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Editorial
INDUSTRY EXAMPLES
BOSCH’S CURRENT PROJECTS
Driving Industry 4.0: With the upcoming fourth industrial
revolution, manufacturing processes are looking to be
streamlined and seamlessly connected to enhance productivity
and quality control with lower energy needs.
Showcasing an example at the Hannover Messe trade
fair in April 2016, Bosch presented machinery, sensors
and software to form one complete digitally connected
factory. This included innovations such as a robotic arm
that stops when someone gets too close, enabling machines
and humans to work together without a protective
barrier.
Bosch’s IoT Cloud compares data from sensors, and
once any deviation is identified, customers, suppliers and
service providers are notified and alerted in real time.
This minimises costly downstream consequences and
production stoppages.
A calculation algorithm produces forecasts/pre-emptive
condition monitoring for large boiler plants. Modes of
operation that lead to inefficiency, increased wear or unplanned
downtime can then be identified at an early
stage and avoided.
Multi-sensor systems are used to record, process and
transmit measurement parameters. Workpieces also fitted
with these sensor systems so that each product will
have its own blueprint and can report its manufacturing
status, resulting in self-organising and self-monitoring
production.
Virtual power plants help run businesses at lower cost,
mainly by planning, controlling and monitoring energy
supply, energy consumption and energy storage. The Virtual
Power Plant Manager provides a single solution designed
to optimise network stability and maximise energy
trading revenues.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (3D PRINTING)
AT DMG MORI
DMG Mori’s LASERTEC 65 3D machine, which offers a
hybrid solution for combined additive manufacture and
5-axis milling. This process for deposition uses a co-axial
powder nozzle for the additive process. On larger components,
the process can be over 10 times faster than the
generation with a powder bed machine.
With most structural components, 95% of the material is
removed by milling, but by additive processors, material
is only built up where is it needed, saving costs and raw
materials. This process also allows successive layers to
be built thinly, even alternating materials between each
layer. This, combined with the precision, allows a wide
variety of 3D components to be built with accuracy and
cost-efficiency.
SPOTLIGHT ON GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
Automation Nation
The German government launched the Industrie 4.0 initiative
in 2013, pledging EUR200 million in research aimed
at helping domestic manufacturers. Particular attention
is paid to the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SMEs) forming the backbone of the German economy.
The initiative is attempting to adopt new technologies
and maintain leading market positions in the face of
growing competition from international tech giants.
The Mittelstand 4.0 Initiative
In September 2015, the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Affairs and Energy announced the launch of the
first five competence centres aimed at helping small and
medium-sized companies to go digital as part of the government’s
Mittelstand initiative, which focuses specifically
on SMEs. The first centres will be established in the
states of Berlin/Brandenburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony,
North Rhine-Westphalia, and Rhineland-Palatinate in
partnership with industry associations, leading universities
and research centres, including the Technical University
of Darmstadt, the Leibniz University of Hannover,
Fraunhofer Institute, and the German Research Centre
for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Up to 16 centres are
planned for the next year.
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