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02/2021
THE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
dialog
INDUSTRY 4.0
En route to
networked production
We unleash the power
of hydrogen Siemens Energy is a registered trademark licensed by Siemens AG.
We take the next step of the global energy
transition with the hydrogen economy
by converting “green electrons” into “green
molecules”. Thereby renewable energy can
be integrated into industry, energy and mobility.
LET’S MAKE TOMORROW DIFFERENT TODAY.
siemens-energy.com/hydrogen
EDITORIAL
Don’t hesitate, facilitate!
Just recently, Germany's automotive industry felt the impact of its dependency on semicon-
ductor manufacturers in Asia and the US when supply bottlenecks in electronic components
slowed down production. This dependency is not only increasingly placing German automo-
tive manufacturers under pressure, but affecting the entire industrial realm in Europe. Micro-
electronics is a major driver of innovation, and Germany is the most important EU country for
this key technology. Although there are numerous support programs for the electronics sector,
their global market share of approximately 3 percent puts German manufacturers far behind
China (35 percent) and the United States (19 percent). The essen-
tial chip industry impacts the entire economy, yet Germany and
Europe are lagging behind. The US and Asia – especially China,
Taiwan and South Korea – have recognized the strategic impor-
“Microelectronics is at
tance of microelectronics and have been massively supporting its the start of the value chain.
advancement for years. Microelectronics is at the start of the val- Those who are at the
ue chain and the market is extremely competitive. Those who are
at the forefront here set the rules for new applications such as the forefront here set the rules.”
Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and autonomous driving.
Particularly in the field of high tech, this presents major risks.
Companies often avoid spearheading new topics early on, content to adopt them later once
they have achieved a certain level of maturity. While Germany is frequently at the head of the
pack when it comes to the best ideas, it tends to have a difficult time turning them into inno-
PHOTOS: TITLE PAGE: ©SIEMENS AG: PAGE 03: © FRAUNHOFER EMFT/ BERND MÜLLER
vative products. What is required now is a coordinated European industry policy that focus-
es on key systemic technologies. The individual support programs set up over the past few
years are good, but not sufficient to close the gap. Europe now has a choice: it can either con-
tinue its half-hearted efforts or draw up its own “Electronics for Europe” master plan – with
a long-term outlook and clear objectives formulated in cooperation with stakeholders from
business, science and politics.
I have no doubt that Germany and Europe can win back their technological sovereignty –
if they have the political will to do so.
Yours truly,
Prof. Christoph Kutter
Member of the VDE Supervisory Board and Director of Fraunhofer EMFT
03
CONTENTS
12
The number of network devices in industrial environments is growing rapidly and data volumes are increasingly accordingly. The resulting big data is dramatically inflating
the required storage space and driving up the energy requirements of data centers. This in turn is creating more problems on the shop floor at modern production facilities.
27 34
With German support: A pilot production plant in Chile is set to develop into the Rapid-charging systems significantly shorten recharging times, allowing electric
first large-scale commercial plant for producing climate-neutral e-fuels cars to store enough energy for the next stage of their journey in just a few minutes.
04
TITLE
12 EDGE COMPUTING
Industry 4.0 is producing data
volumes that are barely manage
able for the server farms of a TOPICS
centralized cloud. This is just one
SPECTRUM of the areas in which the network
perimeter promises to provide
27 E-FUELS
06 DISPATCHES
relief. Producing energy from renew-
able sources for the tanks of
Software / Cybercrime /
Chatbots / Graphene /
18 BIG DATA
conventionally fueled cars? It's
possible with e-fuels. This means
5G technology / Space travel / Pest The European project Gaia-X that even vehicles with combus-
control / Smart meters / Digitali- aims to make it simpler for com- tion engines can be rendered
zation panies to exchange data – and climate-neutral.
at the same time reduce depen-
07 PERSONALIA dence on the major US cloud
providers.
