Hi,
I am a little skeptical about IoT, Industry 4.0 and openess.
Maybe skeptical is the wrong word... what I mean is, these words don't convince me that everything is and will be so much better in the digital factory today or the one from tomorow. I believe everything is evolving just like the last decades everything was. I believe in standardisation, in OOP programming and all other modern ways of thinking. But...
About IoT:
At home I have my heating on a app, my doorbell on a app, my surveillance cameras in a app, etc... This is luxery, but not life changing things that convince me of IoT in homes. IoT in industry... how can this be seen... when I visit a brand I get to see things like... possibillities to see trend apps on cell phones, apps for OEE on cell phones, etc... for me this doesn't change much and can also be seen as a nice to have for managers. What do you guys see a IoT in the industry.
About Industry 4.0:
Well, I believe in OOP and also in architectures. I believe that OPC UA can be a standard in the factory of tomorow for communication between different machines but also to upper levels like Scada, MES and ERP layers. But the question I have here is, define Industry 4.0 without the marketing talk... can anyone put a definition on it ? To me it is nothing more then a marketing word. Siemens use this term a lot in combination with Mindsphere... a platform that has very little interest from the Automation industry at this time.
I think IoT has a little overlap with Industry 4.0, IoT is the marketing word for USA and Industry 4.0 is for europe... or is this totally wrong ? Opinions please
About openess...
Siemens talks a lot about openess in several categories IMO:
- Eplan can be imported in TIA, this is openess to Siemens. This could allready be done 10 years ago...
- Import and export with XML files: Wonderware had this allready 10 years ago.
- Linking TIA PLC Advanced to their 3D designer: I agree that this is a really money saver for expensive and complex serie machines. But first most engineering company's have their standards in their own 3D software like Inventor, Cocreate or whatever. They can also simulate in those softwares (without the PLC). But can a Mechanical Engineer write PLC code and link it to a PLCSim Advanced ? I really don't think so. It takes time to link a 3D virtual machine as a digital twin to a PLCSim, a lot of time.
- And then you have the TIA openess API. Yes we know how to program things in C#, so we tried the API. We have a OOP standard voor Valves, Motors, Positioning drives, etc..., so we have types and faceplates for our OOP standard. So we can create a software to generate a standard project with the objects generated automatically. This was allready possible with Simatic also... just write a software or excell with makro's to generate the SCL sources and this does basically the same thing. I love TIA because you can link UDT's directly to faceplates and think Object Oriented, but with the API it's a lot of work to make a standard software package around it. And you need to manage versions, updates and so on. The question about the API I have... is this groundbraking ?... wel to me it is not.
When I look on Linkedin I see videos with robots, big titles around it with INDUSTRY 4.0 until your head explodes
Now watch the movie Terminator 1 from 1984, there were Fanuc robots in that movie
So my conclusion: LinkedIn is lightyears behind.
Can anyone clear some things up for me, I'm lost in the marketing terms they use these days
Thank you,
kind regards,
Combo
I am a little skeptical about IoT, Industry 4.0 and openess.
Maybe skeptical is the wrong word... what I mean is, these words don't convince me that everything is and will be so much better in the digital factory today or the one from tomorow. I believe everything is evolving just like the last decades everything was. I believe in standardisation, in OOP programming and all other modern ways of thinking. But...
About IoT:
At home I have my heating on a app, my doorbell on a app, my surveillance cameras in a app, etc... This is luxery, but not life changing things that convince me of IoT in homes. IoT in industry... how can this be seen... when I visit a brand I get to see things like... possibillities to see trend apps on cell phones, apps for OEE on cell phones, etc... for me this doesn't change much and can also be seen as a nice to have for managers. What do you guys see a IoT in the industry.
About Industry 4.0:
Well, I believe in OOP and also in architectures. I believe that OPC UA can be a standard in the factory of tomorow for communication between different machines but also to upper levels like Scada, MES and ERP layers. But the question I have here is, define Industry 4.0 without the marketing talk... can anyone put a definition on it ? To me it is nothing more then a marketing word. Siemens use this term a lot in combination with Mindsphere... a platform that has very little interest from the Automation industry at this time.
I think IoT has a little overlap with Industry 4.0, IoT is the marketing word for USA and Industry 4.0 is for europe... or is this totally wrong ? Opinions please
About openess...
Siemens talks a lot about openess in several categories IMO:
- Eplan can be imported in TIA, this is openess to Siemens. This could allready be done 10 years ago...
- Import and export with XML files: Wonderware had this allready 10 years ago.
- Linking TIA PLC Advanced to their 3D designer: I agree that this is a really money saver for expensive and complex serie machines. But first most engineering company's have their standards in their own 3D software like Inventor, Cocreate or whatever. They can also simulate in those softwares (without the PLC). But can a Mechanical Engineer write PLC code and link it to a PLCSim Advanced ? I really don't think so. It takes time to link a 3D virtual machine as a digital twin to a PLCSim, a lot of time.
- And then you have the TIA openess API. Yes we know how to program things in C#, so we tried the API. We have a OOP standard voor Valves, Motors, Positioning drives, etc..., so we have types and faceplates for our OOP standard. So we can create a software to generate a standard project with the objects generated automatically. This was allready possible with Simatic also... just write a software or excell with makro's to generate the SCL sources and this does basically the same thing. I love TIA because you can link UDT's directly to faceplates and think Object Oriented, but with the API it's a lot of work to make a standard software package around it. And you need to manage versions, updates and so on. The question about the API I have... is this groundbraking ?... wel to me it is not.
When I look on Linkedin I see videos with robots, big titles around it with INDUSTRY 4.0 until your head explodes
Now watch the movie Terminator 1 from 1984, there were Fanuc robots in that movie
So my conclusion: LinkedIn is lightyears behind.
Can anyone clear some things up for me, I'm lost in the marketing terms they use these days
Thank you,
kind regards,
Combo
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