HM2020 Preview – Change Becomes Growth
Published on : Friday 13-03-2020
Industrial Transformation is the theme of Hannover Messe 2020 scheduled for April 20-24 at the Hannover Fairgrounds, Germany.
The term Industry 4.0 was introduced at Hannover Messe in 2011 when it was more of a concept rather than a production system. Within a decade, Industry 4.0 is not only a reality with smart factories in operation, but is now ready for the next leap, encapsulated under the broad spectrum of Industrial Transformation, the keynote theme of Hannover Messe 2020.
At the Preview press conference for the 2020 edition held in the mid-February at the Hannover Fair Grounds, around 150 media persons had gathered from across the world. “The way we live, produce things and work is undergoing extremely rapid change,” said Dr Jochen Köckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe, addressing the gathering. “The manufacturing industry is in the driver’s seat. The challenge is to take the wheel and shape the change. At Hannover Messe 2020, some 5,500 exhibiting companies will show how transformation can be positive, and how change can spark growth and progress.”
“At Hannover Messe, we show how machines, production plants and intralogistics processes can be transitioned to the digital world. If you don't make this transition, then sooner or later you will be left behind by your competitors,” stressed Dr Köckler, and mentioned four megatrends that are changing the world: digitalisation, individualisation, climate protection, and demographic change.
- Digitalisation means connected machines communicate with each other and generate a huge amount of data, leading to what is termed a deluge, also called garbage. But the fact is businesses can profit from these data only if they find the right method to extract meaning from it. This is where Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning helps.
- As for individualisation, one of the main tenets underlying the concept of Industry 4.0 is to achieve mass customisation as opposed to standardisation. The challenge is to find a way to do this profitably.
- The world is experiencing the fallout of climate change with rapid changes in weather marred by unpredictability. Sustainability calls for advanced technologies and carbon- neutral business models. Smart energy solutions, lightweight design, circular economy, are the things that would leady to conservation of resources, energy efficiency and process optimisation, and the benefits going beyond climate change – they will change business for the better.
- Demographic change means the Baby Boomers are making way for Gen X, Y and Z. Nowhere is this more evident than in the start-up scenario, with young professionals and small companies making an impact far beyond their own age and resources. Around 250 startups are going to be present at Hannover Messe 2020, three of which were present at the Preview and participated in the pitch contest.
Empowering Manufacturers
There was an interesting presentation at the Preview by Christoph Berlin, Partner Program Manager, Azure Industrial IoT, Microsoft Corporation. Speaking on the theme of ‘Intelligent Manufacturing at Scale’, Berlin elaborated upon Microsoft’s offerings for the industry that would be presented at the main event in April. The gist of Berlin’s presentation was that products are no longer at the centre of the value chain and it is service that is at the heart of it, and hence the importance of ‘Anything-as-a-Service’ or XaaS. While on demand production down to batch size one is possible, it needs to be preceded by companies tailoring their existing processes to align them with rising customer expectations and appropriate response mechanism.
The obstacles in the process of making this transition are legacy systems, isolated data silos and processes that are still not digitised, which makes it difficult to use data effectively. The solution is to move to Open Source and Standards, in order to achieve a convergence between IT and OT, effectively connecting machines and systems. Microsoft has launched the Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP) to accelerate the development and scaling of Industry 4.0 solutions in the manufacturing industry.
OMP enables industrial manufacturers and their partners to work together along the entire value chain and break down data silos. With the platform, they can overcome the disadvantages of complex, proprietary IT systems that would otherwise slow down production optimisation. By leveraging open industry standards and data models, companies can take full advantage of their data, integrate industrial IT solutions faster and more securely, and benefit from contributions from other OMP members while protecting their data and intellectual property. In the process they can achieve data democratisation, and also learn to analyse data without the need for data analysts.
Berlin was joined by Tobias Gaukstern, Head of the Business Unit Industrial Analytics at Weidmüller, to present the vision of democratising machine learning. Gaukstern explained how the Automated Machine Learning Tool from Weidmüller, running on Microsoft Azure, supports this vision and how machine learning is therefore being prepared for widespread roll-out in industry.
Partner Country Indonesia
Indonesia is the Partner Country at Hannover Messe 2020. In his presentation at the Preview, H.E Arif Havas Oegroseno, Ambassador of Indonesia to Germany, referred to the country’s national strategy, Indonesia 4.0, an ambitious target to be in the list of 10 biggest economies of the world by 2030. According to World Bank figures of 2017, Indonesia’s manufacturing industry accounts for 20.5% of the total economy, with China being the highest at 28% followed by South Korea (27%), Japan (21%) ad Germany (20.6%). “These figures show that Indonesia is only a few steps away to join the same league as these industrialised countries,” said Arif Havas.
At Hannover Messe 2020 in April, more than 170 Indonesian exhibitors will demonstrate their capabilities. They will not only show what they have achieved with Industry 4.0 technology, but also offer business opportunities that are worth grabbing for global companies. “We believe that strong cooperation and connection between supply and value chains providers will further accelerate the world’s economic growth,” concluded the Ambassador.
(Associate Editor Milton D’Silva attended the Preview on invitation from the organisers, Duetsche Messe AG)