30 THE POWER OF WOMEN
Roland Bent / Joe Kaeser / An increasing number of women
Roland Busch / are choosing – and s ucceeding
Maria Markstedter / 22 PREDICTIVE in – careers in the as-yet male-
Prof. Harald Kuhn MAINTENANCE dominated world of technology.
Predictive maintenance is synon- Let us introduce you to a few of
ymous with intelligent produc- them.
08 CHECKING IN tion planning and processes.
Data protection in Germany: Does Corresponding algorithms can
PHOTOS: PAGE 04: DMYTRO / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (ABOVE), ZIG KOCH / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (LOWER LEFT), IONITY (LOWER RIGHT); PAGE 05: ©SIEMENS AG
it provide (effective) protection forecast defects before they even 32 E-MOBILITY
against tech titans, or is the GDPR arise. The Greek island of Astypalaia
actually a barrier to innovation? wants to become climate-neutral.
24 CAMPUS NETWORKS
Soon electric cars will replace all
the combustion-engine vehicles
5G technology is the basis for on its roads. Their green energy
11 INTERVIEW Industry 4.0. The new mobile will come from wind turbines
The mouse and keyboard still communications standard is also and solar power plants.
feature prominently in monitor- required for campus networks,
based workstations. The startup
4tiitoo aims to change this through
which are especially suitable for
automated production processes.
34 RAPID-CHARGING
a focus on eye contact and eye SYSTEMS
tracking. Long charging times are deemed
the greatest barrier to purchasing
electric cars. High-power charging
is therefore a key factor for the
acceptance of electromobility.
COVER ILLUSTRATION
Coaty is a platform-independent VDE GROUP
framework developed by Sie-
mens for realizing dynamic IoT
application scenarios. In smart
38 VDE GROUP
40 MEET THE VDE
factories, Coaty will allow direct
interaction between autonomous
IoT devices and edge or cloud
services.
05
SPECTRUM
SOFTWARE
Everything
in view
Comprehensive COVID-19
management: A digital health
pass promises greater safety
in the workplace.
IBM and the commercial software
provider Salesforce have teamed up
in a project that aims to allow compa-
nies to work safely during the corona
virus pandemic. To this end, Sales-
force is integrating a “Digital Health
Pass” into its Work.com platform.
This will give companies a single
system that they can use to organize
social distancing measures and trace CYBERCRIME
contacts. The required personal data
is collected anonymously. The Digital
Health Pass is designed to enable or-
Attacks via
ganizations to verify health credentials remote
maintenance
for employees, customers and visitors
based on criteria such as test results,
vaccination records and temperature
checks. Individuals control what they A potential threat to critical infrastructures:
share with whom. The system is based Cybercriminals have attempted to poison
on blockchain technology and there- the public water supply in the US.
fore secure against manipulation. Ac-
cording to IBM and Salesforce, this Hackers have attacked a water treatment plant in the state of Flor-
is a flexible solution for managing ida. The aim was to increase the proportion of sodium hydroxide
COVID-19 within organizations. to 100 times the normal level. The attackers used the remote main-
tenance software TeamViewer to access the system. Fortunately,
an employee observed the attack as it was taking place and man-
aged to avert it.
Small quantities of sodium hydroxide are used in water treat-
ment to reduce acidity. According to police, it would have taken
at least 24 hours for the contaminated water to reach households.
Various IT experts have urged a review of the safety of such crit-
ical infrastructure. “This manipulation in the US primarily shows
how easily and quickly hackers can gain access,” says Andreas
Schlechter, managing director of the Cologne-based network and
security firm Telonic. Stephan Gerling, a senior security research-
er at Kaspersky, points out that a support or remote maintenance
session should always be prompted by the user who requires the
maintenance. “This means that remote maintenance programs
should only be started when there is a problem so that the software
is not always accessible to anyone via the Internet,” he explains.
