EMERGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES Helping humans in the …€¦ · to you the Cover Story that discusses the 10 emerging digital technologies that are ... magazine in India, on Automation

A&D - InterviewDS Ravindra Raju,President – Manufacturing, Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation (p. 24)

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AUTOMATION & DIGITISATION

EMERGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Helping humans in the COVID-19 crisis

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VIEWPOINT Analysing the approach to advanced technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic P. 19

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Additive Manufacturing P. 32

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Although we all are facing a moment of unprecedented uncertainty today, with the gloomy sentiments in the current situation weathered down by the COVID-19 outbreak, we also must keep our fingers crossed for the fact that there will come a point when the COVID-19 crisis begins to fade and we adjust to life in the aftermath of this pandemic. The coronavirus and how the global economy is responding to the preventative measures being placed are something that will go down in the history books. But as business professionals, there is one thing we do still have control over, and that’s the ability to be resilient and make choices that will get us through these times as best as possible. We need to work together to find ways for addressing today’s challenges during a crisis & keep the business going & growing when the crises get over.

Talking about this issue, which is the 12th Anniversary Special, we have brought to you the Cover Story that discusses the 10 emerging digital technologies that are helping humans in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. It’s followed by Viewpoint on the right approach to advanced technologies during COVID-19 crisis, where experts have shared with us their opinions on how to adjust operations in real-time with a new approach to advanced automation and digitalisation technologies. Check it out to know more…

As a responsible publishing house, we continue publishing our magazines, even in today’s critical situation, because we want to keep our readers informed about technology and market trends, new business opportunities and much more, without any break. Let’s pray that we all emerge out of the current situation strongly! Stay safe, stay healthy!

Shekhar Jitkar Publisher & Chief [email protected]

The right approach in the current crisis

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D P V SivaramChairman - Non Executive B&R AutomationPresident - AIA

Ravi AgarwalManaging Director, Pepperl+Fuchs (Factory Automation)Vice President – AIA

Raj Singh RatheeManaging DirectorKuka Robotics India

Anup WadhwaDirector – AIA (Automation Industry Association)

Jasbir SinghVice President – Electrical & InstrumentEssar Project Management Consultants

Ganapathiraman GVice President & GM (South and South-East Asia)ARC Advisory Group

Arcot RajabahadurAutomation Consultant

Mandar PhadkeCEO, Abhisam SoftwareFormer Head – Process ControlLanxess India Pvt Ltd

Dr KLS SharmaAdvisor Automation Education & Training

Thampy MathewManaging Director, Pepperl+Fuchs India (Process Automation)

INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING SUMMIT 2020(2nd edition)

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A&D - Interview

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Akilur Rahman,Chief Technology Officer,

ABB India (p.28)

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of Heavy Industries & Public

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FOCUS Automotive Plastics P. 40

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FOCUSTechnological advancements in oil & gas and chemical industry

DIGITALISATIONDigitalisation helping survive erratic market changes during COVID-19

29

41

FOCUS DIGITAL ACCELERATION IN SPECIALTY CHEMICALS

CONTENTSMARKET 6 NEWS

10 “Our main approach is an application-oriented one”Interview with Deepak Aran, Director, Contrinex Automation

START-UP

12 “Connected manufacturing brings in complete visibility”Interview with Divyesh Shah,CEO & Founder, LinkEZ Technologies

OPINION

13 5G causing coronavirus – A perilous nonsenseThe opinion editorial elaborates on the spread of the disinformation that 5G is the cause for the coronavirus

VIEWPOINT

19 Analysing the approach to advanced technologies during the COVID-19 pandemicThe Viewpoint section explores if advanced technologies can keep productions running with distant human monitoring due to COVID-19

EVENT REPORT

50 Shaping the world of design: Integrating human & technologyA post-event report on the 3DExperience World 2020 organised by Dassault Systèmes

54 IIoT bringing value to the chemical industryA post-event repot on the DISHA-‘20 symposium

MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW

24 “We have to adopt an agile methodology with continuous improvement”DS Ravindra Raju, President – Manufacturing, Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation

COVER STORY

14 Emerging digital technologies: Helping humans in the COVID-19 crisisThe cover story dissects the 10 emerging digital

technologies helping humans fight against

COVID-19

Expanding the field of vision

INTEGRATED MACHINE VISION More than embeddedComplete portfolio: www.br-automation.com/vision UV IR

14COVER STORYEmerging digital technologies: Helping humans in the COVID-19 crisis

FOCUS DIGITAL ACCELERATION IN SPECIALTY CHEMICALS

FOCUS CHEMICAL & PROCESS

26 Digital acceleration in specialty chemicalsThe article discusses how specialty chemicals require greater efficiency in innovation

29 Technological advancements in oil & gas and chemical industryAn article on the advanced technology in the oil & gas and chemical industry

TECHNOLOGY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

32 Additive Manufacturing growing its grasp in the aerospace sectorThe article highlights the challenges the aerospace industry faces during the application of AM

WIRELESS AUTOMATION

35 Enabling wireless communications for factory automation in Industry 4.0An analysis of the natural evolution of industrial communications towards wireless technologies

DIGITALISATION

38 Budget planning in the digital eraThe article provides a holistic approach on budget planning in the age of digital

41 Digitalisation helping survive erratic market changes during COVID-19An analysis of how technology is proving to be a vital solution during the present COVID-19 crisis

47 Digital transformation: The growth of IIoT & the role of connector applicationThe article throws light on why M12 connectors are the right fit for IIoT

INDUSTRIAL COMPUTERS

44 PC-based control: An integrated solution for automation & process technologyThe article explores how integrated automation toolbox ensures short time cycles

New Products

58 Inductive sensors; Real-time Ethernet switch; Rotary encoders; Collaborative gripper

59 Industrial PC with IP protection; QR code generating software platform; Three-phase motor for marine & offshore application; Layer 3 gigabit Ethernet switch

Columns01 Editorial 02 Contents 04 Guest Editorial60 Highlights – Next issue60 Company index

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4

GUEST | ED I TOR IA L

A&D I nd i a | A p r-Ma y 2020

We live in a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The current pandemic crisis reflects that. In this time, with the lockdown, many of the plants, factories and infrastructure are operating at reduced capacity, performing at suboptimal level. Increased use of automation and digital technologies can help them perform better.

The Industry 4.0 concept, with process and manufacturing automation, is enabling collaborative flexible manufacturing, real-time optimisation of plant & factory assets and operations. Whether the production is running thinly or in overloaded conditions, resources and assets need to operate efficiently. Such plants, factories and assets can be monitored remotely by connecting to the automation system securely. Supply chain automation and workforce can be integrated with production in real-time with digitalisation to deliver products and services to end-users efficiently.

Integrated command and control centre of smart cities help authorities to manage and deliver citizen services better. In the crisis, it provides emergency response effectively by real-time monitoring and mitigation actions.

CO

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In this time of social distancing, collaborative robots can work with human workers in the critical production facilities, reducing human contacts and spread of disease. Diver robots can get into tanks filled with unsafe fluid to inspect, clean or repair. Crawler robots can get inside machines unreachable by human beings, in order to reduce downtime of the assets. Drones can carry out aerial monitoring of plants with hazardous processes and substances, infected areas, agriculture fields, etc.

What’s more, with limited physical access to assets and plants, employees can use Augmented Reality (AR) applications to connect physical data with the virtual world of information to assess health of the asset and its design and maintenance history, to take corrective actions. While completely away from the physical world of plants, factories and infrastructure, new generation of workforce can be trained with Virtual Reality (VR) applications.

While most people have to work remotely, machines closer to the process can be adapted with AI and ML to monitor the processes, KPIs in real-time to analyse, predict and operate the assets and systems in most optimum way. Human experts can augment the learning and intelligence of the machines through remote monitoring and operation.

In these highly connected systems with automation, IoT and digitalisation, cyber security needs more attention than ever. Threat modelling-based defense-in-dept security design of sensors, actuators, controllers, communication and network minimises security vulnerability of the OT system. In addition, continuous monitoring and analytics of security indicators will help detect, prevent and respond to security incidents in the operation.

Automation and digital technologies, together with human and machine intelligence, can take the utilities, plants, factories and infrastructure towards the journey of autonomous operation. It will help manage the VUCA world better, making it more predictable, actionable and sustainable. As human beings, we need to learn, unlearn and relearn with the technologies and their applications, faster than ever. ☐

“WE NEED TO LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN

WITH TECHNOLOGIES”

Akilur RahmanCHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICERABB POWER GRIDS INDIA

6

MARKE T | NEWS


ABB announces free digital services to help customers maintain productionABB’s robotics & discrete automation business is working to help customers and partners keep production lines going and enable businesses to continue to function while many are working from home during this unprecedented crisis. Since March 27, 2020, key software services, like ABB Ability™ Connected Services - condition monitoring & diagnostics, are available free of charge to customers until the end of 2020. Many clients, customers and partners can benefit from these digital solutions that enable them to manage their production lines remotely and keep robot systems running at optimal performance with less human interaction, particularly given the current need for social distancing and remote work. Digital tools can also be used to help customers continue to work and prepare for projects that will be ready to go as soon as everyone gets back to the workplace. The company’s connected services platform monitors the health and performance of single robots or entire fleets, helping customers to monitor and run robot systems at optimal performance remotely.

Chandigarh University design splitters that can bridge ventilators shortfall in IndiaChandigarh University’s University Centre for Research and Development (UCRD) recently came out with a solution with the help of 3D Printing technology to help the healthcare sector. A team of researchers headed by Ranvijay Kumar has designed two-way, three-way and four-way ventilator splitters which can help in quadrupling the ventilator capacity of hospitals in the quickest possible time. Explaining the use of Polylactic Acid or Polylactide (PLA), which is a biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastics, derived from renewable sources such as corn starch, tapioca roots and sugarcane in manufacturing of variants of ventilator splitters, Kumar described, “A splitter can distribute oxygen to four patients from one ventilator as they usually run at 20-30% capacity and can push 2000 ml of oxygen per minute into the lungs, which means that each ventilator can provide enough oxygen for four people.” Also, a budget of ₹5 crores for UCRD, which will exclusively work on to find solutions to address the problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been confirmed by Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University.

GNA University develops face shield to fight COVID-19GNA University, in association with Stratasys and DesignTech Systems, recently took an initiative to develop and test 3D printable face shields to fight COVID-19. The university is leveraging on 3D Printing technology to make face shields for doctors, medical professionals and other staffs to reduce the shortage of such equipment in the wake of the novel coronavirus. Speaking about the development, C R Tripathy, Dean – Faculty of Engineering Design & Automation, GNA University, said, “We have developed the face shield in our 3D printer lab and our team is whole-heartedly working on an injection mould that will mass-produce these face shields and keep up with the soaring demand.” Taking the discussion further, S Gurdeep Singh Sihra, CEO, GNA Gears & Pro-Chancellor, GNA University, articulated, “This face shield can be successfully used by doctors, healthcare workers and medical professionals while treating COVID-19 positive patients. This can be also used by staff in security, housekeeping, defence, offices and ambulance drivers who are in direct communion with the people to save them from the COVID-19.”

IFR’s robots help fight COVID-19 worldwideInternational Federation of Robotics (IFR) recently announced that the Danish robots are playing an important role in fighting the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 around the globe. Disinfection robot UVD, for example, has been in high demand since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the UVD uses ultraviolet light (UV-C) to kill harmful microorganisms. Speaking about the potential of the robots to support humans in the current corona pandemic, Dr Susanne Bieller, General Secretary, IFR, expounded, “Robots can not only support us in healthcare environments but also in the development, testing and production of medicine, vaccines and other medical devices and auxiliaries. Disinfection tasks performed by UVD units or safe distribution of hospital material in quarantine zones – without personal contact – provided by Photoneo´s mobile robot Phollower, are just two of many examples.” By now, medical robots represent a well-established service robot market with a considerable growth potential. Sales of medical robots have increased by 50% to 5100 units in 2018. This is according to the statistics published in World Robotics by IFR.

7

NEWS | MARKET


ABB partners with NASSCOM to develop competency standards for new-age technology jobs in IndiaABB, in association with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), recently developed a standardised qualification criterion for two IoT related job roles – IoT network communications and IoT cyber security. This first of its kind industry collaboration will facilitate the much-needed uniformity and formalisation by aiding the hiring and evaluation of these high-skilled jobs across the sector. Commenting on this, Rajarshi Banerjee, Head of ABB Ability Customer Experience and Innovation - AMEA, ABB, said, “Our joint effort with NASSCOM has led to the creation of the qualification packs that will serve as a guiding light across the industry. We have created a standardised format for the industry, which we believe will result in developing a quality pool to help companies across sectors to hire from.” Sharing his thoughts on the partnership, Amit Aggarwal, CEO, IT-ITES Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM, cited, “ We are certain that this initiative will benefit the sector as a whole and help us in our journey to further consolidate India as a talent hub for new-age technologies.”

New growth opportunities for wind turbine manufacturersFrost & Sullivan recently presented its analysis, ‘Growth opportunities in the global onshore wind turbine market, forecast to 2025’, which stated the key drivers and restraints influencing the global and regional wind markets, as a part of the company’s global Power Generation Growth Partnership Service programme. It analyses the competitive landscape and identifies the geographical hotspots for the next five to ten years and covers the regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, India, China, Middle East and Africa.

A sustained decline in the overall costs of wind turbines, as well as ambitious national and regional level renewable energy targets, drove new onshore wind installation capacity to touch 54.2 GW in 2019, an increase of 17% compared to 2018. The global market is forecast to add an average onshore wind capacity of 54.28 GW annually through 2025, with cumulative installations expected to reach 954.47 GW in 2025.

Exemplifying the additional revenue opportunities for the wind industry participants, Swagath Navin Manohar, Research Manager – Energy & Environment, Frost & Sullivan, cited, “Emerging technologies such as 5G, edge computing, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR, VR) and advanced lightweight composite materials, are creating additional revenue opportunities for wind industry participants. Innovations like LiDAR, digital twin, Additive Manufacturing, radar and drones are expected to phase out manual inspections of wind turbines and ultimately help participants deliver greater process and cost efficiencies to utilities, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and wind farm owners.” Further, he noted, “The repowering of wind farms by replacing old wind turbines with new and technologically superior models, especially in the US and Europe, is expected to bolster the global market. Meanwhile, the shift in financing mechanisms from subsidies to competitive auctions across regions, like Europe, Asia and Latin America, is expected to make the market sustainable and subsidy-free.” Also, wind turbine manufacturers are expected to find new growth opportunities by:• Developing IoT-enabled smart wind turbines to ensure product differentiation• Implementing AI and analytics solutions to improve operational efficiency by obtaining operational data• Focusing on data monetisation, collaborations and partnerships with technology companies and start-ups to expand their smart product offerings• Creating attractive business solutions and offerings• Gaining competence in managing costs, execution time and project development • Planning to expand in high-growth regions, such as China, India, South-East Asia and Latin America.

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group plan to form a joint ventureDaimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group recently signed a preliminary non-binding agreement to establish a new joint venture with an intention to develop, produce and commercialise fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicle applications and other use cases. Daimler will consolidate all its current fuel cell activities in this joint venture. The Volvo Group will acquire 50% in the joint venture for the sum of approximately €0.6 billion on a cash and debt-free basis. Knowing that the need for transport will continue to grow, Martin Daum, Chairman – Board of Management, Daimler Truck AG & Member, Board of Management, Daimler AG, asserted, “For trucks to cope with heavy loads and long distances, fuel cells are one important answer and it is a technology where Daimler has built up significant expertise through its Mercedes-Benz fuel cell unit over the last two decades. This joint initiative with the Volvo Group is a milestone in bringing fuel cell powered trucks and buses onto our roads.”

8

MARKE T | NEWS


Siemens connects healthcare providers and medical designers to produce components through AMSiemens recently made its Additive Manufacturing (AM) Network, along with its 3D printers, available to the global medical community for speed design and production of medical components. The AM Network connects users, designers and 3D-print service providers to enable faster and less complicated production of spare parts for machines, like ventilators. Doctors, hospitals and organisations in need of medical devices, including designers and service providers with medically certified printing capacities, can register for free access to the Siemens AM Network. Discussing the company’s contribution to fight COVID-19, Klaus Helmrich, Member of the Managing Board, Siemens AG & CEO, Siemens Digital Industries, emphasised, “Having worked on AM for years, we offer AM solutions along the entire value chain which can print 3D parts quickly according to acute demands. To help fight COVID-19, we have opened our AM Network for hospitals and other health institutions needing spare medical parts to efficiently manage their design and printing requests.”

Auto companies resume partial production in select statesCertain states have eased the lockdown conditions providing a breather to some manufacturing industries. One of Apollo Tyres’ plants based in Perambra, Kerala, has resumed partial production even as three other of its plants remain shut. A similar easing of restrictions was seen in Uttarakhand which is home to several automotive companies. Factories in Pantnagar and Rudrapur were given the green signal to restart production. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ashok Leyland have factories in Uttarakhand. Bajaj Auto confirmed it has got the state nod to commence production from its Pantnagar plant, though it makes products only for the domestic market. Mahindra & Mahindra's Rudrapur plant, which makes tractors, has started operations, too. The Ashok Leyland plants at Alwar, Bhandara and Pantnagar have received permission from the relevant government authorities to resume operations as well.

