Industry 4.0 is regarded as the fourth industrial revolution in Germany. It mainly refers to the use of “intelligent spare” in “intelligent factory” to produce “intelligent materials” into “intelligent products”. The whole process runs through “network collaboration”, so as to improve production efficiency, shorten production cycle and reduce production cost.Its typical characteristics are: integration and revolution, is the product of the deep integration of new generation information technology and industrialization, is a new mode of production, promoting the transformation of traditional mass production to mass customization.
1、 Smart factory
“Industry 4.0” is actually the realization of intelligent factory based on information physical system, and ultimately the transformation of manufacturing mode.
（1） Smart factory concept
“Industry 4.0” evolves from embedded system to information physical system (CPS), forming intelligent factory.As the representative of the fourth industrial revolution in the future, intelligent factory is developing towards the Internet (Internet of things, data network and service Internet) which realizes seamless connection of objects, data and services.
The Internet of things and service Internet are respectively located at the bottom and top of the three-tier information technology infrastructure of the smart factory.At the top level, ERP, SCM and CRM related to production planning, logistics, energy consumption and operation management, and PLM related to product design and technology are at the top level, closely connected with the service Internet.In the middle layer, CPS physical information system is used to control and dispatch production equipment and production line.From the supply of intelligent materials to the output of intelligent products, through the whole product life cycle management.At the bottom, the Internet of things technology is used to realize control, execution, sensing and intelligent production.
（2） Three Integrations of intelligent factory
Integration means taking computer application as the core, which is the advanced stage of information technology application in manufacturing industry and supports all aspects of manufacturing process.Highly integrated can greatly improve the production efficiency of the enterprise, effectively organize resources of all parties, encourage the enthusiasm of employees in different chains, change the enterprise from different individuals into a team with strong cohesion, and make fundamental changes in personnel organization and management, task allocation, work coordination, information exchange, design data and resource sharing.
“Industry 4.0″ integrates production equipment, sensors, embedded systems and production management systems into an intelligent network through CPS, enabling interconnection between equipment and services, so as to achieve horizontal, vertical and end-to-end high integration.
Horizontal integration refers to a kind of resource information sharing and resource integration realized by network collaborative manufacturing enterprises through value chain and information network, which ensures seamless cooperation among enterprises and provides real-time products and services.Horizontal integration is mainly reflected in the network collaboration, mainly refers to the integration from the enterprise to the integration between enterprises, to the integration of industrial chain, enterprise groups and even multinational groups based on the enterprise business management system, resulting in new value chain and business model innovation.
Vertical integration is based on the networked manufacturing system in the intelligent factory to achieve decentralized production and replace the traditional centralized control of the production process.Vertical integration is mainly reflected in the scientific management of the factory, from focusing on the product design and manufacturing process to the product life cycle integration process, to establish an effective vertical production system.
End to end integration refers to the integration of engineering information system throughout the whole value chain to ensure the implementation of mass customization.The end-to-end integration is guided by the value chain, realizes the end-to-end production process, and realizes the effective integration of the information world and the physical world.End to end integration is to look at intelligent manufacturing from the perspective of process flow, which is mainly reflected in parallel manufacturing. It will form an enterprise’s integrated platform system through the integration platform of cell technology products, and develop towards the factory’s comprehensive ability platform.
The Three Integrations of intelligent factory, which focus on information sharing for many years, have come to the stage of process integration, and are constantly marching towards the integration stage of intelligent development.”Industry 4.0” promotes the vertical, horizontal and end-to-end integration at the existing high-end level, including all-round integration within enterprises, between enterprises and network collaborative enterprises, and between enterprises and customers.
From the past development process of integration in manufacturing industry and the evaluation of its effect, manufacturing industry is increasingly inseparable from the comprehensive integration supported by advanced technology.It can be said that integrated thinking based on all-round integration is one of the new thinking of manufacturing industry.Moreover, the development of manufacturing industry in the future will be based on the all-round integration of “taking advantage of the situation and resources”.
