‘Cyber security is a key component of digitalisation solutions’
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Is the industry ready for this revolution?
The industry is very much ready for the Industry 4.0 revolution, in which digitalisation is the key driver. Digitalisation of the manufacturing process has become a vital lever of growth in almost all industries. In order to remain competitive at the global stage through higher flexibility, efficiency, quality and faster time-to-market, the seamless integration of data along the entire production value chains will become a key criterion.
For example, connectivity and interaction among parts, machines, and humans are expected to make production systems as much as 30% faster and 25% more efficient, and elevate customisation to new levels. While some industries such as automotive have already started on the journey, others have begun witnessing benefits and it is a matter of time before we see more customers adopting digitalization.
Will a piecemeal approach work, or does it call for total revamping of the business model?
Digitalisation is a journey. With customised production at the same cost of mass production, we have one foot in the next level of manufacturing. To enable this, customers need not revamp their entire value chain, but can start digitalising some parts of their manufacturing process by weaving a digital thread from ideation (conceiving the product), to realisation (producing the product) and utilization (operating or servicing the product).
With our Digital Enterprise Suite, we enable manufacturing companies both in discrete and process industries to digitalise and integrate their entire manufacturing value chain, including suppliers. They can begin at any point of their value chain, and gradually scale up to a holistic closed loop approach stretching over the complete value chain, right from Product Design to Production Design to Production Execution to Service and Continuous Performance Monitoring.
What about implementation in brown field projects?
Irrespective of the stage of the plant, manufacturing companies can utilise digitalisation to address growing demands such as mastering increasing product and process complexity, reducing time to market, adapting to changing market requirements, deliver individualised products and secure continuous product improvement.
Our digitalised switchgear manufacturing plant in Kalwa, in the outskirts of Mumbai is a perfect showcase of how to transform a brownfield factory into a globally-benchmarked digital factory. This 40 year old factory is capable of producing more than 180 variants at the rate of one product every nine seconds from a single line. The plant can manufacture over five million devices annually. Products at the plant communicate with machines and all processes are optimized for IT control, resulting in a minimal failure rate.
Digitalisation creates new opportunities to produce more flexibly and satisfy customer-specific requirements individually. A prerequisite is of course to have integrated processes across the entire lifecycle.
Are the issues of security of the data adequately addressed?
Cyber security is a key component of digitalisation solutions, which ensures that the data is safe and secure. Siemens has joined hands with other companies to sign a Charter of Trust that once again sets the pace for binding rules and standards that build trust in cyber-security and drive forward digitalization globally.