IMF projects 7.4% growth for India in 2021The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released the World Economic Outlook (WEO), according to which India’s growth is expected to dip to 1.9% in 2020 and rebound to 7.4% in 2021. India’s growth projection for 2020 is 3.9% lesser than what was projected for the country in January, while its rebound in 2021 is 0.9% higher than the January projection (for India, forecasts on a fiscal year basis). The world growth rates have been revised downwards by more than 6% since the January WEO update. Prior to a virtual press briefing to mark the release of the WEO report, Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist, IMF, stated, “The cumulative loss to global GDP over 2020 and 2021 from the pandemic crisis could be around $9 trillion, greater than the economies of Japan and Germany combined.” If the pandemic does not recede in the second half of 2020, the global GDP would fall an additional 3% in 2020, and if it continues into 2021, the global GDP may fall next year by an additional 8% relative to the baseline scenario, as per Gopinath.

Rockwell Automation India wins Golden Peacock Award for HR Excellence Award 2019 in Engineering Equipment sectorRockwell Automation India recently won the ‘HR Excellence Award’ in the Golden Peacock Awards, which is a major recognition framework to mark successes and accomplishments for the HR fraternity in India. The chairman of the awards was Justice M N Venkatachaliah, Chairman, Institute of Directors and Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India. The award applications were assessed at three levels by independent assessors and finally by a grand jury. As the winner of this award, they had an opportunity to share the HR best practices at Rockwell Automation with various organisations participating in the event. Subrat Sharma, India HR Head and Asia Pacific HR Business Partner, Rockwell Automation India, shared about their focus as an HR function – being a strategic partner, design thinking, agility at the core, functional expertise – and their success stories around growth, change enabling and segmented talent strategy.

PHOTOELECTRIC SENSORS

MINIATURE MINIATURE SENSOR

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Self-contained, embeddable sensor in 4 mm or M5 housing

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Miniature_D04_and_M05_210x273mm.indd 1 19/06/2019 16:13:47

10

MARKE T | I N TER V I EW


The sensors meant for outdoor applications are designed to overcome these conditions. So,

the coronavirus does not impact them. But, once the lockdown is lifted, the sensor industry will

have to cope with two problems – demand and supply. The demand will have to be generated

by reviving the projects which were in discussion before the lockdown. As for the supply, once

the orders are revived, the production should also be able to suffice.

How has the sensor world been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, especially when sensors function while holding out against rough outdoor conditions? What do you think should the industry do to stabilise itself once the lockdown period is over?

“Our main approach is an application-oriented one”

… says Deepak Aran, Director, Contrinex Automation, in this interview with Juili Eklahare. He discourses on the problems the

sensor industry will have to cope with once the lockdown is lifted, the company’s business conditions in China & Europe as the after-

effects of the COVID-19 crisis and how they are preparing customers for future sensor technologies. Excerpts…

Contrinex has a clientele base all across the world, especially in China and Europe. With the coronavirus hitting these two parts of the world hard, how has it affected business and how are you combating with the crisis, business-wise?

Our business in China and Europe has definitely been affected due to the virus. But China

re-bounced very quickly after the lockdown was lifted. Their government promoted multiple

industries to rework, which resulted in a heavy influx of orders, overwhelming our China

production. As far as Europe is concerned, most of the countries are still in lockdown and it

will take some more time to resume operations. But we have projects in the pipeline and are

optimistic of projects continuing after the lockdown.

Contrinex seeks to keep its same quality of products at the highest level in all countries. How have you been achieving this so far?

We have maintained our standards through standardisation of our technology, procedures

and raw materials, which ensures that the quality of our products remains the same and

strictly as per the norms and specifications, irrespective of where they are manufactured.

Also, our resources are shared and we replenish the requirements throughout the world by

utilising the capacities of our manufacturing plants in various countries.

What are you doing to prepare your customers for future sensor technologies?

Our main approach is an application-oriented one, which means that we try to understand the

requirements of our customer & their applications and where they need the sensor. According to

the given inputs, we then develop smart sensors as per their needs and specific requirements.

What does the company have planned for itself in the long-term and short-term?

In the short-term, we want to sustain these difficult times of COVID-19 and somehow wait

out the period to be able to revive operations to a normal level as fast as possible post

the pandemic. We are utilising this lockdown period to streamline our internal processes,

database, etc. which does not need market intervention. For the long-term, we are working

on futuristic products and modifying our internal systems to be more customer-friendly.

COME VISIT US!

12

START- UP | I N TER V I EW


For manufacturing industries, leveraging IT for I4.0 is not second nature and building in house

expertise is not scalable. But if deep tech can compliment their operational expertise, then

the solution becomes more like a tool for them and helps maximise their full manufacturing

potential. That was the idea that gave birth to LinkEZ. Our goal was to make technology simple

and easy-to-use, so that people can connect with it and adopt easily.

What was the agenda behind starting Linkez? How does it help connect people and technology?

“Connected manufacturing brings in complete visibility”

… mentions Divyesh Shah, CEO & Founder, LinkEZ Technologies, in his interview with Anvita Pillai. Here,

he discusses the idea behind starting LinkEZ, their MATS platform, how it can help in production monitoring during the

COVID-19 lockdown period and more. Excerpts…

There has always been a prevalent problem for manufacturers of not knowing ‘how a part is being manufactured’, raising questions about process, quality and delivery. How does your start-up provide a solution to this problem?

Interestingly, we have heard the exact statement from many OEMs that we talked to. OEMs

prescribe the process and audit through paper trail. This is not efficient if you consider

OEMs having thousands of part manufacturers in the supply chain. LinkEZ, with its AI-driven

MATS Platform, helps digitalise 4Ms (Man, Machine, Material and Method), enforces the

process, monitors quality and provides real-time digital transparency to answer the ‘how

is it manufactured’ question across their supply chain pyramid. MATS platform brings in

efficiency in delivering to the plan, to the quality and enables remote audit.

How does connected manufacturing bring in ease of production to both, the manufacturer as well as the end-customer?

Connected manufacturing brings in complete visibility of people, process and inventory, enabling

reduction of costs by allowing accountability, compliance and buffer inventory reduction across

the supply chain. Couple it with 100% enforceability that MATS bring in, it consents zero process

violations and zero-defect manufacturing. With this, the cost of compliance and quality come

down significantly for both, OEMs and vendors enabling a truly cost-optimised supply chain.

With the COVID-19 impacting and there being a reduction in labour and movement, how do you think your product MATS can be helpful in production monitoring?

Our MATS platform enables one to adhere to COVID-19 SOPs while not compromising with the

manufacturing SOPs. It uses guided workflows for quick labour reskilling and digital information

exchange at every level, enabling social distancing and the ability to control, observe and

enforce remotely. We have 25+ feature rich modules that address all these and many other

situations. It’s like having a digital supervisor always present across the supply chain.

How do you plan on growing and establishing a strong presence in India in the next five years? Any plans of global expansion?

Presently, we are the digital transformation partners to some of the major manufacturers

in India, drawing a strategy for them and implementing MATS across their plants. Our

MATS platform enables true 4.0 CoE, be it for small, medium or large enterprises. We

are aggressively building our partner network in India and abroad, and have enabled our

5X outreach goal. In the next 5 years, our goal is to help at least 10K+ manufacturers

realise their full potential through digital transformation.

13A&D I n d i a | A p r-Ma y 2020

5G causing coronavirus – A perilous nonsense

The coronavirus has taken over our lives, stopping us from stepping out of the four walls of our houses for a long time now. The very initial source of the coronavirus is believed to be a wet market in Wuhan, China, which sold both dead and live animals. Besides that, there’s word that a Chinese high-security biosafety laboratory in Wuhan may be the cause of the outbreak.

But there’s a new theory in town – the conspiracy theory that 5G is somehow the cause for the coronavirus pandemic. One needs to take notice of the fact that the virus is also spreading in countries without access to 5G, like India, Japan and Iran. At the same time, South Korea has had 5G towers for a year now, and it only began to have COVID-19 cases after the Wuhan outbreak. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says on its website, “Non-ionising radiation is not strong enough to directly affect the structure of atoms or damage DNA.”

A conspiracy theory connecting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic to 5G mobile telecommunications masts is, indeed, dangerous fake news. New South Wales Labor politician, Penny Sharpe, in early April, tweeted, “The people sending me conspiracy theories about the 5G network causing coronavirus. I can't be more blunt about it. Stop it. It's not sensible. It's not helpful. It has been one of the most disappointing things.” Another individual voicing his views is Nick Jeffrey, CEO, Vodafone, UK, who wrote in a LinkedIn post that the conspiracy theories were utterly baseless and said a mast serving an emergency hospital had been targeted. What’s more, Professor

Stephen Powis, National Medical Director, NHS, said it was the worst kind of fake news.

And yet, the idea of COVID-19 having anything to do with 5G has been spread like wildfire. It all began with a Belgian newspaper that tried to link the pandemic with 5G technology, quoting a general practitioner from Putte, near Antwerp. Thus, the conspiracy theory instantly spread all over on English-speaking Facebook pages. This extensive spread of such disinformation, without a doubt, is extremely dangerous. For instance, the fact that multiple 5G towers being set on fire in the UK.

However, companies are already taking matters into their own hands. The World Health Organization hosted a meeting at Facebook this year, with some of the largest tech companies, to discuss how to bring down disinformation about coronavirus.

This spread of disinformation of 5G being the cause of the coronavirus pandemic is certainly concerning. Moreover, such conspiracy theories can do some real damage, sidetracking us from the real problem which we need to work on – that is the fact that we are dealing with a deadly virus, with no cure yet. Instead of focusing on and encouraging such baseless news, we must focus on social distancing, taking precautions, following the lockdown and supporting research for vaccine development. Remember people, radio waves can only spread computer viruses, not human ones.

– Juili Eklahare, Features Writer, [email protected]

WORLD AFFA IRS OP IN ION

14

COVER STO RY | T ECHNOLOG Y


Helping humans in the COVID-19 crisisEMERGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Coronavirus has become a worldwide concern as the disease continues to sweep all across the globe. The world continues to tackle the crisis with every passing day. However, while humankind is putting up a courageous battle against COVID-19, technology, too, is helping combat it. A plethora of technologies are being used to fight the pandemic, putting their effective solutions to use. This article discusses why we need a connected, digital economy now and the 10 emerging digital technologies that are helping humans in the fight against COVID-19.

Hiten Shah, Research Analyst,Frost & Sullivan

Kiran Kumar, Research Manager – TechVision,Frost & Sullivan


14 A&D I nd i a | A p r-Ma y 2020

15

TECHNOLOGY | COVER STORY


The past few months have been grim and difficult for businesses and people, and the uncertainty of the future has only added to the anxiety. The inadequacy and inefficiency of the initial crisis response, however, has been slightly offset by a swift and ironclad response from stakeholders across the spectrum. Governments, citizens and companies have pooled all their collective resources to minimise the negative impacts of the pandemic while simultaneously working day in and day out to stop the spread.

On the brighter side, the restrictions of social interactions and the compulsion of minimal travel have also brought some surprising facts to light. Reports from NASA have shown a drastic reduction in pollution cover over major cities in China, whereas Venice has reported a steep increase in the quality of water flowing across its canals. This shows that if businesses, governments and individuals could actively participate in reducing their carbon footprint, they can also contribute to reducing the adverse effect of climate change. Companies can also actively work towards promoting and encouraging remote working, which can reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion problems across cities.

Why we need a connected, digital economy now – more than ever

COVID-19 will have far-reaching effects on business communities globally. This crisis is seen as an inflection point in the drive toward digitisation across businesses globally. The connected, digital economy is helping enterprises, employees and consumers remain engaged and do business, even as the virus continues to spread.

This crisis has made it clear in the business world, more so than ever, that investing in emerging digital technologies can potentially do a world of good. The growing dependency on business conferencing tools, e-commerce, digital learning, VR-based training and business apps supporting remote workers cannot be dismissed as a blip and is likely to remain the new norm among businesses worldwide.

Listed below are the 10 emerging digital technologies that are helping humans in the fight against COVID-19. Some of these examples are curated from government, industry and media sources, available in the public domain.

1. The help of papers & articlesResearchers can potentially use natural language processing

to skim through scientific papers and scholarly articles to help combat information overload. In the US, as part of an announcement of a project called the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19), a research team has developed an AI platform that makes it easier for team members to quickly find relevant studies that can potentially lead to new insights or approaches to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

2. Blockchain technologyBlockchain technology can potentially be used to effectively

manage medical data, track the supply of virus prevention materials (disinfectants, sanitizers) and consult the public. The first two weeks of February witnessed the launch of 20 new blockchain applications in China to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak. For example, Alipay launched a blockchain platform that enables NGOs and federal organisations to collaborate more efficiently and transparently, such as for tracking allocation and donation of relief supplies, tracing medical supplies, etc.

This crisis has made it clear in the

business world, more so than ever, that

investing in emerging digital technologies

can potentially do a world of good

16



3. Chatbot toolsChatbot tools can provide an online triage in infection

diagnostics. A digital health-based start-up in Italy, Paginemediche, has joined medical experts to develop a chatbot that has already been adopted by the Provincial Health Services Agency in Trento. It was developed based on the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Health, Italy. The tool is primarily used by healthcare professionals to interact with patients via remote visits. Similarly, BBDO Guerrero has partnered with the National Union of Journalists and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility to develop a Facebook chatbot that sniffs out fake news in the Philippines, where 98% of the population uses Facebook as their primary source of information.

4. Augmented Reality / Virtual RealityThe COVID-19 outbreak has impacted many of the

industry’s most important conferences and expos this year. Technologies like Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality can be considered digital alternatives to address the issue. HTC, for instance, held its Vive Ecosystem Conference (VEC) using VR in March this year. Similarly, companies in the real estate space, such as Beijing-based China Fortune Land Development and Hong Kong-based Greentown China Holdings, have recently launched programs that allow their customers (property buyers) to take VR tours of properties for sale.

5. 3D Printing3D Printing can be used to help produce vital hospital

supplies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A hospital in Italy was able to save the lives of many COVID-19 patients by 3D Printing valves on reanimation devices. Hundreds of 3D Printing design engineers and specialists have already created a public document reflecting their eagerness to assist in the production of respirators, valves, masks, etc.

6. DronesDrones can be potentially used to carry test kits and medical

supplies, cutting delivery time and improving response time for medical authorities. Further, drones are being increasingly used in countries like South Korea and China to spray disinfecting chemicals in public spaces and on epidemic prevention vehicles commuting to the infected areas. Drones equipped with thermal imaging technology are being used in China to detect people with fever/flu symptoms.

7. Use of roboticsSimilar to drones, robotics can be put to great use in

checking temperatures and identifying and disinfecting people in public spaces, thus eliminating human contact. In Wuhan, the epicentre of the Corona outbreak, robots are being used to take vital signs, deliver meds and even entertain quarantined patients in a smart field hospital. The use of robots in hospitals can provide much-needed relief for medical staff and other healthcare workers as they continue to provide care for affected patients.

8. Cloud conferencing Video conferencing solutions have been the lifeblood of

companies and educational institutions. With offices closed and travel being restricted, cloud meetings have kept companies from falling apart and have helped them minimise the business impact, according to media reports. Zoom, a prominent cloud conferencing solutions provider, experienced a massive spike in its user base, adding more monthly active users in the first quarter of 2020 than in all of 2019.

9. Social mediaSocial media platforms in recent years have been a key

medium of communication during a crisis. At a time when

With an agile working model

that allows businesses to

remain productive, digitisation

and adoption of emerging

technologies will continue

to be a critical priority and

serve as a cost-effective route

for business differentiation

across industry verticals in

the foreseeable future

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The big question is how to do this ? - When personal meetings are not possible - When there are huge controls over costs. - When events are getting cancelled - When travelling is avoided. - When safety of the staff is a concern - When you need to interact and reach out to your

potential clients sitting in the office/home

In the view of this we have initiated a “DIGITAL HANDSHAKE” initiative where you can provide your contents on our platforms and reach out to the markets not only during this challenging times, but also in the future.

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Virtual EventConnect to a world of new possibilities.

Network like never before.

WebinarPresent your solutions to your

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18



the reach of traditional media has been limited due to social distancing measures, social media users have kept the world updated and have played a major role in dissipating credible information. Mediums such as Twitter and Facebook have taken concrete steps to ensure that only helpful and credible content is distributed on their platforms by curbing the spread of fake and misleading content.

10. The role of 5G5G can play an indirect role in the containment of this

virus outbreak. Huge bandwidth, high speed and low latency allow for seamless communication in hospitals and emergency command centres. It could potentially serve as a foundation that enables the implementation of the aforementioned technologies. China has announced that the country plans to build at least 500,000 5G base stations in 2020, following recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The path ahead – go digital

The pace of technological innovation in the past 20 years has been mindboggling and the ubiquity and accessibility of tech are what have kept economies and human lives going. It is difficult to imagine how we could have handled such a pandemic 15-20 years ago, when all of the above technologies did not exist.

