Industry 4.0

Enhanced efficiency and new business models thanks to the smart factory

Networking and digitalizing their production enables companies to meet growing customer expectations relating to individualisation, quality and fast product delivery. A smart factory also boosts efficiency, while data monetisation and industrial analytics open up new services and business models. Digital twins, machine learning, big data and industrial analytics lay the foundation for fast and cost-effective market operations at manufacturing companies.

Smart production is the answer to new challenges

Manufacturing companies can – and must – use smart production, the evaluation of sensor data and the enhanced flexibility achieved through digitalization to hold their own as the market becomes ever more competitive. Digital twins, machine learning, big data and industrial analytics are key elements of the smart factory and provide the prerequisites for making industrial production more flexible. Industry 4.0 is the term coined to describe their use. All this is vital if companies are to meet customer expectations relating to individualised products, smart logistics and fast delivery by quickly adapting to changing market conditions. It also goes hand in hand with increasing cost pressure, rapidly changing markets and the need to reliably protect IT systems against attacks and data espionage.

However, the digitalization of production offers far more answers and solutions than challenges. Continuous feedback from sensors in production plants makes it possible to improve quality while also cutting production costs. Last but not least, the production data collected provides the basis for product improvements and new services for customers, such as calculating warranty extensions based on the documented production data.

Networking, controlling and monitoring production facilities

Data can be used as a basis for companies to optimise their value chains or even create completely new business models. To take advantage of all these potential benefits, production facilities must be equipped with sensors to record data and also with interfaces for networking and control purposes. At the same time, companies require high-performance IT to store and evaluate the large volumes of data rapidly being generated. Edge cloud solutions are a big help in this regard, providing the necessary storage and computing capacity close to the production environment.
Smart services can also be beneficial when it comes to the monitoring and predictive maintenance of systems. Aspects such as enclosure monitoring and efficient cooling are further key elements of intelligent production networking.

Today, we can complete significantly more jobs than just a few years ago with the same number of staff.
Andreas Ripploh, Ripploh Elektrotechnik & Engineering

Rittal is your partner for Industry 4.0 and IIoT

Rittal is driving the development of Industry 4.0, IIoT and smart factories with its solutions and smart services – from smart sensors monitoring enclosures and intelligent cooling solutions to smart service concepts and computing power from the cloud. Our portfolio includes IIoT-enabled cutting and machining centres from our Perforex range, fully automated wire processing machines from the Wire Terminal series, IIoT interfaceto existing production and cooling systems, specialised software solutions for industrial control and industrial analytics, and much more besides.

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