06
PERSONALIA
+++ 1 ROLAND BENT has retired from his role as chief tech- in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Tech-
nology officer (CTO) at Phoenix Contact. Chief digital officer nology at the Chemnitz University of Technology. In addition to
(CDO) Dr. Frank Possel-Dölken is taking over his core respon- being the chair of Smart Systems Integration at the university,
sibilities. Bent will remain active in the international standard- Kuhn has been in charge of the Fraunhofer Institute for Elec-
ization environment as chief representative of Phoenix Con- tronic Nanosystems ENAS in Chemnitz since last year.
tact. In honorary roles, he will continue to serve for a further
two years as chairman of the DKE, as president of the
IEC National Committee of Germany, and as chairman
1 2 3
of the Working Group on Standardization at the Nation-
al Platform Future of Mobility. +++ There has also been
a change of management at Siemens: After eight years
at the head of the group, 2 JOE KAESER has handed
over the reins to new CEO 3 ROLAND BUSCH. Kaeser
will retain his role as chairman of the supervisory board
at Siemens Energy. +++ Forbes magazine has named
4 5
4 MARIA MARKSTEDTER its 2020 “Person of the Year
2020 in Cybersecurity”. The 29-year-old German spe-
cializes in the security of mobile and IoT devices and
graduated from the enterprise and IT security program
at the Offenburg University of Applied Sciences just a
few months ago. +++ 5 PROF. DR. HARALD KUHN is
the new head of the Center for Microtechnologies (ZfM)
PHOTOS: PAGE 6: ALIAKSEI / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (ABOVE), ALLIANCE / STOCK.ADOBE.COM; PAGE 7: PHOENIX CONTACT (1),
SIEMENS AG (2, 3), MARIA MARKTSTEDTER (4), PRIVAT/TU CHEMNITZ (5), METAMORWORKS / STOCK.ADOBE.COM
CHATBOTS
Conversations with the great beyond
A chatbot could make conversations with the deceased possible.
A corresponding patent developed by Microsoft also presents
the potential to create a virtual version of ourselves.
What sounds like something out of a film is the subject of a genuine patent held by Microsoft:
a system that can be used to reproduce the personality of a specific person. A chatbot created in
this way could converse with other people in exactly the same way as the p erson
it represents.
The idea is to "train" its artificial intelligence by feeding it information such
as images, voice messages, social media posts, e-mails and letters. A chatbot
could then represent all kinds of people – both living and dead. Theoretical-
ly, this means surviving relatives could talk to a deceased person’s chatbot.
The patent includes the possibility of creating a 2D or 3D model of the
person in question based on images and videos. This would mean Microsoft
could create avatars that not only talk like, but also look like a real person.
SPECTRUM
DATA PROTECTION
A brake on innovation? GRAPHENE
Data protection complicates digital projects such as Germany's
Corona-Warn-App and remote learning. Does the country need
to rethink data protection, or should it stick to its strict require- Breaking out
ments?
of the niche
PETER SCHAAR, Chairman of the European
Academy for Freedom of Information and Data Decisive steps in graphene's
Protection progress toward market maturity:
“The functionality of the Corona-Warn-App could The material is expected to be
be improved significantly without diminishing data widely established by 2025.
protection – for example, through cluster detection.
An app that functioned in the same way as an elec- Within the framework of the EU re-
tronic ankle monitor, on the other hand, would be search initiative Graphene Flagship,
incompatible with human dignity. Data protection scientists from the Fraunhofer Insti-
ensures that people pretending to be children's tute for Systems and Innovation Re-
friends don’t take control during remote learning, search have presented a roadmap on
and that medical diagnostic data doesn't get passed on to tech titans the use of graphene. In it, they provide
that are thirsty for personal information. Anyone who uses data protec- an outlook on when specific applica-
tion as a pretense to cover up their own mistakes is acting unethically.” tions can be expected.
