Developing New Business Models Together

News 02/27/2020:  Nine years ago, the term "Industrie 4.0" was first mentioned at the 2011 Hannover Messe.

Since then, the vision of networking intelligent components, intended to control the production process and make it more flexible and efficient, has dominated discussions in this area. The time has come for the Internet of Things, which has long been established in consumer electronics, to impact industry.

However, if one looks at the current state of the process industry, it becomes clear that the concept is still in its infancy after almost ten years. In my view, two hurdles still need to be overcome: First, there are still numerous existing installations which have been run in and continue to perform well from the operators' point of view - they are therefore reluctant to invest heavily in digitalization measures. Second, many manufacturers have already taken the first step towards digitalization. However, they are now confronted with a complex IT infrastructure consisting of individual intelligent components with a wide variety of interfaces, the networking of which is highly complex. The vision of Industrie 4.0 is thus hindered rather than driven forward.

This is where the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance comes in. Its goal is to develop a common architecture based on open industry standards. It should make it possible not only to generate data, but also to combine and evaluate in a meaningful way the information from a very wide range of components, allowing well-founded decisions to be taken more quickly. The result is higher quality, faster time to market and more flexible production processes. On the other hand, the intelligent networking of all components creates new business models and application scenarios - from the simple installation of new devices, which are configured centrally and automatically, to predictive maintenance.

We at CAPTRON are glad to be part of this innovative consortium from the very beginning. We are convinced that the vision of Industry 4.0 can only be realized by combining our forces, by bundling competencies and services in order to offer customers real added value.

Statement maker: Dr. Roland Aubauer, Head of Research and Development, CAPTRON Electronic GmbH