Customers expect concrete benefits, such as predictions on the state and wear of components, or detection of anomalies.
Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in the interests of customers are important topics for Emerson. Product Marketing Manager IIoT Integration Nils Beckmann answers in an interview how the perception of IIoT has changed, what role energy and resource efficiency play in pneumatics and how frequently IIoT components are already used in practice.
What is your task at Emerson?
My role is to promote the benefits of Industry 4.0, or Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to users of our Fluid Control & Pneumatics products.
People, products, and processes: The interaction between these three cornerstones is at the core of our IIoT strategy. The collection and analysis of data are easy to visualise, and only relevant data are passed on to users. Customers are thus notified directly of any errors and malfunctions.
I’m the central contact person for this comprehensive topic. My task is to define the strategy and select the necessary technologies. I’m also responsible for the IIoT product portfolio and the coordination of customer projects. For these tasks, it’s essential to speak directly with customers. This is a rather complex topic, which we prefer to discuss with our customers at eye level.
How has the perception of IIoT changed in automation in recent years?
A few years ago, the basics of this topic still had to be explained in detail quite often. What is it about and what benefits does IIoT offer? Now, customers approach us with their own, specific ideas. They expect concrete benefits, such as predictions on the state and wear of components, or detection of anomalies. In line with new energy guidelines, recording and optimisation of energy consumption, and specifically the detection of leaks, is becoming an increasingly important issue.
The many small and medium-sized companies that deal with the topic of IIoT have a much harder time compared to large companies. To start with, they often have to build up a great deal of know-how and also carry out costly research. To make life easier for medium-sized machine manufacturers, we keep our solutions simple to operate and support open standards, wherever possible.
In addition, where IIoT topics are concerned, we have to work much more closely with our customers, because they involve a combination of many different fields, such as IT, maintenance, mechanical engineering, or reporting.
What role do energy and resource efficiency play in the context of intelligent pneumatics?
IIoT is closely linked to energy efficiency: Energy losses can be reduced to a minimum by preventing leaks and monitoring pressure and consumption. Condition monitoring, the collection of operating states and their prediction as the basis for anticipatory maintenance concepts, offers important advantages for customers. IIoT applications can anticipate wear before it leads to machine downtimes, enabling machine manufacturers and users to significantly increase the availability of their equipment.
In global terms, energy efficiency is a very interesting topic, particularly for Europe.
What’s your experience? How often are IIoT components already used in practice?
IIoT components are used more and more often. This is quite obvious when you look at the increase in realised IIoT projects. In new developments, the topic is also a constant factor. For example, new products are now developed directly with open interfaces, such as OPC UA and MQTT. The advantage of these open interfaces is that they enable a direct connection to an existing system without any major integration effort. In addition, future products will come with a direct digital twin and an asset administration shell. This will provide customers with increased transparency and a better description of the product, which will ultimately help them to save on integration costs.