2、 Smart devices
In the future intelligent factory, each production link is clearly visible, highly transparent, and the whole workshop operates orderly and efficiently.In “industry 4.0”, the automation equipment can realize the intelligent requirements of product life cycle management, safety, traceability and energy saving by adding some new functions on the basis of the original control functions.These new functions added to the production equipment are to configure a large number of sensors for the production line, so that the equipment has the ability to perceive, transmit the perceived information to the cloud computing data center through the wireless network, and further make the automatic equipment have the intelligent function of self-management through big data analysis and decision-making, so as to realize the intelligent equipment.
In “industry 4.0”, sensors equipped in production lines and production equipment can capture data in real time, then connect to the Internet through wireless communication, transmit data, and monitor the production itself in real time.The data of the device sensing and control layer is integrated with the enterprise information system to form the information physical system (CPS), which enables the production big data to be transmitted to the cloud computing data center for storage and analysis, forming a decision and in turn guiding the operation of the device.The intellectualization of equipment directly determines the intelligent production level required by “industry 4.0”.
Production efficiency is the first consideration of manufacturing enterprises.In terms of specific production process, the significance of industry 4.0 for enterprises is that it can form a closed-loop network of all kinds of production resources, including production equipment, factory workers, business management system and production facilities, and then realize the horizontal and vertical links and end-to-end data sharing through the value chain network of the whole intelligent products and systems through the Internet of things and system service applicationsWord integration, so as to improve production efficiency, and finally realize the intelligent factory.Through the horizontal connection of the intelligent factory manufacturing system on the distributed value network, in the process of product development, production, sales, logistics and service, with the help of software and network monitoring and communication, the production process can be flexibly and timely adjusted according to the latest situation, instead of completely following the plan of a few months or years ago.
“Industry 4.0” connects different equipment through data interaction through CPS system, so that the internal and external parts of the factory form a whole.And this kind of “integration” is actually to realize the “decentralization” of manufacturing.In “industry 4.0”, the production mode will change from “centralized control to decentralized enhanced control”, and the decentralized production will become more flexible than the automatic mode of assembly line.
The main characteristics of assembly line operation are: the materials are transported through the assembly line, the operators do not move on the work station, and constantly simply repeat a fixed action.The advantage is that it can avoid the operator walking back and forth in the workshop, changing tools and other labor links, so as to significantly improve work efficiency.
With the emergence and popularization of PLC (programmable logic controller), automation technology has been a major breakthrough.PLC makes some complex operations of logic association can be automatically completed by the equipment.At the same time, with the development of CNC machine technology, parts can be processed according to the drawings.In addition, the use of industrial robot technology, such as manipulator, also makes it possible to replace the simple and repetitive fixed operation of operators.
Therefore, in the pipeline, after decomposition, the operation composed of standardized actions is easy to be completed by automatic machines.In other words, the pipeline is easy to automate.The past 30 years have witnessed the fastest development of globalization. Developed countries have transferred a large number of labor-intensive industries to developing countries with low labor costs through industrial transfer.For a large number of labor-intensive industries, the comprehensive cost of the assembly line with higher automation level is often higher than that of the production line with lower automation level.
However, automatic assembly line also has its disadvantages.It is more suitable for manual operation, which can not be produced flexibly, can not meet the personalized customization, and has low repeatability, relatively complex, strong perceptual ability requirements.
It is the long-term goal of manufacturing industry to better meet the personalized demand and improve the flexibility of production line.
The production mode of dynamic configuration described in the “industry 4.0” report mainly refers to that the robot (workstation) engaged in operation can access all relevant information in real time through the network, and according to the information content, independently switch the production mode and replace the production materials, so as to adjust the production operation to become the most matching mode.The production mode of dynamic configuration can realize different design, component composition, product order, production planning, manufacturing and logistics distribution for each customer and each product, and eliminate the waste link in the whole chain.Different from the traditional production mode, the dynamic configuration production mode can change the original design scheme at any time before or during the production process.
For example, the current car production is mainly in accordance with the pre-designed process of production line.Although there are some mixed mode of production, the production process must be carried out in the production line composed of many machines, so the diversification of product design will not be realized.MES (manufacturing execution management system), which manages these production lines, should have brought more flexibility to the production line, but it cannot play more functions due to the hardware constraints of many machines that make up the production line.
At the same time, workers operating in different production lines are distributed in each workshop, they will not master the whole production process, so they can only play a role in a fixed work.In this way, it is difficult to meet the needs of customers in real time.
