Visitors to the Open IIoT stand at AUSPACK this year had a wealth of Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things information at their fingertips.
Open IIoT members, who represent some of the best-known automation brands in Australia such as Balluff; Beckhoff Automation; KUKA; Nord Drivesystems; SMC Corporation ANZ and ZI-Argus, were on hand to answer visitor questions and to give practical advice for getting the ball rolling on the digital manufacturing journey.
Everywhere a visitor looked there was knowledge to be gained – from informative posters on the walls to flat-screen TVs playing videos that shared IIoT facts and the benefits of implementation.
However, the clear centre of attraction at the stand was the newly-upgraded interactive demo unit which showcases all the Open IIoT members’ components working together in unison communicating their ‘smarts’ to an Industry 4.0 software platform. This was illustrated by programming the demo unit system to circulate various sized boxes based on their size, colour, texture, RFID and external labelling.
Watch the demo here:
Key areas such as predictive maintenance, energy savings, horizontal and vertical networking, dynamic changes and data analytics were brought to light through this unique creation. Of particular interest to visitors to the stand were the new upgrades to the demo unit since the Group’s last time exhibiting, including the addition of Balluff’s Condition Monitoring Sensor which helps prevent unscheduled stops and faults in the production process.
The sensor can detect and communicate its condition, keeping you informed continuously of its temperature, number of operating hours, and start cycles.
This condition data can be used to automate cost-intensive manual inspections. Shown for the first time at AUSPACK, another upgrade to the demo unit is the addition of ZI Argus’ evolving elements which are customisable, configurable alerts. These notifications include performance tuning indicators which are indicators on how your plant can run more efficiently.
Finally, visitors were able to immerse themselves in the demo unit’s new hi-tech interactive screen, which clearly explained all of the above upgrades and makes knowledge easily accessible in the hopes of helping propel the Australian manufacturing sector to the next level of automation.