Now, more than ever, pragmatism holds the key to staying afloat. At a time when economies and businesses are functioning at their bare minimum, this crisis provides an unprecedented opportunity for business leaders to pause, think and realign their long-term business strategies and put their crisis response strategies to the test. With an agile working model that allows businesses to remain productive, digitisation and adoption of emerging technologies will continue to be a critical priority and serve as a cost-effective route for business differentiation across industry verticals in the foreseeable future. ☐

www.industr.com/en - a website, designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, updated with the latest information on the manufacturing technology world

Available on all digital devices globally, www.industr.com/en is an umbrella portal that integrates content of our two magazines – EM (Efficient Manufacturing) and A&D India (Automation & Digitisation).

Click and be a part of our online community!

publish-industry India Pvt LtdOffice No. 302, Sarosh Bhavan, Near BMW Showroom, Dr. Ambedkar RoadPune - 411001Maharashtra – [email protected]

www.industr.com/en

19

TECHNOLOGY | V IEWPO INT


IMA

GE

CO

UR

TES

Y: iS

tock

The COVID-19 pandemic has made production operations come to a halt, partly or fully, around the world. This ‘first in history of manufacturing’ situation demands for companies to think and act differently and look for new normal best practices. In any case, adjusting operations in real-time needs a new approach to advanced automation and digitalisation. The Viewpoint seeks to understand the present and future impact of COVID-19 and if advanced technologies can help in keeping the productions up and running with distant human monitoring.

Ruchi Mathur,Head – Commercial Marketing,Rockwell Automation India

Anvita PillaiSub-Editor & [email protected]

“COVID-19 has provided strong incentive to move towards smart factory”

The current situation has a deep impact on key segments of the economy and the manufacturing sector, too, has suffered. The need of the hour is to put in place a comprehensive action plan that addresses the potential impacts, from short-term cash flow concerns to longer term balance sheet adjustments. From the lens of global opportunity, we expect the course of economic recovery in India will be smoother & faster than that of any other advanced countries.

During this time, it is critical that our customers have the support they need, in a way that maximises productivity and minimises risk. Right now, we are helping them with our TechConnect remote support team that remotely coaches and resolves many complex issues via phone. Also, our collaborative remote technologies enable remote engineers to provide guidance to site-based operations staff even when they are not on-site. For companies vulnerable to a viral outbreak within their ranks, a connected enterprise with the ability to scale up the technology adoption across the value chain would be the way forward and should not be delayed any longer by businesses. The after-effects on the industry are impossible to forecast at this point. Although businesses have had reason to embrace digital workflows in the past, COVID-19 has provided another strong incentive to move towards a smart factory. The fastest approach could be to identify immediate use cases and scale up.

V IEWP O IN T | T ECHNOLOGY

Analysing the approach to advanced technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic

20



“Engage in small pilots with in-house talent & build up on it”

These are definitely challenging times, and the industry as a whole needs to gear up to be back on track. As far as power sector is concerned, we come under the essential services category and all power engineers are on the job, in service to the nation, in this time of crisis. The best approach to these advanced technologies in the current situation is to engage in small pilots with in-house talent and build up on it. AI, ML and robotics, no doubt, are known to increase productivity and efficiency on the shop floor and can also keep productions on with distant monitoring. However, any distant human operations or monitoring typically undergoes a robust testing process in order to ensure that equipment at the plant or factory end are inherently safe in every situation. Also, it’s a fact that any distant monitoring carries with it a risk of cyber security issues which needs to be addressed to its totality. As far our organisation is concerned, the concept of ‘distant human monitoring’ has already been successfully employed – for example, monitoring of make-up pumps about 45 km from our plant at Omkareshwar. Also, a hydro station has been totally operated from the company headquarters.

Finally, while there’s no denying that Industry 4.0 technologies are promising especially in the manufacturing sector; but it also has potential to bring with it a reduction in workforce in the manufacturing sector, ultimately adding to unemployment. Hence, according to me, it’s a dichotomy. Being socially responsible corporates, we need to adequately find alternate avenues for upskilling and rehabilitate the displaced workforce. But having said this, in power stations and process industries, the focus of digitalisation has been to improve the safety, reliability, efficiency of our maintenance & operations.

A K Goswami,Business Unit Head, NTPC Khargone

Arun Kapur,President, Business Operations & Strategy, Microtek International

“Agility and speed are key to transformation”

The inherent demand in India is huge and this is triggered by consumers and the whole cycle is interrelated. So, the losses are there, and this situation will take six to seven months to come to a certain level of semblance. There could be capacity losses in some sectors to the tune of 15-20% against annual budget. With the COVID-19 scenario, which has jolted everyone, it is easy to understand that social distancing is manageable if one is automated. It brings in ease to keeping operations up as the machines can run for longer hours as compared to human labour force, and an investment from 20% of the revenue can bring back the ROI in less than two years. There could be more such scenarios in the future, so agility and speed are key to transformation. Now, remote diagnostics, remote data capturing & reporting and agile working, combined with Industry 4.0, dashboarding and IoT systems, can reduce the dependence, enhance the use of vision systems and sensor. This can help reduce the quality defect, bring down the cost and bring more dependable operation. Use of small automation and simple lean techniques, improving layouts that can enhance social distancing and still ensuring improved takt time, will push manufacturing engineers to redraw the layouts that are leaner and more connected. Cobots could come in to be handier during this time. With a VUCA scenario like this, an agile system with Industry 4.0 will give a strong basis to reorganise, reduce the cost and think aggressively on risk management of this magnitude.

21



“Incorporate set-ups where deployment of manpower is optimum”

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unfortunate and at the same time, an eye opener. Businesses do lots of risk analysis & risk predictions, but this event took everyone on the wrong footing. Amidst all the tough time that we are facing, the present situation has given us the belief that we can do things which can be out of the way too; like, who could have imagined automotive plants churning out medical devices? Coming to the point of recovery, I see a quick recovery in the pipeline. Manufacturing leaders, in today’s situation, will have to sharpen their business planning skills to find the right mix of utilisation of their present set-up & plan things best suited for the future. In our case, we will be utilising the concept & leveraging the power of World Class Manufacturing (WCM) to achieve our goals & deliver our results. For AI, ML, robotics, etc, it takes a lot of planning & years to build an environment where one can take advantage of it. The present crisis will result into two things happening in manufacturing set-ups till normalcy returns – optimisation of station density and lots of small measures taken to improve connectivity & visualisation. But for the long-term, strategists will take this learning & incorporate set-ups where deployment of manpower is optimum into their planning. There are industries who have adopted digitalisation in a very good way in their value chain – especially airlines, railways, automotive, medical, etc. One will find most of the process industries highly into it. MSME is one area based on need & affordability, and going forward, they can be taken as a priority by industrial bodies & the government to bring the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in a phased manner.

Rajesh K Sharma,Director,Whirlpool India

Niju Vijayan,Executive Director,Avanteum Advisors

“It will be implausible that technology can substitute human”

The present situation is a matter of grave concern for the manufacturing industry as the wheels of operations have come to a standstill. Post May 3, 2020, selective states will continue the lockdown and unfortunately, those with a high economic importance will become a part of this list. This would mean that supply chain disruptions will exact a high price on the manufacturing units in other states. During the next two quarters, CPG, agri, food, pharma and medical device industries are likely to witness a strong recovery. It will be interesting to see how the geographically distributed manufacturers optimise their units to meet the demand. Organisations which were already climbing the technology curve with investments will be the ones that had identified technology infusion areas at least two to three years ago. The shortage of skilled & unskilled manpower will not just accelerate but will also provide the conviction to manufacturers to continue down the technology highway. Theoretically, Industry 4.0 has the potential to run manufacturing units with minimal human intervention. At the same time, we need to be cognizant of the Indian scenario where the I4.0 technologies were being implemented by numerous manufacturers in a phased manner, with key challenges taking precedence. An integrated philosophy covering all functions within the manufacturing enterprise, suppliers and distribution is a long way off. Hence, it will be implausible to consider that technology can substitute human in present day manufacturing in India. Adoption of I4.0 is being done in phases where there is limited advantage to be derived from best practices. Moreover, adjusting operations in real-time calls for many enabling factors and elements, that are currently in a dormant state.

22



Saurabh Prakash,Plant Head,Meenakshi Polymers

“Full recovery will be slow unless companies adopt collaborative automation”

Now that the lockdown is existing cumulatively for 40 days, recovery and maintaining productions once the factories reopen will be a challenge. The biggest challenge would be maintaining the social distancing norm, which will affect factory floors, as we have a very high density of manual labour placement in the present day factory layouts. These factories were never designed for labour spacing. There will be lots of challenges of space to accommodate automation, and a bigger challenge would be accommodating it in the existing layouts, as the related equipment cannot be relocated easily. Hence, implementing latest technologies to meet existing production rates, if not ramping up, will require 'collaborative automation' so that both, operators and automation can coexist in the same space, which has been vacated by the spacing of labours due to social distancing. Luckily, collaborative systems, which is one of the pillars of Industry 4.0, is easy to implement in such situations and in constrained spaces. Besides, robotics, AI, ML, remote monitoring and IIoT will be of great help. Now, during the lockdown, lots of managers have used remote conferencing, data sharing, etc in a big way as there was no choice. Similarly, Industry 4.0 implementation will give great benefits in remote monitoring of factories. But one has to begin somewhere.

Digitalisation and adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies is not difficult. It is just a matter of reskilling ones existing IT and OT workforce to converge. The start may sound difficult, but it can be done with some external expert help. And simultaneously, reskilling one’s own team can take implementation to higher scales in a cost-effective manner.

Naresh Kantoor,Managing Director, EnconSystems

“A motivated & willing manpower is important along with latest technologies”

The present lockdown is effective for almost six weeks now and undoubtedly, has caused a serious loss to the manufacturing industry’s economy. But by the end of this year, things are looking upwards. The manufacturing industry will be recovering faster than the rest of the overall economy. In fact, it will help to pull the overall economy out of the bottom and gradually from the great recession, too. As far as the recovery is concerned, during the initial one-week recovery period, the management and planning department will have to take the following steps – reviewing of the order book, arranging of raw materials, programming for CNC & other M/c jobs, reviewing inspection procedures, reviewing the status of store i.e. consumables like gases and reviewing electric supply & repair work, if required.

The practise of Al, ML, robotics, etc, is good for nations where availability of manpower is less. In our country, there is no shortage of manpower. Industry 4.0 technologies should be adopted for high precision activities like defence, space craft and allied fields. Distance human monitoring practices have been adopted for a long time by Siemens in Germany, where there was shortage of manpower due to wars. Undoubtedly, we are lagging in the field of digitalisation, and the government has started paying attention to our field only recently. As stated earlier, Industry 4.0 technologies have to be deployed for high precision field. Last but not the least, one can bring the hose to the water but can’t compel it to dry out, unless the willingness is there. So, a motivated and willing manpower is one of the most important factors along with the latest technologies.

23



“Resuming work in the old layouts won’t be feasible anymore”

Owing to the unprecedented corona crisis, the world will be divided into pre-COVID and post-COVID periods, and a lot of things will radically change. With the economic activities being stopped almost for six weeks in India, it is difficult to estimate the recovery period for the small and big sectors as of now. With many new procedures on employee health and safety to be adopted in the post-COVID period, it will be a big challenge to follow social distancing, sanitisation and new practices on the shop floor. Hence, resuming work in the old layouts won’t be feasible anymore. A big re-engineering is needed everywhere. My estimate is, it will require two to four quarters to recover from the period of end-of-lockdown and get attuned to new working norms. I am not sure if this is the right time to start new technology pilots and Manufacturing 4.0 projects. ROI for such new technologies will be very challenging to achieve in view of the current losses incurred and the upcoming low demand situations, unless projects are very relevant to the current needs. Opportunities will further exist for technologies which replace physical meetings, physical interactions between supervisors and workmen, remote diagnostics avoiding physical travel, etc. Also, technologies should be made affordable for medium and small industries by innovations. Digitalisation should be an ongoing process, continuing as part of the long-term plan, irrespective of the crisis period coming and going, as this will greatly help in disaster management in public spaces as well as private companies.

Shrikant Savangikar,(Retd) Director, Business Excellence, Quality & Sustainability, SKF India, and MD, Sustainable Solutions

Vivek Gupta,Assistant Vice President & Head – Instrumentation,DCM Shriram

“Industry 4.0 cannot replace humans fully”

It is probably the first time in the history of modern times that the world has come to a standstill. Stopping the manufacturing production was the need of the hour to save mankind. The pace of recovery shall be slow, as restrictions will remain till there is a cure available for COVID-19. Demand of goods will increase slowly but the industries will have to prove that their products are ‘free’ from the virus. This can be through some of the best practices, like picking up employees from their home, providing them with required PPEs, disinfecting work environment/machines/tools, safe packing, safe transportation of goods, maintaining physical distancing on the shop floor and medical check-ups on a regular basis. These will have to be shared through social media, advertisements, etc to gain confidence of the workforce and customers. In the DCM Kota complex, where some of the essential commodities are produced, we are strictly following the norms prescribed, with regular disinfection. Industry 4.0/AI, ML, robotics, etc cannot replace humans fully. Industry 4.0 has still not been picked up by process industries, as one single window which has proven solutions with complete support is missing because sensors & software providers are different.

When normal operations start, it’ll be important to run plants continuously without breakdown. Plant managers can move beyond preventive maintenance practices and embrace predictive maintenance strategies built around continuous condition monitoring systems, powered by advanced sensors. Their return on investment is significant as they experience fewer breakdowns and thereby, deliver major gains in plant uptime and productivity. It is the best time to carry out preventive checks & maintenance for a safe and smooth start.

MANAGE ME N T | I N TER V I EW

24 A&D I nd i a | A p r-Ma y 2020

“We have to adopt an agile methodology with continuous improvement”

… says DS Ravindra Raju, President – Manufacturing, Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation, in this interview with Juili Eklahare. He discusses how the company is

continuously seeking inputs from industry experts to improve its performance, the kind of automation systems it uses to run its plant at full capacity in the current pandemic and how

modern day Industry 4.0 technologies should be smartly adopted. Excerpts…

(PPE) and guidelines for resumption of operations after the lockdown. We have also taken steps for the safety of employees – for example, Information, Education & Communication (IEC) posters being displayed across the plant to spread awareness, separate swiping of attendance cards and ensuring social distancing. What’s more, only skeletal staff that are required to run the plant is called in & handheld thermal scanners are placed at the entry gate.

When it comes to the automation systems, we have brought about paperless movement of delivery orders and weighbridge systems through SAP Hana enablement, to avoid driver contact and save on time. We have also implemented remote monitoring of process parameters and critical process failures & installed cameras at key operating points to keep a track of field readings. Moreover, there has been a strict implementation of auto controls for tripping, in case of any deviation from SOPs in the protocol.

Without time for extensive planning and pilots, how can manufacturing and technology leaders move quickly in the current situation, while being confident that they are taking the right approach to advanced automation technologies? Would you like to give examples of best practices in the current situation from your organisation?We are adopting a culture of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and continuous improvement in an agile manner, supported by Information Technology, so that we can accelerate the adoption of advanced automation technologies. In the quest for operational excellence, we are continuously seeking inputs from industry experts and industry benchmarks to improve our performance. We are also extensively adopting Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

DFPCL’s Taloja Plant in Raigad district, Maharashtra, is functioning at full capacity since Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) is manufactured in the plant. IPA is a key ingredient in hand sanitiser manufacturing, which is now essential to fight against the coronavirus. Do you see any challenges/roadblocks to operate the plant at full capacity in the current situation?The very fact that we didn’t compromise on anything while building our state-of-the-art facilities has today emerged as a key strength to us. This means that, even though we are

facing challenges in terms of availability of physical manpower, our plant continues to operate at full

capacity, with bare minimum people present for running the plant and required maintenance. From the downstream supply chain perspective, we aren’t facing any challenges.

Can you provide us more details on what kind of automation systems and safety measures

are deployed so as to run the plant at full capacity in the

current situation?As for the safety measures that we have in place to run the plant at full capacity, we have SOPs developed for dos and don’ts – prevention of COVID-19, guidelines on use of Personal P r o t e c t i v e E q u i p m e n t

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I N TERV I EW | M ANAGEMENT


for smart collaboration and seamless communications – with a combination of integrated data, voice and video technologies, along with collaboration technologies and knowledge/document management systems. For example, we are enabling paperless movement of inbound/outbound logistics and virtual capabilities for auditors to remotely verify plant process parameters and operations parameters. We have deployed a fully automated Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) to monitor critical emission parameters in real-time and communicate these seamlessly through internet technology.

Digitalisation technologies like AI, ML, robotics, etc have been said to bring in ease to work in the production processes in the future. However, during the present crisis, do you think these modern day Industry 4.0 technologies could be used to run the manufacturing & other operations independently with distant human monitoring, until things settle back to normal? What are the initiatives from DFPCL in this area?Yes, modern day Industry 4.0 technologies should be smartly adopted (wherever it makes business sense) to reduce the dependency on physical presence in plant premises. For that, we have planned and are in the process of implementing many Industry 4.0 technologies. Some of the key ones are automation and remote monitoring of critical process parameters, process automation for production accounting (and loss monitoring), remote technologies for monitoring critical process failures (for example, smart cameras and image analytics), vehicle movement/logistics tracking inside and outside the plant, predictive maintenance & remote monitoring, paperless processes, integration of Industry 4.0 technologies with ERP and DCS, digital twin for simulating plant operations &

predicting process/equipment failures and Big Data platform for descriptive & predictive analytics.

