Internet key to productivity
The change from the industrial society of the 20th century to
the industrial information and communication society of the 21st
century will bring a change to the way in which automation systems
are structured and the technology they use. Basic internet technologies
are already being incorporated into more and more automation systems
and in the next ten years it will make as big an impact in the industrial
production environment as it already has in other areas of business,
and leisure. Why does network technology have such a strong influence
on automation systems? Why is it the key to securing future productivity
increases in industrial production?
In the past, productivity increases were mainly achieved using
mechanical devices and power. But productivity in the future will
be will be driven by soft factors, a combination of information,
software and engineering. Software and engineering already make
up between 30% and 50% of system and machine costs but they can
be considerably reduced when hardware and software functions are
designed to be used in multiple ways. A basic requirement for reusability
is modularisation, so for example it might lead to the creation
of mechatronic function units to carry out different tasks independently.
Each module will contain all mechanical, electric and software components
for its specialist functionality.
At the same time as introducing modularised components, there
is a move towards decentralising control functions, which today
still are basically central. Control will be dispersed into the
actuators, sensors and HMIs that make up a system and this will
lead to a drastic change in communications requirements within machines
and systems. It will be necessary for devices within an automation
system to exchange larger volumes of more complex data than ever
before.
Using 'soft' techniques to improve productivity also requires
vertical integration of data flows from production via planning
to company administration, then even out to the internet. Improvements
in productivity involve using existing resources in the best possible
way so that production information can then be used elsewhere in
the business, by dynamic production planning systems for example.
Automation will become more a matter of automating of business processes
rather than the present automation of production processes. The
basic technology is the technology of the internet.
Consistent communications between single function modules, production
part processes and production processes among themselves and with
the higher-lying MES, ERP and administrative systems will need to
be transparent and easy to achieve. Development of industrial communication
technology started with the introduction of fieldbus more than 15
years ago. It was only the fieldbus, able to provide a centralised
controller with sufficient accurate information in real time from
the furthest parts of a machine, that has advanced industrial networking
to where it is today. Fieldbus technology will not disappear but
is increasingly to be found as one element of an integrated network
structure. Business process integration is taking advantage of network
backbones and shared horizontally integrated systems, such as those
to be found on the shop floor, as well as systems integrated vertically
through a business.
The technical platform that makes this possible is already available
as proven mainstream technology from the conventional IT world.
TCP/IP, HTML, XML, SNMP and OPC are only a few of many actual and
de facto standards for protocols, software and hardware technology
which is at the heart of the Ethernet and internet world. Sometimes
mainstream technology has to be adapted or modified to the needs
of automation systems, but this is already reflected in developments
such as the development of real-time and deterministic Ethernet
data transfer. In the future the speed of change in the IT world
will shorten the time it takes to implement innovations in automation,
so that by using a well-understood, common architecture improvements
to processes - and businesses - can take effect more quickly.
Phoenix Contact specialises in the integration of information
technology standards. These will be the basis for the industrial
networks and control technology of the future.
Phoenix Contact GmbH
n100@industrialnetworking.co.uk
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