No big data without sensor technology: SICK enables Industry 4.0

Flexible automation requires variable framework conditions. Manufacturing plants must be flexible and must adapt to individual customer requirements. With high product variance but ever-smaller quantities, intelligent components (smart sensors) must be able to adapt and control themselves.

The key driving force in the field of safety is the interaction between humans and machines, taking into account ergonomic and safety considerations. Central issues include the role of humans in the production systems of the future and how sensor technology can support and protect them.

Vertical integration is the keyword for track and trace. The traceability of products during complex manufacturing and logistics processes stands at the forefront of this field. Production and transport logistics merge together through to the customer and necessitate transparent commodity flows, so that decisions can be made more quickly.

Increasing quality standards and the need for efficient use of resources require autonomous error detection by means of extensive product and production data. In the field of quality control, reliable and unambiguous identification of goods in the production process and supply chain is a vital prerequisite for efficient, autonomous control.

Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things will change the industrial process. Thanks to cloud computing, products and machines can exchange information between themselves. The industrial process will be controlled in a decentralised and dynamic manner and will no longer be organised centrally from the factory. Intelligent, reliable sensor technology is therefore required when facing the challenges of Industry 4.0. The exchange of manufacturing, product, and logistics data enables almost complete transparency over the entire value chain. The data supplier - the intelligent sensor technology - plays a crucial role here. SICK shows what is already possible and is working with its customers to actively shape the major changes that are on the way.

HMI offers key platform for future trends

After a 6-year absence, SICK AG will once again be appearing at the HMI this year. In 2008, the company decided that it would not appear at the HMI from 2009 onward and chose to focus instead on user-oriented trade fairs in order to address its customers. Over the last few years, however, the focus of the HMI has shifted to future technological trends which are relevant to SICK. This includes the subject of Industry 4.0 in particular, which will once again be the leading theme of the fair.

To learn more about sensors for Industry 4.0, please visit www.sick.co.uk.