India has been lagging to a certain extent in adopting digitalisation and to be fair, we are still at a nascent stage. How do you think the industries can speed up with the best

practices and adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies during this crisis and adjust operations in real-time? This is an excellent opportunity (albeit forced not planned) to evaluate new ways of working & collaboration and change the equation between man, method and machine. We have been forced to think innovatively during this crisis to reduce the dependency on manpower

and increase the machine efficiency through Industry 4.0 best practices and technology adoption. We have to adopt an agile methodology with continuous improvement, supported by technology adoption, in order to allow us to adjust the operations in as much of real-time as possible.

How can plant leaders make a positive impact and make a difference during the current crisis in order to direct the industry towards functioning normally again?Plant leaders can look forward to increasing the level of digitalisation and automation within the plants to reduce human intervention in non value-added activities. Additionally, the increased use of information technology to augment automation will support the workforce to run the existing operations with minimal physical presence requirements in the plant. Additionally, this is a good opportunity to increase the digital competency of the workforce through training interventions, so that it can be ready to adapt to such situations in the future. ☐

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO EVALUATE NEW WAYS OF WORKING & COLLABORATION

‘‘

DS Ravindra Raju has over 30 years of experience in the field of manufacturing and has served as the Whole Time Director at Paradeep Phosphate. He holds a Post Graduate degree from XLRI Jamshedpur and the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. He has also been on the Board of Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha.

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CHEMICAL & P RO CE SS | FOCUS


The global chemicals industry provides key raw materials to many applications, from construction to packaging to automotive and medical. In fact, specialty chemicals are often the key contributor to performance in end-use markets. Consumer preference and demanding performance requirements lead producers to create broad and expansive product portfolios and often lead to long and complex supply chains. At the same time, the external challenges of regulation and geopolitical risks generate uncertainty in the market. In this essential context, innovation and sustainability remain important strategic priorities for the sector.

Applying digital technologies is becoming a strategic imperative in many industries, including the chemicals sector.

Leading multi-national and diversified chemical company, BASF’s website states, “Digitalisation presents big opportunities for us. Using digital technologies and data, we are creating additional value for our customers and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our processes.”

Chemical industry response is lagging

Although many chemical companies are actively working to use digital technologies in their business, by most accounts, the industry is lagging. In 2017, the Deloitte report ‘Digital transformation: Are chemical enterprises ready?’ stated that most chemicals enterprises lack a digital roadmap or strategy. The

Digital acceleration in specialty chemicalsProducers of specialty chemicals face particularly demanding challenges due to the complexity of operations, the increasing variety and number of products their downstream customers require. Digital technologies, now, can guide improvements at all stages of an asset lifecycle – from unit design and operations optimisation (including production and supply chain) to maintenance programs. The article discusses how specialty chemicals require greater efficiency in innovation and how the industry can prepare & implement it.

Paige Morse, Industry Marketing Director, AspenTech

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FOCUS | CHEM I CAL & PROCESS


authors cited several possible reasons for the slow progress – from the challenge of large capital projects to the lack of confidence in and knowledge of digital technologies.

In its 2018 update, Deloitte reported some progress but still rated the chemical sector as a five on a scale from 1 to 10, even as 85% of the executives believe that the chemical industry is moderately to highly digitally mature. This assessment comes in the context of anticipated growth in the market and with it a realisation that digital technologies are a key tool to realise the full business opportunity. At the same time, Deloitte reports that chemical executives acknowledge the value of deploying digital technologies to achieve operational efficiency and productivity, while also addressing key challenges in R&D and in complex manufacturing environments. These challenges are typically leading concerns for specialty chemicals companies. Chemical companies are similar to oil and gas companies in operational efficiency and productivity concerns but have greater need for innovation and advanced manufacturing.

In a European Petrochemicals Association (EPCA) report published last year, 73% of petrochemical companies surveyed rated themselves as ‘lagging behind’ in supply chain digitalisation, while their customers rated their lag more significant at 95%. The survey results, analysed for EPCA by the Vlerick School of Business, noted that customer behaviour was an important driver in the need to develop new supply chain tools. The challenge for many companies is gaining enough understanding to harness the advantages that are possible with digital technologies. Organisations struggle to learn the terms, correlate with current and future assets, harness data to ensure safe and secure operations and leverage advanced models to develop greater business expertise.

Leaders are gearing up for change

Leading companies are introducing new organisational approaches to digitalisation, as they see value across their portfolios and align their organisations to best capture the advantages. Evonik established a digitalisation subsidiary and named a Chief Digital Officer in 2017 and has since moved to invest £100 million in developing and testing new digitisation technologies. Executive Board Chairman, Christian Kullmann,

noted, “For us, as a specialty chemicals company, digitalisation brings with it a world of possibilities.” Wacker Chemie has launched a new program to advance digital transformation across its supply chain. In its 2018 annual meeting, Rudolf Staudigl, President & CEO, Wacker Chemie, acknowledged the value, stating, “Digitalisation will help us satisfy the customer needs even better. It is a topic that encompasses the entire supply chain, from product development and manufacturing right through to customer service.”

In 2018, diversified major Dow added ‘Chief Digital Officer’ to its ‘Chief Information Officer’ title to reinforce the company’s emphasis on digital tools. In her role as CDO and CIO, Melanie Kalmar leads a team of executives, business-line Presidents and functional Vice Presidents to develop Dow’s digital strategy.

At Fortune’s 2018 Brainstorm Reinvent conference, Kalmar highlighted that digital technologies are not meant as an add-on to existing operations. “Many companies have failed because they looked at digital as an add-on to what they do already, as a new tool. The reality is that you have to step back, simplify and rethink how you execute your work on a day-to-day basis.” The value of using digital tools, she asserted, is to be more agile and to come closer to the customers. In specialty chemicals markets, better alignment with the customers is a key tool to achieving business success. With this digitalisation emphasis, these companies are acknowledging that digital technologies are a differentiator in the competitive specialties segment.

In heavy asset process industries like chemicals and refining, leaders are embracing an asset optimisation strategy to enhance the entire asset lifecycle using digital tools. Asset optimisation has always been about digital technologies. Now it is accelerated through new developments, like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and multivariate analytics and is further enhanced with concepts like innovation, vertical integration and asset lifecycle.

Value opportunities in digitalisation

In the specialty chemicals market, digital technologies can effectively address the following emerging priorities:

• Accelerating innovation• Optimising across the value chain• Aligning with customer demands

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Innovation allows businesses to meet customer demands while also staying ahead of competitors. Specialty chemicals manufacturers are continually looking to innovate and enhance product performance at a lower cost – often with fewer or alternative raw materials. Digital technologies can boost productivity and reduce errors by easing the transition from laboratory to plant production processes. Researchers at Dow Chemical call this ‘model-guided experimentation.’ They use first-principles modelling tools to accelerate the time to market for new polymers, running simulations to adjust process conditions in advance of the plant trials. Manual procedures, hand-written reports and paper-based systems are still common for critical activities, such as recipe execution, quality monitoring and raw material management. These isolated tools limit visibility into data and often delay responses to potential quality issues and regulatory requirements. Through digitalisation, companies can gain insight that allows for improvements in quality and consistency.

Specialty chemical producers have improved quality by 10-20% by implementing best practices enabled by manufacturing execution, advanced process control and asset performance management solutions from AspenTech. These systems deliver reduced variability that has directly contributed to improved outcomes for their customers.

For example, modelling tools can be used to better predict and control behaviour in plant reactors. Qenos, a specialty polymer producer in Australia, accelerated its introduction of a new product by six months using Aspen Polymers™ and process data. Additionally, the company cut costs by US $135,000 per year by optimising production processes to reduce monomer use and cut by product wax production.

Rapidly changing market and customer demands force

frequent changes in production schedules; according to some producers, adjustments of 25-45% each month are not uncommon. Scheduling tools deliver the best value when linked with manufacturing execution systems, often referred to as vertical integration, so commercial systems are synchronised with process automation. Improved scheduling tools help companies make better business decisions as variations occur by incorporating key constraints, such as storage limitations, throughput rates and variable lead times – while minimising excess inventory and off-spec production. Better scheduling capabilities can also boost asset utilisation. At the same time, schedulers can see the impact of their decisions and make adjustments to avoid problems along the supply chain before they happen.

Benefitting from digital acceleration

The tools, services and solutions specialty chemicals producers need to manage their complex operations and achieve new levels of reliability and profitability, which are accessible to companies now. The first step is to consider the primary challenge for one’s business and identify relevant digital solutions. Adopting such tools will set one on a path towards a more holistic approach to achieving the highest possible financial return over the entire asset lifecycle. The process industries have been on this digitalisation journey for the past 40 years, continuously striving to improve operational performance. Digital technologies enable opportunities that do not stop with operations but expand to address key drivers in specialty chemicals markets, such as accelerating innovation, optimising across the value chain and aligning with customer demands. ☐

In a European Petrochemicals Association (EPCA) report published last year, 73% of petrochemical companies surveyed rated themselves as “lagging behind” in supply chain digitalization, while their customers rated their lag more significant at 95%.3 The survey results, analyzed for EPCA by the Vlerick School of Business, noted that customer behavior was an important driver in the need to develop new supply chain tools.

In terms of digital transformation, the petrochemical sector is …

(Source: Digitisation in the Chemical Supply Chain, European Petrochemical Association, March 2018)

The challenge for many companies is gaining enough understanding to harness the advantages that are possible with digital technologies. Organizations struggle to learn the terms, correlate with current and future assets, harness data to ensure safe and secure operations and leverage advanced models to develop greater business expertise.

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

73%

95%

LAGGING BEHIND

4% 5%

A PIONEER

23%

0%

AT PAR0%

through the eyes of the sector

through the eyes of the customer

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Digitisation in the Chemical Supply Chain, European Petrochemical Association, March 2018

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IoT has been the talk of the town in the consumer world for quite some time and today, we are talking about Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Similarly, the oil & gas and chemical industry, too, is on the fast track of evaluating new technologies and trends. Apart from Big Data analytics, industrial IoT provides a means to achieve optimised

machines, factories and plants. These could include various technological advancements, such as predictive maintenance, energy monitoring and data acquisition to name a few. These next generation automation solutions help in asset performance managements, condition based maintenance, improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and reducing wastage. These solutions definitely play a vital role

Technological advancements in oil & gas and chemical industryTechnology disruption in the oil, gas and chemical industry is quickening the pace of transformation and is creating immense challenges as well as prospects. Cutting-edge technologies, from Artificial Intelligence to Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality, have the potential to enhance operations in the oil and gas industry by bringing down costs and raising safety and speed of processes. Along with the advanced technology in the oil & gas and chemical industry, this article talks about how industrial IoT can significantly boost system availability and reliability and how it is recommended that plants opt for edge architectures over cloud-based computing.

Mukund Patil,Head Sales & Applications - PFA India,B&R Industrial Automation,[email protected]

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in the process industries, along with technology advancements that help plants achieve higher profitability and efficiency. For example, any unplanned downtime in the process industry is a dreaded factor, as it is always associated with the immense costs of maintenance and production loss. However, with industrial IoT, one can significantly boost system availability and reliability.

Opportunity areas within the industry

When we look at a greenfield process plant, it needs high investment and planning but has all the latest technologies, products and software at its disposal. In contrast to a brownfield plant, the automation solution is not with latest technologies and might even be decades old. Industrial IoT has solutions for both the cases.

In greenfield, to reduce costs, the plant owner can look at advancements, such as digital twin and virtualisation. This would help drastically reduce the cost of installation and commissioning. A digital model of the entire plant would be available even before the plant installation begins. This can be coupled with various automation solutions to check the feasibility of the plant. This can be done even before ordering the automation systems right down to I/Os and sensors. The digital model also helps in providing performance of the assets over time. Even in brownfield plants, industrial IoT solutions help to retrofit the legacy and digitally isolated equipment to create an IIoT ‘green patch’ in a brownfield plant, without any changes to existing hardware and software. In this scenario, edge architectures is a perfect fit for transferring data securely from field to the cloud, making machines and factories smart. An end-to-end connectivity helps integrate the IT systems of the plant with the process, providing the management with a holistic view of operations.

Challenges faced by Indian plant operators

The most pressing challenges arise from the conflict between increasing demand and shrinking reserves. Mastering this balancing act calls for increased investments

in more efficient extraction and handling technologies, such as gas to power, so that decommissioned oil and gas fields can be reopened to utilise remaining resources. The same goes for underutilised resources, including fields that were not previously economical to exploit, such as oil sand, fractionation and deep-water drilling. The supply-demand conflict also increases the importance of storage, Liquefaction of Natural Gas (LNG) and long-distance transport routes (for example, oil depots, LNG plants and extended pipelines). Intensifying environmental regulations is also becoming an increasingly important factor.

Prospects for small & medium chemical businesses

Primarily, India has been a cost sensitive market and it is a perception that the latest automation solutions are expensive and need immense investments. However, investments are needed but they need not necessarily be high. Technology advancement will happen, and in today’s age, the rate of technology changes is much faster as compared to what it was a decade ago. We would advise businesses that they should first identify their problems and then look for solutions brought in by industrial IoT. This approach will help them understand its power and reap benefits. Apart from basing the solutions around problems in the plant, another point to keep in mind is to have a systematic approach. Implementing many solutions together at once becomes easier from the execution perspective but the management might not understand the impact of independent solutions. It could happen that the impact of one solution would be much higher against the invested cost over the other. To judge this, it is important to implement one solution, observe its benefits and then move to the next. In case plant availability is an issue due to process downtime and shut down, then monitoring the asset on the field would be the first decision. Once the monitoring solutions are successfully implemented, the next phase would be to gather data for the process and analyse it for trends, looking for optimisations and taking corrective actions.

Our goal at B&R is to achieve integrated automation of

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all functions (as a ‘fully integrated asset’) for hydrocarbon-based energy sources, like gas, crude oil and distillates – regardless of whether they are used by industrial or private consumers. All of the necessary information is available anywhere and at any time, which ensures that all processes are transparent and that requirements can be met efficiently. This information can help in increasing system availability, optimising processes by evaluating effectiveness (key performance indicators), finding and eliminating capacity bottlenecks, reducing costs by increasing energy efficiency and saving, modernising equipment during operation, utilising water efficiently and cleanly, increasing customer security through the use of gas, oil and refined product depot & combining processes and power generation increase system availability.

Industrial IoT focuses on data generation and associated analytics. The amount of data is not the problem in IoT but how one uses it might be one. Converting this data into meaningful information needs the right system. The real issue about generating data is guaranteeing its security, integrity and confidentiality. Providing an environment for cyber security is the need of the hour. We recommend plants to opt for edge architectures over cloud-based computing. Edge computing makes convergence of IT and OT a reality. With edge architectures, plants can have full control of data and guaranteed full access to it. Edge architectures from B&R enable machines, factories and plants to gather the data from the field as well as perform energy monitoring and condition-

based maintenance. These edge architectures are coupled with open source networking, such as OPC UA, MQTT, AMQP, enabling plants to move data to IT infrastructure at any point in time. This provides an easy access to IIoT implementation for plants.

More trends and development

There could be health hazardous areas in a plant. With IoT, it is possible for the management to restrict access of humans into these areas or grant access to authorised personnel or personnel with appropriate gear. In case a human enters a restricted area without the necessary gear, it can trigger an alarm and alert the plant managers, who can then take necessary actions. There are many such use cases which can be deployed in plants in order to improve worker safety. However, many times, taking the first step is difficult. In our personal lives, too, changing from our older generation phones to smart phones took the many of us a lot of time. No doubt, a cautious approach is necessary; however, more importantly, it is necessary to have the right partner for implementing these latest technology advancements. Today, everyone wants to adopt next generation automation solutions. However, they always face a challenge of not having a suitable partner in their journey. B&R enables machine builders, factories and plants to successfully implement advanced automation solutions, helping them optimise operations, improve efficiencies and increase profitability. ☐

An overview of data collection from the oil & gas and chemical industry

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The aerospace industry is that industry which other industries look to see a glimpse of what’s on the horizon. The industry is one of the oldest industries to adopt cutting edge technologies and the first to bring in carbon fibre. It is also the first industry to introduce CAD/CAM processes into its design chain. There are many other examples and Additive Manufacturing (AM) is no different, with the industry capturing 12% of the total AM market.

Growing few more leaves

Aerospace innovators passively own AM beyond just

prototyping and scale models and are aggressively pursuing new use cases for the technology. Some leading aerospace manufacturers are already using this technology to fabricate jigs & fixtures, production tooling and final end-use parts for lightweight wing assemblies in small aircraft and UAVs. It is evident that innovation in aerospace is accelerating, advancing frontiers of understanding at the component/product level in manufacturing operations, in comprehending supply chains and, in some cases, at the business model level. Parts can now be created with complex geometries and shapes that in many cases, are impossible to create using any other technology.

