This is the era of the 4th industrial revolution, smart factory.
There are keywords that hit the automated production and plant industry from the last five to six years. They will be 'Industry 4.0' and 'Smart Factory'.
I think those who do production management, projects, and maintenance have heard of it at least once. (It's been a craze for a while, but recently, i think interest has decreased a little due to initial investment costs and questions about its effectiveness.)
Smart factory seems making factories smarter :), but what is the Fourth Industrial Revolution meaning?
First of all, think about the first industrial revolution with steam engines. It triggered by James Watt's steam engine, which you've probably heard of at least once in some history books. It was a shift from handicraft and human's power industrial structure to mass production and production by machinery connected to steam engines. And it was a historic event that resulted in explosive productivity gains.
Since then, the second industrial revolution - a mass production system that introduced motors and conveyor belts. Then, the third industrial revolution that introduced control using computing power such as PLC and robots. And, now reached the fourth industrial revolution with the keyword of a Cyber Physical System that integrates virtual and reality.
A schematic diagram of this is as follows.
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| schematic diagram of industrial Revolution |
Now, we can see the industrial sites that are gradually evolving. It compressed into four stages, but in the actual field, you can see the development in various fields such as PLC & DCS control system, motion control of inverter or servo motor, field bus communication system, Vision system for process improvement, conveyor & robot to replace human.
Also, adding virtual physical system's concepts will complete the fourth industrial revolution.
So, what need for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, virtual physical system?
Let's imagine the automated production process or plant using PLC or DCS to receive sensor-like inputs, control motion, communicate with other controllers, and move the robot and conveyor in a perfect order.
Maybe it looks similar to the picture below, right?
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| Typical appearance of automation facilities @Pixabay |
Then, can it be called the Fourth Industrial Revolution that only automatic process control perform by computers?
Each country or FA supplier has a slightly different definition.
In order to achieve the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it said that not only automation but also virtual physical systems must be introduced.
Cyber Physical System
It may still be an unfamiliar concept as it means integrated management by connecting the real world and the virtual space by artificial intelligence. In the case of GE, the solution is named Digital Twin.
As a representative element of virtual physical systems to connect and manage virtual and reality,
- Secure connectivity using Internet of Things (IoT)
- Bigdata gathered from everything connected
- Cloud systems that allow collected data to be stored and utilized without space constraints
- Artificial intelligence AI that analyzes collected data and utilizes it for control and decision making
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| IoT & Cloud @Pixabay |
is typically mentioned. (in other article, some elements contain to the above, such as robots, 3D printers, AR & VR)
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| Connectivity @Pixabay |
