{"id":151728,"date":"2022-09-26T16:04:16","modified":"2024-04-17T16:29:55","slug":"retrofit-makes-factories-fit-for-the-digital-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/us\/news\/retrofit-makes-factories-fit-for-the-digital-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Retrofit Makes Factories Fit For The Digital Age"},"content":{"rendered":" \n

\n <\/svg> Textblock <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":124556,"sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[7312],"tags":[7504,7506],"acf":{"news_max_hohe":"70vh","news_image":{"ID":124560,"id":124560,"title":"Futuristic Concept: Factory Digitalization with Information Showing Efficiency Percentage of High-Tech Modern Electronics Facility. CNC Automatic Machinery Manufacturing Products Using IoT Industry","filename":"TELE-IoT-Retrofit-scaled.jpg","filesize":229015,"url":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/us\/news\/retrofit-makes-factories-fit-for-the-digital-age\/attachment\/futuristic-concept-factory-digitalization-with-information-showing-efficiency-percentage-of-high-tech-modern-electronics-facility-cnc-automatic-machinery-manufacturing-products-using-iot-industry-2\/","alt":"TELE Retrofit","author":"48","description":"TELE Retrofit","caption":"Futuristic Concept: Factory Digitalization with Information Showing Efficiency Percentage of High-Tech Modern Electronics Facility. CNC Automatic Machinery Manufacturing Products Using IoT Industry","name":"futuristic-concept-factory-digitalization-with-information-showing-efficiency-percentage-of-high-tech-modern-electronics-facility-cnc-automatic-machinery-manufacturing-products-using-iot-industry-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":151728,"date":"2022-05-24 09:29:59","modified":"2022-09-26 14:04:16","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2048,"height":1152,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-220x220.jpg","thumbnail-width":220,"thumbnail-height":220,"medium":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-544x360.jpg","medium-width":544,"medium-height":360,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-780x520.jpg","large-width":780,"large-height":520,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-1536x864.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-2048x1152.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1152,"hd":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-1920x1080.jpg","hd-width":1920,"hd-height":1080,"galerie":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-320x180.jpg","galerie-width":320,"galerie-height":180,"stellen":"https:\/\/www.tele-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/TELE-IoT-Retrofit-400x400.jpg","stellen-width":400,"stellen-height":400}},"news_title":"Retrofit Makes Factories Fit For The Digital Age","seo":[{"googleAuthor":"","googlePublisher":"","schemaName":"","schemaDescription":"","schemaImage":false}],"webblocks":[{"acf_fc_layout":"textblock","acf_fc_id":"acf-block-69a231909249b","acf_fc_style":"","flexible":false,"text":"

Anyone who wants to make their machinery fit for the digital production age has to invest a lot of money in new equipment, right? Not necessarily. In very many cases, existing analog equipment (the so-called “brownfield”) can be quite easily expanded with smart technologies to send or receive data. The magic word here is “retrofit”, i.e. the retrofitting of communication-capable components such as sensors or interfaces. But how do you go about it?<\/p>\n

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Define a clear goal<\/h3>\n

Roughly speaking, the IoT is about offering digital services based on product data. These must be made available via suitable interfaces so that, for example, a data logger can retrieve the information.
First of all, however, it must be clear what benefits are expected from an Industry 4.0 retrofit solution. After all, the networking of machines opens up almost unlimited possibilities for collecting data. But what data do I need at all? How do I prepare it, who do I make it available to, and how do I process it in a meaningful way? Do I expect to save costs through predictive maintenance? Or do I want the data to improve quality? Maybe my goal is machine learning and the retrofit will change my entire business model. So a strategy is needed.<\/p>\n

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Determine what data will be collected<\/h3>\n

Once it is clear what the result should be, the next step is to analyze the requirements and determine which data should be measured, transmitted and stored. For this task, the VDMA’s “Guide Retrofit for Industry 4.0” offers a practical checklist as support (https:\/\/www.vdma.org\/viewer\/-\/v2article\/render\/3674210<\/a>). Requirements for the necessary hardware are included here, as are the environmental conditions on site. In addition, it is determined what is to happen with the recorded data. Will it only be read out and archived or linked and made available to other systems? This determines the network and IT infrastructure requirements.<\/p>\n

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External sensors as a data source<\/h3>\n

Once the basics are clear, the next step is to retrofit the machines and systems. If the existing plant does not provide sensors, for example, non-invasive sensors can be used to read out data. These external sensors are glued to the housing, attached with magnets or embedded in silicone sleeves. Important here: the sensors must function reliably and maintenance-free under harsh industrial conditions (contamination by chips, dust or cooling lubricants or ambient conditions such as heat or cold).
With the use of suitable external sensors, predictive maintenance can be implemented, for example. Here, among other things, operating states, running times, speeds, revolutions or temperatures can be measured and analyzed.<\/p>\n

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Network interfaces and bandwidths<\/h3>\n

To deliver added value from the data from machines and plants, it must be linked and clearly processed for analysis. When setting up the network infrastructure, the choice of communication technologies depends on the maximum range, transmission speed and cycle time. Depending on the application, wired systems or radio networks such as WLAN, Bluetooth or GSM are used.
The gateway to the data platform is an IIoT gateway, where the data from all sensors come together. It translates the different digital protocols of the sensor data sources into a uniform industry 4.0-compliant communication and assigns time stamps and metadata to the measured values, among other things. As with all transmission technologies, care must be taken to ensure a secure connection via encryption for mobile radio transmissions. Especially if the data platforms are located in the cloud on the Internet.<\/p>\n

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Watching data live on the data platform<\/h3>\n

To ensure that the sensor data can be processed in a meaningful way, they are collected on a data platform. Here they can be clearly displayed, analyzed and distributed to ERP systems or end devices (PC, cell phone). Status, energy consumption or history information provides information about the condition of the systems. In the event of deviations or faults, it is possible for the IoT system to automatically send an alarm to maintenance personnel via SMS or e-mail. In addition, the analysis of long-term data enables conclusions to be drawn about future events and opens up a great deal of scope for optimization.
This already suggests that immense amounts of data accumulate on a data platform over time. That’s why it’s important to determine which data will be collected and what will be done with it, right from the start of the planning process. For example, it makes sense to process more data at the edge, i.e., in the sensor or directly on the machine, and to forward only the relevant data to the platform.<\/p>\n

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Summary<\/h3>\n

If you are thinking about retrofit solutions for your machinery and equipment, then you should consider the following steps:<\/p>\n