Additive Manufacturing growing its grasp in the aerospace sectorThe aerospace industry is a significant example of application of Additive Manufacturing (AM), with a strong value plan and the capability to generate parts that are stronger and lighter than parts made using conventional manufacturing. AM is a disruptive innovation and is ready for aerospace manufacturing now, from smaller components to an entire fleet. This article highlights the challenges the aerospace industry faces during the application of AM and the top 3D printed aeronautical components.

TECHNOLOGY | ADD I T I VE M ANUFACTUR ING

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Low aerospace volumes and a slimmer supply chain make AM an attractive, low cost alternative to replace conventional CNC machining and other tooling processes for smaller scale parts and finished products and assemblies.

New AM design flexibility encourages simpler, lower cost design and assembly through designing-in fairness. It poses a competitive threat for laggards wedded to status-quo methods for prototyping, tooling and custom part production, using CNC machining, aluminium casting and injection moulding.

Challenges to face

The biggest challenge the aerospace industry faces during the application of AM is the volume of construction and manufacturing large products. AM sets a very strict restriction in building large aero-components and the downside to that is that most of the aerospace components are large, especially in aircraft fleets and carriers.

But nowadays, manufacturers like General Electric have done everything in their capability to make sure that the size of the component to manufacture should not be a setback and that they are manufacturing fairly large components. This is not a very complicated obstacle that cannot be overcome. With emerging technologies and expansion to the frontier, in the coming days, not only will big manufacturers, like GE and Stratasys, dive into the challenge but every other manufacturer in the market will be able to capture its limitations.

Despite popular beliefs, the biggest obstacles in implementing the new manufacturing paradigm today are internal, based on breaking down status-quo beliefs around what’s possible and rethinking existing tooling and manufacturing methods.

Existing human processes and behaviours are hard to change however, and manufacturing without a traditional factory today is an unrealistic concept. On the contrary, we are witnessing accelerated adoption in specific applications and industries, such as aerospace and a general spread of the use of technology, as designers and engineers expand the frontier of the possible.

Unlocking investment capital and resources to adopt new design and manufacturing techniques is difficult for some aerospace OEMs and suppliers, locked into a quarterly driven revenue cycle and budgets.

Top 3D printed aeronautical components/structures

The ability to create lighter, stronger components under such low budgets has expanded the abilities of the aerospace industry to create complex components. After a thorough research, we have found the top six applications of 3D Printing in the aerospace industry.

1. Plane seat A lighter plane seat has been 3D printed by Andreas Bastian, an engineer at Autodesk, which weighs 40% less (766 gm) than a conventional plane seat. He created the ceramic mould after creating the plastic mould using 3D Printing in order to obtain the final piece.

2. Safran Helicopter engines Safran Helicopter launched a new range of helicopter engines last year. The Anteo-1K engines have 3D printed parts, including parts inside the combustion chamber. AM has enabled Safran to reduce production costs without compromising the engine performance. These 3D printed engines created are almost 30% more powerful than those previously manufactured. This increased performance helps helicopters in departments such as search and rescue missions.

3. Fuselage panel of SteliaStelia Aerospace changed its interest into AM to create its first 3D printed reinforced fuselage panel. It carried out the project using Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) technology. Its one square metre demonstrator shows that AM makes it very easy and flexible to design the stiffeners of the fuselage panels, offering more design flexibilities.

4. Pratt & Whitney engines Almost 12 parts of a Pratt & Whitney engine have been created using AM – engines that now equip Bombardier aircraft and carriers. These are mainly fasteners and injection nozzles, 3D printed from titanium and nickel. The manufacturer has saved almost 15 months over the entire design process and the final weight of the part has come out 50% less than the conventional. The engine manufacturer has used Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technologies.

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5. Stratasys’ dronesStratasys collaborated with Aurora Flight Sciences to create and advance an unmanned series of aerial vehicles with jet propulsion in the year 2015, which can fly faster than 150 miles per hour and is called the UAV. More than 75% of the vehicle’s parts have been 3D printed, manufactured through Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique. A lightweight but high performance material, the ULTEM 9085™ was used in this printing.

6. Perdix drones by the US armyThe US army, in collaboration with researchers at MIT, designed ‘perdix’ drones and tested successfully. The US army is no stranger to AM, as it has previously created concrete barracks using 3D Printing. 103 drones perform collectively as one brain and don’t act individually. In order to avoid crashing, they use sensors to maintain a safe flight distance. They have the ability to jam enemy radars.

Production

Apart from prototypes and tooling, 3D printing produces stable end-use and durable parts, thereby bypassing the production line. Stratasys uses a series of materials, including thermoplastics, to create parts with high mechanical, chemical and thermal properties. Sybrant reported that low-volume production being a market segment hasn’t been covered well. Outsourcing moulding houses won’t accept any order under a certain number or maybe they charge a little too high to keep the profits alive and hence, in-house manufacturing made more sense.

Boeing makes aircrafts for various airlines. Even if the plane itself is evidently the same from one order to the next, the interiors and its parts vary and as a result, a particular air duct may bend to the right instead of upward. For example, Boeing doesn’t want to have to use a $40,000 tool made overseas to manufacture just 25 of these parts. This is where 3D Printing comes into play and they directly make finished multiple products for plane interiors.

The real turning point in the acknowledgement of AM was the extensive application of metal-based AM since 2011. This industrial grade AM provides a better reliability in terms of speed, cost and materials rationalisation.

Major companies in the US have subsequently realised the advantages of AM over conventional manufacturing and have been using AM to achieve supply chain efficiencies and lowered time to market, which resulted in much needed attention in policy and regulations in the US.

The future

In the aerospace industry, AM has become the oxygen for manufacturing and its applications don’t only limit to components design but also to ground support and repair.

The outcomes of acknowledgement are clear and simple – AM is accelerating change in this industry and more companies should accept and learn to leverage this technology. Whether in prototyping, tooling or short-run manufacturing, AM is essentially capable of being agile and remaining competitive in this modern changing world and technological sprint. ☐Courtesy: Objectify Technologies

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) created by Stratasys in 2015 using 3D Printing

TECHNOLOGY | WI RELESS AUTOMAT ION

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Mobile sensors are essential to enable smart factories; for example, imagine an automotive assembly line where wirelessly connected sensors follow the chassis through different manufacturing stages for hundreds of metres in order to guarantee precise and efficient assembly. Now, picture a technician exchanging a pressure sensor that is nearing the end of its life. Wireless communication makes this simply a job of physically removing the old one and attaching the new sensor without re-cabling entire machines. Imagine how much longer the exchange would take if cables were involved,

keeping in mind that a minute of downtime in the automotive industry costs $22,000 per minute on an average.

Wireless communications: A natural evolution in industrial applications

The traditional method of communication with industrial nodes, in factory as well as in process automation, is a 4–20 mA current loop transmitting a single signal. As the number of sensors used to monitor and control production in these

Enabling wireless communications for factory automation in Industry 4.0With all levels of factory automation already being well connected, from the field level to the enterprise level, the focus now shifts to solutions that can enable additional applications and surpass the restrictions that exist when using wires. This white paper analyses the natural evolution of industrial communications towards wireless technologies, addresses how these technologies solve challenges created by the use of cables and explains how the IO-Link wireless protocol addresses lingering reservations.

Tobias Engel,Software Engineer, SimpleLink Microcontrollers, Texas Instruments

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environments increases, the technologies interacting with these sensors have to transport more information through a limited amount of wires. Especially, the need to remotely configure nodes and continuously monitor machines, made the restrictions of current loops more obvious.

Unlike mesh-based approaches, wired IO-Link provides low-speed point-to-point serial communication for ranges up to 20 m. Its standardised interface enables interoperability between devices of different manufacturers. IO-Link wireless extends wired IO-Link technology with a cableless communication path that is able to fulfil the requirements of industrial applications, including robustness, determinism and latency.

Wireless technologies solve challenges inherent to cables

The highest impact on the productivity of a manufacturing line is arguably downtime. Cables attached to the moving parts of any equipment, like robotic arms, experience a lot of stress— not only on the wires but also on the connectors, causing the devices to fail rather frequently. On new installations, the first set of cables typically need to be replaced after only three months, causing downtime and additional maintenance and material costs. Because wireless technologies have no cables, there is no issue associated with the cable replacement.

In many scenarios, more than one node is attached to a machine. I/O hubs, provided for wired technologies, support up to 16 devices. In such installations, beyond the effort to set-up the machines, the planning effort as well as the actual wiring cost is significant. Depending on the application, engineers also struggle with the available space. Sometimes it is not possible to add another sensor because there is no room for more cabling. This restriction limits the achievable designs on complex set-ups. Using wireless connections to communicate with nodes helps to reduce the number of cables – or eliminates them completely – in cases where battery use or energy harvesting is an option.

As factories become more dynamic, modular and smart, the range limitations imposed by the cables become a more pressing topic. Wires prevent the ability to manually move equipment, have machinery follow the manufacturing line or employ completely autonomous units to roam the factory floor and return to a home location for charging. These tasks

are also a challenge for radius-restricted wireless technologies. IO-Link wireless takes inspiration from mobile phone networks (roaming capability) and integrates it seamlessly in its own infrastructure. A device roaming the manufacturing plant is able to connect to different masters and with that, provides the impression of a consistent connection to the higher automation layers.

The same approach IO-Link wireless uses for discovering new nodes and pairing is used for roaming as well. Every master monitors the link quality (functionality and reliability) for all devices connected to it. Based on the number of unacknowledged down or uplink transmissions within the last 3000 packets, the link quality is calculated. If it drops under a threshold as the node is moving out of its range, the master initiates a sequence to disconnect that device and communicates this action to the higher layer, the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Once the PLC receives a notification from another master about the same device showing up in its range, the handover is complete. Having the PLC as a common point for both masters participating in the roaming handshake eliminates the need for complex implementations within the IO-Link wireless stack.

Removing the cables not only helps to prevent downtime also enables a cleaner and sturdier production set-up. Cables and their connectors can become contaminated easily and industries like medical or food processing require regular sanitation. The same issue exists in harsh environments, where strong chemicals can affect cable performance or integrity. The typical solution for scenarios like wash-down areas or soldering stations is to use specialised cabling at an increased cost. Plus, because the original issues related to stress caused by movement persists, replacing specialised cables is more expensive and requires increased maintenance, leading to longer downtimes.

IO-Link wireless addresses reservations about using wireless technologies

Despite all the benefits that wireless connections have on the field level, there are some reservations; radio links feel less reliable. What about interference from other machines or other wireless communications? How are wireless nodes powered without a cable? IO-Link wireless is capable of

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resolving concerns about wireless communication path robustness. The goal when designing the technology was to achieve similar characteristics on key parameters compared to a wired connection (such as packet error rate < 10-9). Gaussian Frequency Shifted Keying (GFSK) is used to work around challenges, such as crosstalk or fading channels, that arise when the Industrial-Scientific-Medical band (ISM) is split into 1 MHz channels. This modulation, also implemented with Bluetooth, ensures a data rate of 1 Mbps. Despite the use of the heavily deployed, license-free ISM band (2.4 GHz), using a combination of TDMA and Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) along with a retransmission mechanism does provide a reliable wireless connection.

A maximum 5 ms cycle time to communicate with any device (regardless of the number of nodes) provides the determinism required for reliable planning and set-up. An IO-Link wireless node needs to be able to fit three sub-cycles into those 5 ms cycles. Resending the data twice enables the IO-Link wireless protocol to guarantee a packet error rate smaller than 10-9. By splitting the ISM frequency band into five different tracks, each supporting as many as eight devices, one master can reliably support up to 40 devices with a cycle time of 5 ms. Without further restrictions, IO-Link wireless will use all available channels across the ISM band. To enable other wireless technologies (such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) to co-exist on the same frequencies, IO-Link wireless offers a blacklist mechanism that prevents masters from communicating on those channels. The blacklist is transmitted to the nodes by the master during

pairing and contains 1-MHz-wide sub-bands not to be used. By the IO-Link wireless standard, the first and the last pair of sub-bands are dedicated to configuration and thus, not available for any other communication. While the blacklist mechanism is intended to coordinate different overlapping masters, the same method also ensures co-existence.

Cutting the last cord – the power line – requires operational energy efficiency in order to maintain battery life for an acceptable amount of time. IO-Link wireless considers this aspect in the protocol, starting with the GFSK modulation which allows the use of energy-efficient power amplifiers. Because communication features enable devices to identify themselves as low power, the master will allow the device’s radio to go into a full power-down state while the device is processing received data, saving additional energy.

Enabling a smarter & dynamic environment

Many installations in the industrial world today are still connected with wires. Smarter and more dynamic applications in the factory environment are limited by this and need to look for other solutions enabling, for example dynamically adjusting manufacturing lines or Automated Guided Carts (AGCs). IO-Link wireless fulfils the requirements factory automation demands from a wireless communication standard in terms of robustness and performance. With TI’s precertified module CC2650MODA and Kunbus’ development toolkits reliable, industrial equipment based on IO-Link wireless can already be created. ☐

Enabling wireless communications for factory automation in Industry 4.0 3 October 2019

Table 1. Communication technology comparison.

Because HART uses the same cabling, it can

achieve theoretical communication distances beyond

1,000 m [2]; however, HART communication is

limited to 16 devices on the bus. In 2007, 37 HART

Communications Foundation companies published

the Wireless HART communication standard,

covering distances up to 225 m [3]. Because each

node can act as repeater, even farther distances

are possible. While in theory a single Wireless HART

network can contain as many as 250 devices [4],

the standard’s use of time division multiple access

(TDMA) means that throughput scales with the

number of active devices.

Unlike mesh-based approaches, wired IO-

Link provides low-speed point-to-point serial

communication for ranges up to 20 m. Its

standardized interface [5] enables interoperability

between devices of different manufacturers.

IO-Link Wireless extends wired IO-Link technology

with a cable-less communication path that is able

to fulfill the requirements of industrial applications,

including robustness, determinism and latency.

To provide an overview over IO-Link wireless’

capabilities, Table 1 compares the protocol with the

wired IO-link variant, with the process automation

focused wireless HART and the widely known

Bluetooth® Low Energy.

Wireless technologies solve challenges inherent to cables

The highest impact on the productivity of a

manufacturing line is arguably downtime [6]. Cables

attached to the moving parts of any equipment, like

robotic arms, experience a lot of stress, not only on

the wires but also on the connectors, causing the

devices to fail rather frequently. On new installations

the first set of cables typically needs to be replaced

after only three months, causing downtime and

additional maintenance and material costs. Because

wireless technologies have no cables, there is no

issue associated with cable replacement.

In many scenarios, more than one node is

attached to a machine. I/O hubs provided for

wired technologies support up to 16 devices. In

such installations, beyond the effort to set up the

machines, the planning effort as well as the actual

wiring cost is significant.

Depending on the application, engineers also

struggle with the available space. Sometimes it is

not possible to add another sensor because there

is no room for more cabling. This restriction limits

the achievable designs on complex setups. Using

wireless connections to communicate with nodes

helps to reduce the number of cables - or eliminates

them completely - in cases where battery use or

energy harvesting is an option.

IO-Link Wireless IO-Link Bluetooth® Low Energy Wireless HART

Topology Star Star Star/mesh Mesh

Maximum number of devices 120 N/A — 250

Roaming Yes No No No

Communication distance 10 m 20 m 100 m 225 m

Data rate 1000 kbps 230 kbps 1000 kbps 250 kbps

Latency 5 ms Depending on communication path 5 ms 60 ms

Reliability (packet error rate) 10-9 10-9 10-3 10-9

Security Pairing N/A Pairing and encryptionAuthentication, authorization

attack detection

Infrastructure re-use Re-using existing IO-Link infrastructure N/A N/A Re-using existing HART

infra-structure

Communication technology comparison

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Budget planning in the digital eraAs manufacturers head into the budget planning season, they will soon be faced with several challenges —including some complexities new to the process. Evolving from digital initiatives, these new hurdles involve open-ended questions with no easy answers and limited historical data to guide strategic thinking. Venturing into untried territory, such as the creation of new revenue streams, involves visionary theories and confidence in concepts. In this context, the article provides a holistic approach and some guidelines on budget planning in the age of digital.

Manufacturers are feeling the pressure to keep pace with change and adopt digital initiatives in order to meet customer expectations and optimise resources. Without automation and innovative technologies – like Internet of Things (IoT), predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – manufacturers know they will inevitably fall behind the competition and miss emerging opportunities. In this global economy where competition is fierce and margins are paper-thin, any gap in capabilities can be a serious liability, causing customers to look for other suppliers who are faster, cheaper or more responsive.

Similarly, the high velocity of change can cause some manufacturers to make hasty decisions and take shortcuts when planning their digital initiatives. Piecemeal projects that attempt

to address issues with stop-gap measures can yield disappointing results and cause skepticism for any further plans. Nothing will kill a new IT proposal faster than so-so results on a trial project. Common complications range from ‘too much data’, to lack of visibility into new systems or multiple versions of data, which can cause a general lack of confidence in reporting.