In the intelligent factory described by “industry 4.0”, the concept of fixed production line has disappeared, and modular production mode which can be dynamically and organically reconstructed has been adopted.
For example, the production module can be regarded as an “information physical system”, and the car in the process of assembly can shuttle between the production modules and accept the required assembly work.Among them, if there is a bottleneck in the production and parts supply, we can timely dispatch the production resources or parts of other models to continue production.That is to say, select the suitable production module for the self-discipline of each model, and carry out the dynamic assembly operation.In this dynamic configuration mode, the original integrated management function of MES can be brought into play, and the whole production process of design, assembly and testing can be dynamically managed, which not only ensures the operation efficiency of production equipment, but also realizes the diversification of production types.
3、 Intelligent materials
In the era of “industry 4.0”, in the intelligent factory, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), PDM (Product Data Management), SCM (Supply Chain Management) and other software management systems may be interconnected.At that time, the factory will automatically purchase raw materials or parts from the suppliers of raw materials or parts immediately after receiving the customer’s order.
After the arrival of raw materials or parts, they will be given data, “this is the raw materials or parts in a certain process of a certain product produced by a certain customer”, so that the “raw materials or parts” have information.Raw materials or parts with information also means that they have their own purpose or destination, and become “intelligent materials”.If, in the production process, once the raw materials or parts are wrongly distributed to other production lines, it will carry out “dialogue” with the production equipment and return to its own correct production line; if the raw materials between the production machines are not enough, the production machines can also “negotiate” with the order system to increase the quantity of raw materials or parts.
Finally, even after the raw materials or parts are embedded in the product, it will be easy to trace the source because it still keeps the path process information.
According to media reports, Mr. Kerman, senior vice president of sap and President of global R & D network, delivered a speech on the theme of “SAP China’s industry 4.0 and the way of Internet of things” at the 2014 China Information Industry Economic annual meeting.In industry 4.0, according to Coleman, everything has become digital.
Each product has its own independent ID, so the enterprise can break through the limitation of geographical space and realize remote operation and service.Based on big data prediction, enterprises can provide customers with more delayed or advanced services according to the prediction results, so as to further reduce risks and costs.In the process of production, enterprises can also achieve better energy management and flexible production.
4、 Intelligent products
More and more facts show that the development and application of information technology, especially Internet technology, is accelerating the profound transformation of production mode and manufacturing mode in manufacturing industry with unprecedented breadth and depth.What follows is the change of product attributes.
The current car may no longer be a “machine”, but an “electronic product” composed of sensors, antennas, receivers, displays and many other electronic components.
With the development of Internet, especially mobile Internet, cars begin to interact with more peripheral devices and systems to transfer and share information.Through networking with its, we can obtain real-time traffic information, road and gas station information; through receiving satellite navigation, we can realize rich positioning information services; through peripheral devices such as smart phones and tablet computers, we can realize more scalable applications.The automobile has changed from an “electronic product” to a “network”.In the future, whether the automobile can be connected with the Internet may become a decisive factor in the automobile market competition.
It can be said that information technology is playing an increasingly important role in the development of national economy and society.Traditional communication systems, aircraft control systems, automotive electronics, home appliances, weapons, electronic toys and other physical products represented by embedded systems widely exist in various fields of social life.With the development of computing, network and control technology, as well as the increasing demand of future manufacturing industry, they are constantly evolving from physical products to “electronic products” or “network products”.
5、 Network collaboration
Through the interconnection, cloud computing, big data and other new Internet technologies, combined with the previous automation technology, the production process realizes the integration of vertical system, the cooperation between production equipment and equipment, and between workers and equipment, connecting the whole factory to form an information physical system, which can cooperate, respond and develop with each otherPersonalized manufacturing can adjust the productivity of products, the amount and size of resources, and the most resource-saving way.
The intelligent manufacturing of “industry 4.0” focuses on the intelligent production system and process, as well as the realization of networked distributed production facilities. Its core is to strengthen the information management and service, improve the controllability of the production process through the application of CPS, Internet of things technology, software technology and communication technology, so as to improve the controllability of the production processIt can realize all-round information coverage of R & D, production, manufacturing process and industrial control, comprehensively control all kinds of information, and ensure that all production and manufacturing links can be in the optimal state.So as to guide the manufacturing industry to intelligent transformation.
