Pilz is helping to shape the future of automation – Safety a critical success factor for Industry 4.0

Pilz: The Industry 4.0 Initiative aims to secure the competitiveness of German industry. It concerns the use of Internet technologies in production processes, thus enabling more flexible and more efficient production. As a member of the Research Alliance, Pilz is helping to shape the future, while already supplying products designed to meet the challenges of the future.

As the automation landscape continues to develop with Industry 4.0, companies now face new safety challenges: the envisaged production systems are highly networked structures involving a large number of people, IT systems, automation components and machines. The technical system components operate autonomously to a certain extent. Active and often time-critical data and information exchange takes place between them; considerably more actors are also involved along the added value chain.

New challenges for safety
The increasing trend for machine networking sees two worlds collide where protection is concerned: the world of automation merges with the IT world. There are clear differences in perspective here: the internationally used terms are "Safety" for machinery safety and "Security" for IT and data security; this helps with the basic differentiation. However, the challenge lies in standardising the needs of both worlds to form appropriate, practical solutions. New safety objectives include, for example, the protection of production data, product and plagiarism protection, know-how protection, access protection, integrity protection, remote maintenance.

"By collaborating in the German Research Alliance’s safety promoters' group, Pilz is playing its part in ensuring that safety in particular is recognised as a critical success factor in the Industry 4.0 Initiative", says Susanne Kunschert, Managing Partner of Pilz GmbH & Co. KG. "We are advocating a holistic approach to protection in both its forms: safety and security. We want to use our experience from the machinery safety and automation sectors to drive this important work forward", says Susanne Kunschert.

Intelligence in distributed systems
On the product side, Industry 4.0 presents particular challenges for the modularisation and distribution of control functions. "With our automation system PSS 4000, we already have sound answers to the questions of the future", explains Armin Glaser, Head of Product Management at Pilz. With PSS 4000 Pilz is rigorously pursuing a modular, distributable approach. This means that the benefits of a decentralised control structure can be enjoyed without the increased complexity that would normally result when programs are distributed on different control systems.

In future, intelligent sensors and actuators in distributed systems will increasingly assume the functions of control systems. Improved interaction between machine modules as well as between man and machine is the aim. Safe motion controllers, which are interconnected synchronously and safely via real-time Ethernet, already support local control and evaluation functions. Pilz is also blazing a trail in this direction with its intelligent camera systems for safe, three-dimensional zone monitoring and camera-based protection and measuring systems.

Pilz is exhibiting at the Hannover Messe in Hall 9, Stand D17 ("Industrial Automation") and in Hall 1 Stand F28 ("Metropolitan Solutions"). Further information at http://www.pilz.com/de-DE/hannover-messe

Pilz and the Research Alliance
As the central body advising the Federal Research Minister, the Research Alliance provides support for the implementation and ongoing development of the high tech strategy. The Research Alliance currently comprises 23 personalities from science and industry, including Susanne Kunschert. Pilz’s Managing Partner is a member of the safety promoters’ group, which is concerned with effective protection for communication networks and the development of Germany as a leading market for safety technology. Pilz supports the work of the newly founded Industry 4.0 under the umbrella of the trade associations BITKOM, ZVEI and VDMA and was involved in developing recommendations for action. bei der Ausarbeitung der Handlungsempfehlungen hat Pilz mitgewirkt. These will be delivered to the Federal Government at the Hannover Messe.
www.forschungsunion.de

About Industry 4.0
The Industry 4.0 Initiative is part of the German government’s high tech strategy 2020. The discussion around Industry 4.0 or Integrated Industry is marked by increasing demands on the productivity, flexibility and availability of plant and machinery. To withstand international competition, industry needs plant and machinery that can manufacture customised products where possible, in a way that is both efficient and resource-friendly. With the use of Internet technologies, production and logistics processes in factories are becoming ever more intelligent – but also more complex. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) are evolving in production; these use intelligent machines, storage systems and work equipment that exchange information independently, trigger actions and are mutually self controlling. They can improve industrial processes in production, engineering, use of materials, as well as supply chain and life cycle management.