These issues can all be avoided in this year’s budget planning by taking a more holistic approach and considering these eight guidelines:

1. Start smart Begin with a business case and overarching strategy. Creating cross functional teams between the C-suite, line of

Ranga Pothula,Managing Director,Infor

IMAGE COURTESY: iStock

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business leads and the IT team, will help ensure practical business needs in driving budget planning and investment in new solutions. In addition to setting goals, this team can agree on benchmarks and methodology for measuring success. This becomes the blueprint for moving forward.

2. Think in broad brushstrokes Taking a holistic approach to modernisation is essential. This means starting with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and making sure the back-end financials and shop floor operational solutions are up-to-date with the latest version. Attempting to build new initiatives on top of outdated legacy systems likely will backfire, causing extra work when trying to integrate point solutions and map automation, workflows and contextual data consumption. Old technology with rigid structures will also cause numerous obstacles when trying to apply data derived from assets, connected machines, robotics or digital supply chain networks. Heavily modified legacy solutions will prove to be especially cumbersome and difficult to upgrade to new capabilities. Budgeting for a modern ERP solution should be the first step in the budget planning process.

3. Move to the cloud In budget planning for digital initiatives, cloud deployment is one of the essential tactics for any manufacturer. The vast storage ability of cloud computing is a necessity for initiatives involving IoT data, predictive analytics, Machine Learning (ML) or other data-centric services. Storing such

volumes on premises is not practical. Since cloud solutions are continually updated, the always modern feature means no more worrying about the IT obsolescence.

4. Acknowledge risk and plan for setbacks Innovation always involves a degree of risk. Forward-thinking companies strive to create a company culture which encourages risk taking and exploration of new concepts. Not every trial will be successful; this is something to acknowledge and embrace during the planning and budgeting stages. However, to minimise risks, companies can plan for check-points and a phased approach with series of milestones leading up to the final objective. Keeping an agile framework, which can be adjusted (if needed), will help keep the project moving while building on past accomplishments. Budget allocation should also match this approach, providing additional funds for next phases only when the prerequisite milestones are met.

5. Avoid data overload Investing in business intelligence solutions, predictive analytics and reporting tools is essential for manufactures. Without such solutions, it is easy to fall into the messy quagmire of too much data and no way to consume it or derive meaningful insights from. Even worse, confusion about the mass amounts of data can cause executives to lose confidence in any data and be hesitant to make bold moves based on reporting that is considered unreliable. Data management is not the place to skimp when planning 2020 budgets.

Taking a holistic approach to modernisation is essential


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6. Build teams and consensus One area often overlooked in planning digital initiatives is the time and resources needed to bring internal teams up to speed on new processes. Training or recruitment of new personnel with specialised skills may be needed. One must keep in mind that highly skilled IT technicians are in high demand. Up-skilling existing employees may be the best option. Even if the existing workforce can absorb the new roles, one should allow time for consensus building, gathering feedback and encouraging employees to embrace the process. One should set aside funds for ongoing education.

7. Deliver on the promise One should generously invest in solutions that will yield concrete deliverables for customers, whether it is new product launches, new service offerings or improvements in processes, like speeding order delivery. Customers today expect value-add benefits. One should make sure that investment levels are sufficient to support ideas past drawing board stages. Customers do not want vague promises and drawn out development stages. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions can help expedite new product development. Mergers and acquisitions provide another way to catch up on product trends, extend the product portfolio, while passing up lengthy and costly R&D processes. Cloud solutions will help bring new divisions or business units on board quickly.

8. Find ROI in new opportunities and existing customers In digital initiatives, the ROI is likely to come from some unexpected places. Once data-intensive projects like IoT are in place, vast amounts of data will start pouring in. It is necessary to be alert for ways to package and market that information. Potential applications may present sizable revenue streams—for little investment of time. Emerging markets and niche targets may also provide new opportunities if the organisation is nimble enough to deviate from the original business model and venture down new paths. Maintaining relationships with existing customers is also a benefit that cannot be overlooked. The manufacturer who invests in advanced software solutions will be better able to hone in on opportunities for upselling and cross-selling to customers. Servitization, which offers products as a service, is another way investment in data solutions which may pay off.

Ultimately, budget planning amid today’s digital evolution requires a new mindset and new guidelines for spending. The traditional tactics for taking last year’s budget and simply shifting funds is no longer sufficient. Now is the time for reimagining processes, targeting new markets and building new business models. Outdated legacy solutions will not adequately support such paradigm changes. On the other hand, starting with a data-centric, flexible foundation will help drive digital initiatives. Rewards are within reach for the companies that are willing to stretch beyond the current boundaries. ☐

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The World Health Organization’s declaration of coronavirus (COVID-19) as a global pandemic is unprecedented, a situation the like of which has not been seen in generations. Its effects have been felt worldwide, and its exponential escalation has had a huge impact on the ability of health services to cope with the volume of cases. Immediate action is required and has been taking place to get the disease under control, minimise its spread and treat those who have contracted it. A phrase everyone has seen in the news is ‘flattening the curve’, a strategy aimed at reducing strain on health services by regulating transmission of the virus and protecting the most vulnerable in our

society. In lieu of a vaccine, many countries have put in place strict rules aimed at separating people – lockdowns and curfews – with some including China, Denmark and Ireland, acting quickly to shut down schools, non-essential movement and work.

In addition to the prescribed social distancing, overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak is reliant on the use of preventatives, such as alcohol-based hand gels and sanitisers, face masks and testing kits. Given the illness’ propensity to attack the respiratory system, ventilators are also essential to assist with treatment. And with an overwhelming spike in demand, all these products are in short supply.

Digitalisation helping survive erratic market changes during COVID-19The coronavirus is no longer a novel news for the world. Every country is trying to flatten the curve and keep businesses running in their own way. The pandemic has changed the dynamics of various industries which are trying to adapt to the present situation. This article analyses how technology is proving to be a vital solution to help industries make a difference during this present crisis.

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Responding quickly to global emergency

Praise for battling the virus is deservedly being levelled at healthcare professionals on the frontline. But we have also seen incredible innovations in the manufacturing space aimed at helping with some of the challenges COVID-19 has brought. This can be seen in various areas, such as traditional distilleries manufacturing alcohol gels for hospitals and automotive & aerospace manufacturers repurposing their production facilities and supply chains to meet the urgent new demand for ventilators. And, of course, the life science businesses that already produce these essential products are ramping up their own operations, and the pharmaceutical industry is fast-tracking the development of a vaccine.

These companies’ prompt efforts have been made possible by digital transformation initiatives and connected enterprise solutions. The capabilities afforded by these strategies have allowed executive decisions to filter into action in ways that would have been unimaginable during previous global crises.

Digital rises to the challenge

Businesses that have embraced digital transformation are better positioned to adapt to immediate demands while maintaining production of other critical goods. In particular, there are three areas in which technology is proving vital in helping businesses make a difference:

1. Safety & business continuityBusinesses always put the safety of their employees first, but the definition of ‘safety’ has changed. It must now

incorporate adequate social distancing to prevent ones workforce from getting sick. For office-based employees, working from home is generally straightforward; for manufacturers, on-site operators and engineers, social distancing usually is essential. Continuity is also a major consideration for manufacturers. Human needs exist even amid a crisis. For pharmaceutical manufacturers, this is especially pronounced, as people still need other critical and sometimes, life sustaining medicines. Keeping their production lines operating and getting drugs to market in the midst of this crisis is extremely challenging.• Potential solution: Remote technologies

Businesses with the capability to manage their critical operations remotely are far better positioned to ensure plant safety while taking appropriate measures to safeguard continuity. For example, Augmented Reality (AR) provides machine operators with step-by-step instructions direct to their smart phones and wearable devices, such as smart glasses. This also enables remote engineers to provide guidance to site-based operations staff even when they are not on-site — vital to ensure social distance while maintaining operations and adapting production lines. It also allows technical specialists from essential equipment suppliers to remotely troubleshoot and support manufacturing operations.

2. Responding to increased demand at scalePrior to the coronavirus outbreak, the NHS had 8,175 ventilators and now, many thousands more are urgently required. China was responsible for manufacturing 60% of the world’s face masks. Ramping up of operations and

Businesses that have embraced digital transformation are better positioned to adapt to immediate demands while maintaining production


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supply chains to meet immediate demand is an issue all manufacturers are wrestling with.• Potential solution: Connected operations and IoT

technologiesTechnologies such as advanced analytics of digitised operations enable businesses to accurately forecast how they can scale production to meet market demand and position themselves for data-driven decision-making.

It provides real-time insight into the functioning of their production lines, where they are losing productivity, what steps are creating bottlenecks, where preventative maintenance is required and any process improvements that can be made. To achieve this level of insight, manufacturers must have connected operations, enabling the large volumes of data produced by their connected assets to be contextualised. This allows tools, such as analytics, to deliver real value.

Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping these businesses make the right decisions faster, as it thrives on complexity, crunching through multi-vector data at a speed impossible for humans. It is also being widely used in the drug discovery stage and has the capacity to dramatically reduce the time it will take to find a COVID-19 vaccine.

3. Flexibility & knowledge transferCar manufacturers, for example, are not accustomed to producing ventilators and will need to dramatically alter their production lines and supply chains in order to do so. At the same time, their engineers are trying to overcome the challenges of learning to produce a completely new product.

• Potential solution: Flexible manufacturing linesBusinesses that have adopted technologies, such as Independent Cart Technology (ICT), have a high degree of flexibility already built into their production lines. These technologies enable businesses to rapidly adapt to the changing demands and deliver increased throughput with much faster machine changeover times to produce new products at scale. A high degree of automation means that less on-site intervention is required than with traditional production lines, enabling plants to run effectively on a skeleton staff.

The need for speed

We are all in a situation without precedent. We all have a role to play in resolving it, and it is uplifting to see the industry working together to stop the spread of COVID-19 as quickly as possible. Speed is the word here – speed of separation of people, speed of production, speed of increasing capacity of the critical supply chain for those essential items, etc are required to defeat the virus. It is clear that the manufacturers that have already invested in digital technology – those that have successfully connected their enterprise and operations – are able to maintain production and react faster to rapidly shifting market dynamics. Through the deployment of technologies that support remote working, data-driven decisions and flexible production, they are best suited to move quickly and adapt to their operations and supply chains, in order to meet the challenge at hand, giving us the best possible chance to flatten the curve. ☐Courtesy: Rockwell Automation

Manufacturers must have connected operations, enabling the large volumes of data produced by

their connected assets to be contextualised

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PC-based control: An integrated solution for automation & process technologyData transmission to a higher-level control system or cloud services has become a highly intuitive processes, owing to the wide range of TwinCAT functions being available. The article explores integrated automation toolbox and how it helps ensure short time cycles and closed-loop controls for more scalability and system integration.

While traditional PLC-based systems were optimised predominantly for short cycle times as a replacement for complex relay technology in machine controls, Distributed Control Systems (DCS) for classic Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) closed-loop control focused mostly on scalability and system integration.

Driven by customer requirements and technological progress, both DCS and PLC have advanced and increasingly converged over the years. As a result, PLC systems have acquired more extensive visualisation systems. These are very similar to those that process engineers have used from the start and are being implemented to manage many wide-ranging,

complex processing workflows. DCS, on the other hand, were optimised with regards to their performance and cycle times. Improvements like these help accommodate even highly time-critical processes and equip process plants for safety-related requirements, such as emergency stops and fire protection.

Growing requirements bring separate worlds together

The systems also converge in terms of scalability. DCS, which were designed from the start for large installations with tens of thousands of I/Os, were successful with simple engineering and

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retrofit capabilities. However, for today’s PLC-based systems, even I/O points in the high five digits don’t pose a challenge anymore. In addition, modern engineering environments, like TwinCAT 3 software, feature a broad range of libraries and plenty of function blocks, so that even highly complex closed-loop control structures can be designed quickly and reliably.

Developments regarding system architectures also deserve special attention. For example, distributed control systems focused almost from the start on distributed I/O chassis. These systems can collect data from the areas exposed to explosion hazards with little wiring complexity and accommodate installations that are spread over large areas. PLC-based systems, on the other hand, initially concentrated on self-contained machines in small areas.

This has changed as simple machines have evolved into highly complex production lines within tightly networked plants, and operators have become more interested in using distributed peripherals that can be linked to fast fieldbus systems and deliver the bandwidth needed to accommodate the resulting flood of data. As a result, systems that can offer distributed intelligence, like the DIN rail-mountable embedded PCs in the CX series from Beckhoff, are now a prevailing option, enabling direct connection of the EtherCAT based I/O system. In addition, deploying EtherCAT communication throughout allows operators to implement extremely time-critical and highly synchronised control processes across distributed production steps. This includes the ability to integrate with central production control systems, and to perform data analysis and optimise processes.

PLC system with maximum innovation potential

In terms of system architecture, the developments

mentioned above have already made PLC systems very similar to the remote I/O systems that users are familiar with from the process control field. Especially in the context of Industry 4.0 concepts, the PLC approach has proven to be an innovation driver and has taken on a highly advanced structure that is clearly superior, particularly in terms of performance.

It is above all the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT), which has led PLC-based systems to take on some characteristics of distributed control systems in the past few years, especially in terms of integration capabilities. This, in turn, has increased support for mature protocols that offer cross-system data exchange, for example, based on OPC UA, but also for communication between the supervisory control level and the cloud through protocols, such as MQTT and AMQP.

While machine builders use these capabilities to implement the Industry 4.0 concept in its totality, process engineers require fully integrated solutions for a variety of reasons. They must cover all hierarchy levels ranging from data acquisition in hazardous areas to remote diagnostics of globally distributed systems via centralised process control systems. The goal is to reduce the required number of operators and maintenance staff. While this reduces costs, it also opens up new opportunities to make systems more efficient and reliable through the use of extensive diagnostics and analytics tools.

Open & modular automation technology a complete solution

With PC-based control, Beckhoff offers the ideal automation toolbox to implement all these requirements in a complete and integrated solution. Through the addition of specific innovations for process technology applications,

Integrated toolbox for process automation in hazardous locations

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process engineers now have access to the same automation system that has long been proven in machine design and factory automation.

The openness of the PC-based control concept deserves a special mention, as support for all major bus systems allows the easy integration of Beckhoff controllers into existing architectures. In addition, long-term product availability and backward compatibility provide the best possible investment protection and ensure outstanding spare parts supply. As an example, even first-generation EtherCAT components can still communicate with the latest product introductions. Benefits like these also make it easy and affordable to upgrade existing systems, for example, by adding cloud connectivity and IoT functions.

The benefits of integrated and open automation systems become especially apparent when designing new plants. On the field level, the use of ELX-series EtherCAT Terminals for the direct connection of intrinsically safe field devices enables significant reductions in space requirements and thus, cost requirements. In addition, the elimination of the need for separate safety barriers delivers clear advantages with regards to installation and diagnostics. DIN rail-mountable embedded PCs from the CX series, equipped with up to 12 CPU cores, makes it possible to distribute the execution of even the most complex control tasks with their high processing performance. Comprehensive product certifications ensure compliance with explosion protection requirements and enable installation in close proximity to the actual process.

PC-based control simplifies engineering & operation

On the control level, the finely scalable portfolio of Industrial PCs from Beckhoff enables custom-tailored solutions that can not only perform a wide range of control tasks but also provide easy integration into process control systems. Support for many standards and protocols ensures cross-system data communication on both, the higher-level control and the field system level.

The advanced TwinCAT HMI software solution enables the implementation of visualisation tasks according to the highest standards for efficient and reliable plant operation. In addition, the responsive TwinCAT HMI runs just as well on mobile devices as on industrial control panels and panel PCs. For process visualisation and control in hazardous areas (Zone 2/22), specific devices are available in the form of the highly attractive CPX panel series with state-of-the-art, multi-touch technology and robust aluminium enclosures.

With the wide range of TwinCAT functions available, engineering for the entire plant operation and data transmission to a higher-level control system or cloud services become a highly intuitive processes. Many diagnostic options and interfaces, such as the TwinCAT FDT container for integrating field device drivers (DTM), ensure quick and productive commissioning and easy access to the world of Beckhoff control technology. ☐Courtesy: Bechkhoff Automation

Process technology and automation combined into one system: The new ELX series EtherCAT Terminals feature intrinsically safe inputs/outputs and enable direct connection of field devices located in hazardous areas up to Zone 0/20

Available as integrated or standalone models, the explosion-proof control panel solutions in the CPX series combine high-quality build and elegant design with advanced, capacitive multi-touch technology

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Digital transformation: The growth of IIoT and the role of connector applicationAs the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continues to magnify and machines and technology further unite, myriad of companies are turning to M12 cable connectors which address the swelling demands of industries. This article throws light on why M12 connectors are the right fit for IIoT, how connector types have evolved and why using robust connectors with IP or type ratings is recommended.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become a reality and could very well be the biggest driver of productivity and growth over the next few decades. The smart grid, the most mature of the IIoT sectors, although still in its infancy, will drive the development of many new and improved connector technologies for years to come.

IIoT promises to bring greater visibility and control to manufacturing processes. To achieve its potential, however, industrial data networks need robust interconnect solutions that would be able to maintain robust connectivity, despite the harsh conditions found in manufacturing facilities. With the availability of comprehensive M8/M12 interconnect systems,

manufacturers can confidently deploy next-generation industrial applications built on fully reliable, highly flexible connectivity.

