Watlow Industry 4.0 Resources Downloads

How Watlow Technologies Support Industry 4.0

Watlow has long been a leader in thermal systems, and now brings that experience to bear in harnessing the possibilities of Industry 4.0.

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 is the latest wave of industrial change, although its exact meaning and implementation varies widely. Generally, it is driven by new technologies such as Big Data analytics, IIoT, Edge Computing, autonomous robots and cognitive systems. Industry 4.0 promises to transform industry through automation and ever - faster real - time data delivery. It has potential to aid predictive maintenance, facility scaling, supply chain management, process modeling and business intelligence.

Industry 4.0 can be described as having two layers :

1. a bottom layer of physical components such as sensors and smart controllers
2. a paired top layer with digital assets, such as networks and virtualized controls that constitute the Internet of Things

The combination of the two layers – data with simulation capabilities – allows companies to build out autonomous systems that are safer and faster. These “ smart factory ” systems provide a better real - time view of status than current production lines.

Industry 4.0 is More Than Data Collection

Data collection is an important first step in turning a facility into a “ smart ” factory. The key is to collect the right data and turn it into valuable information. Applying Industry 4.0 technology and principles to a production line yields data insights and creates efficiencies that can help :

• Increase uptime
• Increase yield
• Reduce cost
• Reduce variation
• Reduce risk
• Improve performance

Examples of Industry 4.0 Solutions

The way that actual factories put Watson ’ s Industry 4.0 advances into practice varies greatly from factory to factory, or even between production lines within a single facility. However, Industry 4.0 implementations are similar in the way data is created and leveraged in important ways:

• greater sensor density to generate data sets orders of magnitude larger than present efforts
• data enables better predictive maintenance decisions and new opportunities for optimization

The data itself becomes a platform for future technological advancements.

Watlow thermal systems products can be used to develop Industry 4.0 solutions for a range of problems. Examples include:

• Use level sensors to create real - time information about inventory.
• Implement a larger network of inexpensive sensors for each heating element to gather decision - making data.
• Train artificial intelligence to drive predictive maintenance.
• Create a virtualized factory to run simulations testing future scenarios.
• Smart scale facilities to handle sudden influxes of work
• Model process steps and rearrange them to find optimal configurations.

How to Start with Industry 4.0

The key with Industry 4.0 is to look at your most significant problems and then determine how you can leverage the potential of Industry 4.0 to solve them.

If heating and thermal sensing are involved, Watlow products offer the technology to implement an Industry 4.0 project. However, the real advantage Watlow brings to an Industry 4.0 project is in its thermal expertise, and understanding both Industry 4.0 implementations and the important role thermal systems play in key applications. Contact us to find out how Watlow Industry 4.0 solutions can help solve real-world challenges.

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