evolution that is accelerated each time a technology is used correctly. Technology only makes sense when applied in an environment that has been prepared for it to thrive.
Technology is not here to help you find the obvious. If your company's degree of automation is low, do your homework. Make sure Industry 3.0 arrives first.
Skipping steps can be productive and help you avoid mistakes made by others.
However, do not skip steps without planning and awareness.
We already have articles on the internet with hypothetical scenarios that we know are based on the observation of real systems. In one of them, an industry driven by the IIoT wave installed countless state-of-the-art sensors, ultramodern networks connected to the Internet, systems in the cloud, etc. The supreme sum of technologies, all in the state of the art.
As a result, it was discovered that when the fuel valve opened, the gas flow increased. With the gas flow increased, the boiler temperature rose. They were analyzing the pressure now. It seems that when the pressure rises there is a relief valve that opens ... No, the concept of Industry 4.0 did not come to help you in the (re) discovery of the Laws of Physics.
TI and TO: James Bond and MacGyver
Suppose an industry in which the characters Bond and MacGyver worked. In this industry there was an expensive main engine. If the engine stopped, all production would be interrupted, but twenty years have gone by without any major problems.
In IT, infrastructure, networks, servers, Internet, firewalls, everything worked satisfactorily. All equipment and software had been updated two years ago.
One fine day the director, at his work computer, is interrupted by the secretary: "Production has stopped". The engineer in charge is called to the room: "I have been asking for the engine change for eight years…, every year I put it in the investment forecast - the board denies it. In the end, MacGyver being MacGyver: "I'll try to solve it".
After hours of strenuous work, he proudly returns to the director's office: "I did it ... with the help of my pocket knife and pin. It's done, production is back."
Returning to the computer, where he accessed the website of the inn on the beach where he would spend his weekend, the director realizes that the screen has crashed. The responsible engineer called to the room says: "I warned you that we have an annual equipment renewal plan that has not been fulfilled this year. Our last update has not been carried out. It has been two years. Without the right tools, I am unable to analyze the problem. And yet, our support team has been reduced and is overloaded ", in the end, Bond being Bond:" OK, is it for me to resolve? Am I responsible? Do I have carte blanche? " With the agreement obtained: "Dona Silvana, arrange to rent a helicopter, I am going to the supplier to get the equipment to solve the company's problem. Please inform everyone that we will have a scheduled stop for the system update this afternoon and tomorrow by all computers will be changed in the morning ".
Bond continues to work at TI, he will earn an increase in the bonus. The director went to rest at the weekend.
MacGyver, of TO, is about to be fired and will not understand why.
The director found it absurd that he spent eight years asking for millionaire investment for a problem that was solved with a pin.
The pin is still there.
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