[collaboration in the factory]
For a manufacturing enterprise, its internal information is manufacturing as the core, including production management, logistics management, quality management, equipment management, personnel and man hour management and production related elements.The traditional manufacturing management takes a single workshop / factory as the management unit, the focus of management is production, and the scope of management is within the manufacturing industry.
However, with the progress of information technology, many manufacturing enterprises in different periods of development, according to the needs of different periods of management, continue to develop different systems, and gradually used in the enterprise, such as inventory management system, production management system, quality management system, product life cycle management system, supply management system and so on.Different systems realize different functions. Some systems are composed of self-developed systems or systems from different suppliers.With the development of the enterprise, it requires the collaboration between different production elements to avoid the information island in the manufacturing process. Therefore, the demand for the interface and compatibility between various systems is higher and higher, that is, the internal collaboration between various systems is more and more important.
For example, if two sets of independent systems are used to manage production and inventory, the production management system needs to control the implementation of a production plan and the supply of material resources before the implementation of production. If the inventory management system and the production management system are relatively independent, it is impossible to achieve collaboration, and the material information needed for production cannot be fed back to the inventory systemAlso can’t get the demand information of materials needed for production.After the production is completed, the production system summarizes the production results and the actual material use information. However, because the production management system and the inventory management system use different independent systems, the inventory management system can not get the material use information in real time, resulting in the actual inventory situation and the results of the system can not be consistent.In order to make up for the information gap, we have to manually import and export the data information between the inventory management system and the production management system, and often carry out periodic manual inventory, so as to achieve the matching between the usage and the inventory information.
With the increasing requirements for manufacturing agility and lean manufacturing, the manual import and export of information can not meet the needs of manufacturing informatization, which requires network collaboration between different systems to achieve real-time information transmission and sharing.
[collaboration among factories]
In the future manufacturing industry, each factory is an independent operation mode, each factory has an independent production management system, or a set of production management system to manage the operation of all factories.However, with the development of enterprises, enterprises set up different production bases and multiple factories. Factories often need to schedule each other and make rational use of human resources, equipment, materials and other resources. The flow of information between each factory in the enterprise is more and more, and the requirements of real-time are higher and higher. At the same time, the requirements of data volume and execution speed of each factory are also higher and higher.This requires different factories to achieve network collaboration to ensure real-time information transmission and sharing.
In the era of globalization and Internet, collaboration is not only the collaboration within organizations, but also the collaboration between upstream and downstream organizations in the industrial chain.On the one hand, through network collaboration, consumers and manufacturing enterprises jointly carry out product design and R & D to meet the needs of personalized customization; on the other hand, through network collaboration, raw materials, capital, equipment and other production resources are allocated to organize dynamic production and manufacturing.Shorten the product development cycle to meet the differentiated market demand.
Horizontal integration in industry 4.0 represents the combination of production systems, which is an integration of the whole industry chain.In the past factory production, the production of products or parts was only an independent process, without any connection and further logical control.External network collaborative manufacturing enables a factory to produce only a part of a certain product according to its own production capacity and production schedule. External logistics, production of external factory, including sales, and the whole industry chain can be connected.In this way, the horizontal industrial integration in the value chain is realized.
The global division of labor accelerates the flow of production factors. The change of market trend and the personalized demand of products put forward higher requirements for the production response time and flexible production capacity of factories.In the “industry 4.0” era, intelligent production is based on the organic combination of information-based machinery, knowledge, management, skills and other elements. Before manufacturing, it automatically makes a scientific production plan according to the delivery date, production quantity, priority and limited production capacity of existing resources (personnel, equipment and materials).In this way, the production efficiency can be improved, the production cost can be greatly reduced, the product diversity can be realized, and the new product development cycle can be shortened, so as to realize the comprehensive optimization of the factory operation.
Intelligent production and industrial Internet are actually one of the important symbols of the “industry 4.0” era. In the intelligent factory, intelligent materials are produced into intelligent products by using intelligent devices, and the whole process runs through network collaboration.
The article comes from the Internet