The Internet of Things (IoT) looks to quantify significant factors that affect humans and their machines. Analysts forecast that before the end of this decade, tens of billions of IoT devices will be performing measurements of basic physical quantities, such as temperature, pressure and acceleration, as well as tracking more complex human physiological quantities, such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose levels and more.

Following the first, second and third industrial revolutions – mechanisation, mass production and automation – the fourth revolution has arrived at our doorsteps and has dubbed IoT.

Laxman R Katrat,MD & CEO,Katlax Enterprises

Vijay P Lokhande,Dy Manager – Design & Development,Katlax Enterprises

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When it comes to IoT, there is no lack of media coverage these days. To some, the hype around it is exaggerated, but there is no doubt that we are at the dawn of a digital transformation that will profoundly change our lives, including the way we do things, manufacture things and control all other aspects of our lives, spanning medical care to mobility and communication.

Role of sensor technology and communication

Sensor technology and communication are central to the implementation and rollout of IoT. There are many different communication technologies and protocols developed and available that claim to be the best solution for any given application. The best known and most widespread communication protocols include (Industrial) Ethernet, AS-i bus, CAN bus, RFID, Bluetooth, WiFi, LoRaWAN, ZigBee, BACnet, DALI, KNX, Z-Wave, NFC and Cellular (3G/4G/5G).

In an attempt to differentiate between all of these IoT applications, we prefer to talk about IIoT. Consider applications of IoT principles to the industrial manufacturing sector, process industry and other industrial sectors, including energy, mining and civil engineering. To get a better grip on this market sector, Bishop & Associates divided the IIoT market into three different segments that are closely aligned with our current market sector breakdown for connectors:

1. Smart factoryThis market includes products that are used in a connected

factory, i.e. a factory that is making the transition from a conventional standalone factory to a factory that is part of the IIoT ecosystem.

2. Smart gridThis market refers to the current transformation in the

energy market as electrical networks and grids are upgraded

and automated. Using Big Data and control algorithms, energy supply and demand are linked together and used more efficiently in smart grids than in conventional grids.

3. Smart citiesThis market includes IoT-enabled equipment used in

modern buildings and homes to control temperature, HVAC, air quality, doors & windows, lighting and security devices, among others. When connected to the Internet, users can control such equipment remotely, often via smartphones and tablets. To a certain extent, this market also covers smart lighting, smart parking and smart traffic.

Why M12 connectors are the right fit for IIoT

A comprehensive view of the manufacturing process or assembly line is accomplished by placing networked sensors on physical equipment to collect data. These sensors perform condition monitoring, analysing constant inputs, like temperature, vibration or sound frequencies. This data is transmitted back to a central location or cloud where decision-makers can access it. This process requires reliable high speed connections, often in environments that include dust, noise, temperature changes and vibration. In the food and beverage industry, it also includes the challenge of frequent washdowns.

IIoT devices must be rugged, so using robust connectors with IP or type ratings is recommended. Also, using connectors that allow a quick disconnect is convenient for commissioning new equipment, for maintenance, troubleshooting and for equipment that is mobile. Plus, as digital technologies have evolved, so have the connector types. New IIoT equipment may no longer be using the legacy serial connectors, such as RS-232, RS-485 and other legacy and D-shell type connectors. IIoT equipment may use newer connectors, such as USB, CAT 5/6/7, HDMI, DisplayPort and many others.

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APPL ICAT ION | D I G I TAL ISAT ION

49A&D I n d i a | A p r-Ma y 2020

Connectors act as the vital link between the cables carrying data and the devices that record and communicate information. The demand for faster data transmissions that can accommodate visuals has driven the development of connectors able to support the gigabit data requirements for the latest sensors. To add to the complexity, machines are getting smaller, putting pressure on component makers to deliver greater speed, power and capacity in an ever-shrinking footprint.

Three reasons M12 connectors are the smart choice for Industry 4.0

Though M12 connectors were available decades before IIoT was even a concept, they have become the preferred connector for industrial Ethernet. For data transmission, they are used on the device side — pulling data from devices and transmitting it to the application where data is aggregated to provide useful information to the user.

1. Unrivalled ruggednessCompared to the RJ45, the other most commonly used

industrial connector, M12 connectors, offer superior performance in harsh conditions due to:

• Circular design that shields contacts from contaminants, such as dust, moisture and foreign objects, while also protecting against impact, vibration, UV exposure and temperature changes

• Minimum IP67-rated ingress protection against dust & water• Additional options with IP68 and IP69K ratings for

demanding washdown environments

2. EMI shieldingHard-wired connections offer some intrinsic advantages

over wireless connections, primarily the security of physical connections and the avoidance of wireless interference. This is

especially important because the new IIoT-enabled factory is often filled with Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), also called Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). Unseen and unheard by people, this electronic noise pollution frequently interferes with high-precision sensors already taxed by physical noise and vibrations of a busy factory floor.

The increasing pervasiveness of EMI places an additional burden on manufacturers to design equipment that both generates as little EMI as possible and ensures that their equipment has reasonable resistance against EMI so that operation is not affected when it is a factor.

3. Compact sizeThe Industry 4.0 trend towards miniaturisation requires

more compact components and connectivity solutions, even as power and data transmission need growth. Increasingly smaller devices and sensors are transmitting more data, which requires more connection points, which means that connectors must deliver the same (or more) power density with a smaller footprint.

M12 technology continues to evolve

Machine designers and OEMs are incorporating M12 connectors into new machines, as well as updating existing infrastructure. With backwards compatibility, replacing older and less robust technology, like RJ45 connectors, is relatively simple and cost-effective. Manufacturers of M12 connectors continue to innovate, adding new features to meet the quickly changing needs of the robotics, automation, food & beverage, alternative energy and cellular communication industries. Positionable, lockable, field wireable connectors, capable of transmitting impressive amounts of data and power, ensure that the M12 will continue to be an essential component of Industry 4.0 and beyond. ☐

Connectors act as the vital link between the cables carryingdata and the devices that record and communicate information

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50

EVENT | R EP ORT


There is a massive transformation that the world is undergoing in the way we design, produce, reinvent and power experiences. A platform to amalgamate new experiences with innovative technologies — amplifying the potential of the industry renaissance — is what one witnessed at the 3DExperience World 2020 in Nashville, USA. A vibrant community — a mix of engineers, designers, entrepreneurs and business leaders — came together to demonstrate the technologies that would play a key role in future transformations.

Organised by Dassault Systèmes, previously known as the

SOLIDWORKS World, the 3DExperience World 2020 was a grand affair screening how the company is transforming the way one collaborates on projects & the way one manufacturers. With over 6000 attendees, 350 general sessions, hands-on workshops, expert-led panel discussions and an entire playground space dedicated for exhibition of new technologies, tools and application from nearly 100 exhibitors, the three-day event had something for everyone attending. “We aim to showcase all the possibilities within the vast Dassault Systèmes ecosystem that help our users community to go about their work and successfully achieve their ambition,”

Shaping the world of design: Integrating human & technologyTo celebrate and explore design, creativity and passion for innovation, with a new range of technologies and use cases, Dassault Systèmes carried forward its 10-year long legacy of bringing together people from different parts of the world to one platform, the 3DExperience World 2020, this year in Nashville, USA. The event observed a gathering of the brightest minds around the world to discover the new world possibilities. A glimpse of the three-day technology fair…

Anvita PillaiSub-Editor & [email protected]

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REPORT | EVENT


mentioned Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes, in his opening session on day one.

Converging humanity with technology

The day one was all about illustrating the future intersection of humanity and technology, and like Bernard Charlès, CEO and Board Vice Chairman, Dassault Systèmes, said, for “Empowering SOLIDWORKS users to dream bigger about the future.” There was no better example to show the new world of possibilities and progress, that was uniquely human, than the Magic Wheelchair. A group of makers who have made it their mission to build dream wheelchairs for physically challenged kids, the Magic Wheelchair creates detailed 3D printed wheelchairs of different themes, like Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars, etc, using SOLIDWORKS and the 3DExperience Platform. “The 3D design allows us to scale the costumes to the size of the wheelchair and helps us make the design custom, personalised fit for the child,” remarked Christine Getman, Executive Director, Magic Wheelchair, during the inaugural session. Another equally remarkable example of intersecting humanity and technology was BioDapt. Founder and Inventor, Mike Schultz, in 2008, lost his leg in a snowmobiling accident. 10 years later, he won a gold medal in the Paralympic Games using a prosthetic leg he created in his garage using SOLIDWORKS. Now, in collaboration with Centre for Advanced Design (CAD) and using next-gen SOLIDWORKS tools, like 3D Sculptor, Schultz continues the prosthetic evolution for everyone in need. Jesse Hahne, President & Lead Design Engineer, Center of Advanced Design, expressed, “The 3D sculptor helps us leverage the technology for creating complex prosthetics and jump start a lot of our projects.” Schultz & Hahne, who plan on incorporating sensor technology into the prosthetics, were also introduced to Matt Carney, a Post-Doctoral Researcher from MIT Media Lab Biomechatronics Group, who is working on connecting future of prosthetics & eventually creating full biological capabilities in artificial limbs.

Exploring new technology frontiers

To illustrate the increasing possibilities of automation, for simplified assembly creation, Bassi demoed the new Machine Learning features available in their 3D creator, the Selection Helper and Sketch Helper. Further, he also gave a preview on their three upcoming capabilities this year, i.e. 3D Sheet Metal Creator – a sheet metal design available in any browser; 3D Pattern Shape Creator – a new way to create shapes based on visual programming and Function-Driven Generative Design – an advanced multi-scenario and multi-physics topology optimisation tool.

Another highlight of day one was the presentation by Charles Adler, Co-founder, Kickstarter, a company

“We aim to showcase all the possibilities within the vast Dassault Systèmes ecosystem that help our user community to go about their work and successfully achieve their ambition” Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes

“The 3D sculptor helps us leverage the technology for creating complex prosthetics and jump start a lot of our projects” Jesse Hahne, President & Lead Design Engineer, Center of Advanced Design

“The 3D design allows us to scale the costumes to the size of the wheelchair and helps us make the design custom, personalised fit for the child” Christine Getman, Executive Director, Magic Wheelchair

“We are empowering SOLIDWORKS users to dream bigger about the future” Bernard Charlès, CEO & Board Vice Chairman, Dassault Systèmes

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succouring creative people exceed their potential by connecting them on a personal level for crafts or projects using the 3DExperience tools. The presentation was the fitting end to the discussion on the intersection technology and humanity.

Amplifying capabilities for tomorrow

All about research, development and innovation, Bassi introduced day two’s session on ‘Innovate with 3DExperience Platform’ as, “Perhaps the most important session of 3DExperience World.” Host, Florence Hu-Aubigny, Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Dassault Systèmes, gave an understanding about how an

entire organisation can leverage off the 3DExperience Works today, “to turn some of your dreams into reality.” She opened by discussing the five connected 3DExperience World models, which help foster innovations, empower value streams, optimise performance of people within the organisation, thrive through challenging and regulations-filled industry and prepare the future generation of creators to innovate in a sustainable way. Adding to this, Manish Kumar, Vice President - R&D and Aaron Kelly, Management Senior Director - R&D Portfolio, SOLIDWORKS, explained how the 3DExperience Works connects an entire organisation. Joining the discussion, Delphine Genouvrier, Portfolio Management Director - R&D, SIMULIA and Mike Buchli, Portfolio Management Director - R&D, SOLIDWORKS, spoke about the pros the technology can deliver, simulation and manufacturing.

Retracing the event back to Hu-Aubingy, to explore in detail the relation, trading, data science, business and ideation experience, Nicolas Cerisier, Vice President - R&D, 3DEXPERIENCE Platform; Hubert Masson, Senior Director

- R&D, 3DEXPERIENCE Platform and Vincent Frerebeau, Global Online Sales Director, 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, joined her onstage. “Since day one, the objective of 3DExperience has been to connect designers, engineers, project managers on one side & qualified service providers on the other side,” remarked Masson.

To present timely examples of the extending capabilities, transforming collaboration and inventive innovation stream, Injy Gadalla, Partner Development and Solutions Consultant, Dassault Systèmes, led the closing session — a customer discussion showcasing stories of the early adopters from the desktop to cloud. “The platform really enables one to communicate with the manufacturers, and not only that, it also makes it possible to assign tasks, make plans and invite stakeholders and customers to interact on it,” mentioned one of their customers, Mikael Kajbring, CTO, Awake Boards, in his interaction with Gadalla.

“The (3DExperience) platform really enables one to communicate with the manufacturers, assign tasks, make plans & invite stakeholders and customers to interact on the platform” Mikael Kajbring, CTO, Awake Boards

“Innovation is much harder to come by than invention. I spent a lot of time trying to make the connections in organisation to turn inventions the world needs into innovation” Dean Kamen, Founder, DEKA & FIRST Robotics

“Do the best that you can and progress on your designs and learnings with small tests” Sam Rogers, Pilot & Additive Design Lead, Gravity

“We all can dream bigger and better in virtual” Suchit Jain, VP - Strategy Business Development, SOLIDWORKS

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Charles Adler, Co-founder, Kickstarter, talking about connecting people for crafts or projects using 3DExperience tools

Manifesting innovations

The final day was all about showing the passion of Dassault’s user communities and some of the craziest inventions that came from the young minds around the world. “We all can dream bigger and better in virtual,” remarked Suchit Jain, VP — Strategy & Business Development, SOLIDWORKS, in the opening presentation. A key moment of the event was the session by the inventor of insulin pump and a STEM Champion, Dean Kamen, Founder, DEKA and FIRST Robotics. “Innovation is much harder to come by than invention. I spent a lot of time trying to make the connections in organisation to turn inventions the world needs into innovation,” he mentioned while describing his life work. Presenting a live example of how the sky is not the limit, guest speaker, Sam Rogers, Pilot and Additive Design Lead, Gravity, had the audience enthralled with the journey and virtual demonstration of jet suits creation that make human flight possible with the most minimal equipment. While concluding his session, he reiterated, “Do the best that you can and progress on your designs and learnings with small tests.”

Cynosures of technology experience

The 3DExperience World 2020 has always been not just about sessions dispersing knowledge, but more about empowering their user base. Here’s how the company did it in 2020 –

• Enabling the minds of tomorrow with job fairs and panel discussions relevant to the journey of becoming great engineers, which was attended by over 200 students

• Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS hosted certification exams, which had a participation of over 300 people and 160 people came through with the certification

• The ‘Good Hackathon’ featuring an interactive experience that pulled together passionate minds around the globe to do good

• A larger than life 3DExperience Playground, which had about 77 participants from across the spectrum displaying innovative solutions and technologies

• An open representation for start-ups through the Pitch Battle, wherein eight start-ups put their best foot forward to explain how and why their innovations were the best and well-deserving of the $10,000 prize money

A new dimension powered by experience

Dassault Systèmes, throughout the years, has been doing some heavy lifting and has managed to upgrade with time. The 3DExperience World 2020 was nothing less than an embodiment of the disruptions they have brought and are about to bring into various range of industries. The company’s strategy of exploration of the technological possibilities and ease of use is helping them as well as their users to expand the possibilities of innovation, bringing humanity and technology closer, one step at a time. ☐

Mike Schultz, Founder and Inventor, BioDapt, with Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SOLIDWORKS, Dassault Systèmes, speaking about the next-gen prosthetics developed using SOLIDWORKS tools

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Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) Pune, in collaboration with National Chemical Laboratory and Equinox Software and Services, organised a one-day symposium, DISHA-'20 (Data Insights Simulation Historian Analytics), on IT and IIoT applications in the chemical industry, in Pune, India, giving an insight into how Industry 4.0 will transform the way we are doing activities, digital transformation in the oil & gas sector and how speed is important for implementing IoT. Equinox is a global IT solutions and engineering services provider to the Continuous and Batch CPI/HPI, manufacturing and EPC industry. With a modest beginning in 2007, the

company has covered many milestones in its journey. Today, it partners with the best in the world, to deliver highly complex IT applications.

The event saw over 150 delegates from industry and academics from all over the country, like Jamnagar, Noida, Chennai, and also had speakers from the USA. It kick-started with the inaugural session, with Sanjay Kamble, Chairman, IIChE, giving the opening remarks. “This symposium will bring together researchers, practitioners from academia, the industry and government institutes in order to exchange their research ideas and results,” he said.

IIoT bringing value to the chemical industryThe Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived at a place where it can essentially be included with chemical companies to convert operations and grow innovative business models. Keeping this in mind, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) Pune, in collaboration with National Chemical Laboratory and Equinox Software and Services, recently organised the DISHA-'20 symposium, which threw light on how the industry can find value with IIoT, the storage cost of data and the necessities of the Industry 4.0 journey. A post-event report…

Juili EklahareFeatures [email protected]

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REPORT | EVENT


Integration of IoT into the real world platform

This was followed by the welcome address by Prof Ashwini Kumar, Director, NCL. He asserted, “Industry 4.0 is here to stay and it will transform the way we are doing activities. We should initiate dialogue with government agencies, who will be concerned with the next phase – the integration of IoT into the real world platform.” This was followed by the opening of the souvenir; a book – Proceeding of E-Disha’ 20 – with excerpts about each of the speakers and their sessions.

