Berlin to go, english edition 1/2015

INDUSTRY 4.0: A QUANTUM
LEAP IN DEVELOPMENT
The “Industrial Internet” is coming to Germany and hardly anyone knows about it –
as one of the major players, GE is working intensely to make it market ready
photos: GE
Berlin to go spoke with the managing director of General Electric
Global Research, Carlos Härtel, about the appeal of Berlin, the
challenges of Industry 4.0, the lessons of past revolutions – and
why we should view this new era with optimism.
“Industry 4.0” has become a commonly used term, although
its meaning often remains rather abstract. Can it be precisely
defined?
Carlos Härtel (CH): You‘ll get different answers depending on
who you ask. “Industry 4.0” is just now beginning to emerge
as a concept. Exactly which way things are heading might only
become clear in the next two or three years, maybe even five.
Content-wise, “Industry 4.0” is closely related to what we at
GE call the “Industrial Internet”: the networking of people and
machines with and among each other along the entire length
of the industrial value chain. One of the goals is to thouroughly
optimize the operation of industrial systems. This ranges from
increased productivity to plans for predictive maintenance
as well as greater flexibility in terms of application. Take for
example wind farm turbines or the compressor on a gas pipeline.
They are already continuously producing enormous amounts of
measurement and operating data. But, owing to a lack of suitable
analytical tools, only a small part of that data can be used.
The Industrial Internet or “Industry 4.0” will make it possible to
use these large data sets to obtain a comprehensive picture of
current system status and operational performance at any time
and from any location. This will allow for better management
and monitoring than is currently possible.
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