Cost of data is coming down

Up next, Alok Pandit, CEO, Equinox Software and Services, took over, giving his opening remarks. He told the audience that the storage cost of data is coming down exponentially. “In fact, the cost of data in India has also seen significant cost reductions,” he mentioned.

This was followed by Session II – Plenary, which began with the chief guest, Alok Khanna, ED (Strategy-IS), IOCL, giving the inaugural address. “Digitalisation is providing an opportunity for improved shutdown times in refineries and resource optimisation,” he conveyed.

Following this, Vinayak Marathe, Senior Vice President - R&D, Reliance Industries, gave a presentation on ‘Industry 4.0: In large manufacturing enterprise’. Akin to Pandit, Marathe threw light on how data is the new oil. “The oil and gas industry, more than any other, is already investing heavily in IIoT,” he affirmed.

Managing the Industry 4.0 journey

It was then soon time for Session III – Walk the Talk – which began with Ashutosh Parasnis, Co-founder, QLEAP Academy; Founder & Director, NewBox Consulting and Ex CEO, PTC Software (India), talking about ‘Deploying Industry 4.0: A practical roadmap’. “There are four things that need to come together in managing the Industry 4.0 journey – strategy, mindset to think differently, talent and a process which continues that journey in a repeatable manner to maintain the success in a predictable manner,” he informed.

Digital dig

This was followed by an exchange between Aniruddha C,

SVP, Equinox and Atul Jaywant, CIO, ABG, called ‘Digital Dig with Atul Jaywant’, where Aniruddha shot a couple of questions Jaywant’s way. The first question Aniruddha posed was what is the top business outcome that Jaywant would like to see digital initiatives achieve for him. To this, Jaywant responded that in terms of outcome, his business people look at sustainable business. “Therefore, it’s important to innovate continuously,” he answered.

Aniruddha also brought to surface that there is a notion that going digital is going to be possible only with the shining, new equipment. But as we understand, we also have plants from the vintage of 60s and 70s. So, what are the key challenges, from the adoption point of view?

“Challenges are many,” Jaywant instantly responded and continued, “Business is about converting these challenges into opportunities. Therefore, every new, shiny technology that comes along is pushed by the idea of how one leverages that technology, without saying that “I need to reinvent whatever I have.” There is reinvention and re-imagination, but there is also a fair bit of optimisation.”

Reverse mentoring

Khanna was also invited on stage and a significant question asked to him was that whether the younger workforce teaching digital aspects to the senior workforce was true or not. Khanna earnestly replied, “If you want to go digital, everything starts from the top. And this is true, where reverse mentoring is happening.”

Next, Rahul Khare, Regional Business Leader - India & South Asia, Honeywell, gave a presentation on ‘Enterprise performance management – the convergence of digital technologies’. “People now are only investing in production,” he expounded and added, “Enterprise performance management aims to address real business problems like technologies, different stages of digitalisation that the customer may be in, different levels of maturity in terms of what the instrumentation layer may be and more.”

Role of AI

With this, Session III came to a close and Session IV – Property data to analytics – began. The first presentation of the session was by Dr S S Tambe, Emeritus Professor, UICT

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and Ex Chief Scientist & Head - Chemical Engineering Division, NCL, on ‘Chemical process modelling and optimisation by Artificial Intelligence methods’. “A major advantage of AI-based data-driven modelling formalisms is that process modelling can be performed in the absence of a detailed knowledge of the physico-chemical phenomena underlying the process,” he pointed out.

Up next, Dr Kevin Joback, President, MKS, spoke about ‘Thermo-physical property estimation: An essential component of Chemical Industry 4.0’. Elucidating that thermos-physical property estimation is an essential component of Chemical Industry 4.0, Joback explained through an example of ball point pen ink, throwing light on its product properties and process design. “Some of the essential physical properties of ball point pen ink include surfynol 104E, sunsperse black lhd-9303 & ethylene glycol. As for the manufacturing process, it mainly includes formulation mixing, pigment grinding, solvent washing and metal forming,” he said.

Need for speed

Following this, Arup Ghosh, Head - Information Solution Business India & South-East Asia, Rockwell Automation, gave a presentation on ‘How industrial companies capitalise on digital transformation’. “A big number of executives believe IoT will create new income streams for their operation but only 7% have developed a comprehensive strategy,” he mentioned and added,

“To understand your business well, there has to be a unified connectivity of assets, people and processes.”

This ended Session IV and it was time for the last session of the day – Session V – Analytics as catalyst. The first presentation of this session was by Shridhar Kulkarni, Director - Engineering, Indicus Software, on ‘Challenges of IoT and ML applications in process industry’. “Companies

are evaluating if they are going to get anything out of IoT,” he conveyed and went on, “You cannot wait for a long time before implementing IoT; you need speed.”

Industry 4.0 is a journey, not a destination

After this, Dr Prithvi Vijayamohan, Analyst, SEEQ, spoke about ‘Rapid generation of process insights through data analytics – reality or a pipe dream?’ He cited, “As it happens, less than 1% of data is analysed. Data analytics lead to better decisions, which enable SMEs, team collaboration and drives business solutions.”

This was followed by the last session of the day by Ninad Deshpande, Head – Marketing and Corporate Communication, B&R Automation, on ‘Low hanging fruits for digital transformation’. Deshpande affirmed that Industry 4.0 is a journey, not a destination. “The steps for implementation include identifying business imperatives & current level of digitalisation, mapping relevant techniques, conducting feasibility studies, prioritising technologies and creating a roadmap & selecting partners,” he implied and added, “It’s very important that the team has an understanding of your process, so you will know how to make those processes better.”

Driving companies’ initiatives

The symposium ended with the vote of thanks given by Ameya Thombre, Convener & contact point of E-Disha Symposium and Senior Manager, Equinox. The symposium made clear that the chemical industry, with making a place for Industry 4.0 within, will certainly help improving it. Digital transformation of the chemical industry will allow for efficient operations, driving a company’s initiatives from enhanced safety to a decrease in cost. ☐

Dr Kevin Joback, President, MKS, spoke about ‘Thermo-physical property estimation: An essential component of Chemical Industry 4.0’

7410009435/36 aandd -

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TECHN O LO GY | NEWS


Real-time Ethernet switch

B&R Industrial Automation recently added a real-time Ethernet switch to its

portfolio. The new machine switch can be used to set up networks using the

vendor-agnostic communication

solution OPC UA over TSN. The

TSN machine switch allows

cycle times under 50 µs. It offers

four real-time capable TSN ports

and one standard Ethernet port.

The switch also opens up the

possibility of star, tree or ring

topologies in addition to daisy-

chaining. Multiple switches can

be cascaded in order to reach remote cabinets or implement large, complex

real-time networks. Non-TSN nodes can also be incorporated in the network

via the switch. Implementing modular machine concepts is now faster and

easier than ever. The switch is completely integrated in the company’s

Automation Studio engineering environment. The device fully supports a

centralised approach for the hardware and software management with no

special configuration. Since the TSN machine switch is designed in the X20

form factor, it takes up minimal space in the control cabinet mounted right

alongside the X20 control and I/O system.

Email: [email protected] | Tel: +91-20-4147 8999

B&R Industrial Automation | Pune

OPC UA over TSN communication

Inductive sensors

Micro-Epsilon recently developed an inductive induSENSOR LVP sensors for

continuous and reliable monitoring of the clamping position in machine tools.

This measuring method is non-contact and wear-free, where complex

adjustments are not

necessary. These sensors

stand out due to its simple

and wear-free operation.

The cylindrical sensors are

so compact that they can

be integrated directly into

the release device of the

clamping system for this

measurement task. The

stroke of the drawbar is

measured here. A ring

glued onto the drawbar forms the measurement object for the non-contact

sensor. An analogue signal is the output which corresponds to the stroke

movement of the drawbar when clamping the tool. Consequently, continuous

monitoring is possible without setting the switching point mechanically, which

is a time-consuming task. The miniature controller can either be accommodated

on the site or mounted in the control cabinet.

Rotary encoders

Baumer recently introduced the HeavyDuty rotary encoder protfolio, which has

a rotary encoder that never lets its user

down, even under the most difficult

conditions, and the heavyweights work as

precisely as small rotary encoders for an

extended period of time. HeavyDuty rotary

encoders accomplish this through four

characteristics:

1. Precision – Delivers reliable signals to

allow users to precisely control and

regulate drives and generators

2. Mechanical robustness – Double-sided bearing set-up with generously

dimensioned, largely spaced bearings at both shaft ends to compensate axial

and radial load, robust and thick-walled housings and durable protection of

the inside components against shocks and vibration

3. Tightness – Housing is well sealed, especially at the shaft and

electrical connections

4. Electrical robustness – Immune against electromagnetic feilds

If required, HeavyDuty rotary encoders, speed switches and tacho generators

can be combined in one single unit to provide varied types of output signals

measured at a single drive shaft all at once.



Micro-Epsilon | Pune

Baumer India | Pune

induSENSOR LVP sensor

HeavyDuty rotary encoders

Collaborative gripper

Schunk Intec recently designed the SCHUNK Co-act gripper, which meets the

requirements of EN ISO 10218-1/-2 and ISO/TS 15066 and enables safe

interaction with humans. The entire regulation and power electronics are

integrated in the interior of the

gripper, meaning that they do not

take up any space in the control

cabinet. The interface, dimensions

and the interfering radii were

individually adapted to the

application by the company. In

addition to these application-

specific co-act grippers, the

company also provides a standard

gripper range for collaborative applications, which include the DGUV-certified

gripper for small components, SCHUNK Co-act EGP-C and the long-stroke

gripper SCHUNK Co-act EGL-C, which will also be certified for collaborative

applications. With the latter, it will be possible for the first time to apply gripping

forces up to 450 N in HRC applications. The cobot's hand guiding makes it very

easy and intuitive to program new storage positions. Because the solution is

very easy to implement on both, the sensor and the robot side, and with little

need for training, it is suitable for a wide variety of applications and user groups.


Schunk Intec India | Bengaluru

SCHUNK Co-act gripper

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NEWS | TECHNOLOGY


Three-phase motor for marine & offshore application

Nord Drivesystems recently introduced the Universal Motor, with 20 models in

the range extending from 0.12 to 45kW power and is certified to CE, UL, CSA,

CCC, ISI and EAC. The motor is also

certified to Bureau Veritas for marine and

offshore applications. The three-phase

motor can be used with four standard

voltage supplies noted on the motor

nameplate: 380V 50Hz, 400V 50Hz, 415V

50Hz and 460V 60Hz. However it can also

be used at 440V 60Hz and 480V 60Hz. It

is available in 4-pole configuration and

suits IEC frame sizes from 63 to 225, that

are available in B3 foot, B5 flange or B14 face mounting and to suit the US

market it can be supplied as NEMA C-face and NEMA foot mount. The motor

can also be directly mounted to the gearboxes providing a compact and more

efficient drive solution. As standard, the motor is protected to IP55, is Totally

Enclosed Fan Cooled (TEFC) and has a Class F insulation. Other options that are

available include quick connectors, single or double protection canopies, space

heater, spring applied brake and forced ventilation. If required, the motor

enclosures can also be provided in IP66 rating, which means they are dust tight

and protected against heavy seas or powerful jets of water.

Industrial PC with IP protection

Beckhoff recently combined the new C7015 ultra-compact industrial PC and IP

65/67 components, which resulted into an Industrial PC (IPC) designed with IP

65/67 protection for direct installation on

the machine or other equipment.

The device measures 85×167×43 mm

and is an IP 65/67 device designed

for installation within machine

environments. The C7015 is equipped

with a powerful Intel Atom® multi-core

CPU with up to four processor cores. The

IP 65/67 IPC also serves as a highly

functional machine controller. The edge device is ideal for decentralised

installation and provides powerful multi-core computing performance. When

used as a full-fledged control computer, the device also reduces the required

control cabinet space. The integrated EtherCAT P connection of the new IPC

creates a range of new options for efficient sensor/actuator connection via the

IP 67 protected EPP modules. In this way, even complex diagnostic or condition

monitoring tasks can be decentralised and supported with minimal installation

effort. For that purpose, a special mounting plate enables direct attachment of

an EPP module to the C7015. If required, additional EPP modules can be flexibly

connected via EtherCAT P for specific applications.

QR code generating software platform

EPLAN platform recently released the Version 2.9 that can quickly generate QR

codes which can store hyperlinks and can be opened out in the field. Users can

store hyperlinks in their documentation

that can later be scanned and opened

with apps on mobile devices such as

smartphones or tablets. It can be used

for both internal and external links,

making tedious typing a thing of the

past. The QR code also works on

printed documentation, making it

faster and easier to use. Exchanging

symbols in placeholder objects has also been simplified and they can now be

replaced by selecting the appropriate value sets. Users benefit from greater

transparency with fewer macro variants. Also, the ‘Layers Management’ will

ensure all changes are saved automatically, enabling implementation of

company standards even easier and the macros can be easily reused.

Additional functionalities include searching layers and changing their

properties round off the improvements. An additional benefit is that users can

implement company standards with simple adaptations and definitions,

analogous to the navigators. In Version 2.9, multilingual entries can be made

for many properties and input fields in both projects and parts management.


Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] | Tel: +91-96865 50509Beckhoff Automation | Pune EPLAN Software & Services| Bengaluru

Nord Drivesystems | Pune

C7015 ultra-compact control device QR code generation in Version 2.9

Universal Motor

Layer 3 gigabit Ethernet switch

Red Lion Controls recently announced the release of NT328G Layer 3 Ethernet

switch, which offers 28 high-speed ports (24-gigabit, 4-10 gigabit) and reliable

wire-speed switching performance to meet the current and future needs of the

oil & gas, water & wastewater,

energy, transportation, video

and security sectors, as well as

other bandwidth-intensive

industrial applications. The

industrial Ethernet models

feature a flexible mix of copper and fibre ports, allowing for a vast variety of

connection options, with Layer 3 routing that provides the ability to route across

VLANs or subnets — versatility that ensures scalability. Its feature set includes

network redundancy, advanced, integrated security, policy-based traffic control

and easy-to-use configuration and management — reducing operating costs

while providing continuous monitoring of network activity. Its sleek but rugged

IP30 rackmount metal housing is constructed for long-life use in harsh industrial

environments, including wide operating temperature conditions and hazardous

locations — with durability that ensures reduced downtime. Ideal for large-

scale and/or any industrial network, the NT328G has the flexibility to meet both,

present and long-term speed and media requirements — delivering investment

protection for years to come.

Email: [email protected] | Tel: +1-877-432-9908

Red Lion Controls | Pennsylvania

NT328G Layer 3 Ethernet switch

60 A&D I nd i a | A p r-Ma y 20

» FIELDBUSES & NETWORKS

Automation designers face many challenges and trade-offs in the development of a successful network solution for industrial automation. The upcoming issue presents an overview about security in industrial automation on the fieldbus and device level and the security aspects of traditional fieldbuses, Ethernet-based networks and wireless communication technologies.

» TEST & MEASUREMENT

Although test & measurement profiles differ from organisation to organisation, it is important that measurements are precise. Test and measurement equipment supports the product design process, allowing engineers to confirm that their design is working the way they want and find out where the problems lie. The next issue explore the latest developments and trends in this sector.

H IGHL IGH T S | CO MPAN Y INDEX | IMPR INT

COMPANY INDEXName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page

ABB Power Grids India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ABB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7

AspenTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Avanteum Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

B&R Industrial Automation . . . . . . 2, 3, 29, 58

Baumer India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Beckhoff Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44, 59

Chandigarh University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Contrinex Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 10

Daimler Truck AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Dassault Systèmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

DCM Shriram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation 24

DesignTech Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Encon Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

EPLAN Software & Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page

Equinox Software and Services . . . . . . . . . . 54

Frost & Sullivan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 14

GNA University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Hummel Connector Systems . . . . . . Back Cover

Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) . 54

Infor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

International Federation of Robotics (IFR) . . . . 6

International Monetary Fund (IMF) . . . . . . . . . 8

Katlax Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 47

Kuebler Automation India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Lapp India . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover

LinkEZ Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Meenakshi Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Micro-Epsilon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Microtek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

NASSCOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page

National Chemical Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Nord Drivesystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

NTPC Khargone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Objectify Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Red Lion Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Rockwell Automation . . Cover Page, 8, 19, 20,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 22, 23, 41

Schunk Intec India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Siemens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

SKF India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Stratasys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Sustainable Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Texas Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Vega India . . . . . . . . . . . . . Front Inside Cover

Volvo Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Whirlpool India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Highlights – Jun-Jul 2020IMPRINT

Efficient Manufacturing

Automation & Drives

Publisher / Chief Editor Shekhar Jitkar [email protected]

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» POWER & ENERGY

Over the coming decades, digital technologies are set to make energy systems around the world more connected, intelligent, effective, dependable and viable. Digitalised energy systems in the future may be able to recognise who needs energy and deliver it at the right time, in the right place and at the lowest cost. The following issue finds out how digitalisation is refining security, output, availability and sustainability of energy and power systems.

8,

200+

RNI NO. MAHENG/2010/34602

Documents

EMERGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES Helping humans in the …€¦ · to you the Cover Story that discusses the 10 emerging digital technologies that are ... magazine in India, on Automation