The Fraunhofer researchers project
FRANK THELEN, founder and CEO of the invest- that the industry will soon be able to
ment company Freigeist Capital, author, and jury translate the latest developments into
member on the German television program Die concrete products and start producing
Höhle der Löwen (an offshoot of Dragons' Den) batteries, solar cells, electronic devices
“We urgently need to rethink our approach to data and medical technologies.
use. First and foremost, I'd like to see ideas shared “The market demand for graphene
in an objective and fact-based way in our soci- has almost quadrupled in the last two
ety – not in emotionally charged discussions like years,” explains Dr. Thomas Reiss,
those we're currently having on this topic. There is co-leader of the roadmap project. “By
a middle ground between total state control of us strengthening standards and creating
and our data and what we're seeing now with the data panic and the tailored high-quality materials, we ex-
GDPR. For example, it's technically possible to collect and analyze data pect to go beyond niche products and
in anonymized form without it being stored on a central server where it applications to broad market penetra-
can be traced.” tion by 2025.” Then, graphene could
be incorporated into ubiquitous com-
MARC REINHARDT, Vice-President of Initiative D21 modities such as tires, batteries and
“There's no reason why data protection has to pre- electronics.
vent or delay innovation. In most cases, compliant The beginning of this decade will be
solutions are just as possible and suitable as in- decisive as graphene and related ma-
vasive ones. The ideal approach is to give people terials get closer to market maturity.
convenient options to decide exactly where in the “By 2030 we will see if graphene really
process they want to consent to their data being is as disruptive as silicon or steel,” says
collected. Corresponding assistants or cockpits Dr. Henning Döscher, who leads the
already exist. However, we also need enlightened Graphene Flagship Roadmap Team.
citizens who understand why and for what purpos-
es data is important. This is an educational task that should already be
taking place at school.”
08
SPACE TRAVEL
Blasting off
with biofuel
A US startup wants to send
rockets into space with CO2-neutral
fuel. It has already completed a
successful maiden flight.
The startup bluShift Aerospace has
successfully tested a rocket that runs
on biofuel. Stardust 1.0 flew some
1.6 kilometers and then parachuted
back to Earth. The fuel is the com-
pany’s own invention, and its pre-
cise composition is a trade secret. Ac-
cording to bluShift founder Sascha
Deri, however, the raw materials can
5G TECHNOLOGY be sourced from farms “around the
world”. “It actually costs less per kilo-
Trade fair with gram than traditional rocket fuel, and
it’s completely non-toxic,” he says,
future technology adding that it is also carbon-neutral.
Stardust is only suitable for low-
Deutsche Messe and Deutsche Telekom are set altitude test flights. Its big brother Red
to establish Europe’s first 5G exhibition center in Hanover. Dwarf, on the other hand, is expect-
On the same premises, Siemens is also establishing ed to bring payloads of up to 30 kilo-
a campus network for industrial purposes. grams into low Earth orbit. “We want
to be the Uber for space,” says Deri.
Hanover is leading the way: This year, the city’s over 1.4 mil- He goes on to explain that right now,
lion-square-meter exhibition center will be transformed into there are only large and medium-sized
Europe’s first trade fair grounds with 5G technology. To this end, launchers that take thousands of kilo-
Deutsche Messe (which operates the center) has received a fre- grams into space – and no services
quency allocation in the 3.7–3.8 GHz range from the Federal Net- that transport just one or two com-
PHOTOS: PAGE 08: PETER-SCHAAR.DE CC BY 3.0 (TOP) FRANK THELEN (CENTER) INITIATIVE
work Agency. The 5G campus network will be set up in coopera- pact payloads.
D21 (BOTTOM); PAGE 09: DEUTSCHE MESSE AG (TOP), BLUSHIFT AEROSPACE (BOTTOM)
tion with Deutsche Telekom. In the first step, Deutsche Telekom
will equip five halls and all the outdoor areas (including the adja-
cent parking lots) with 5G. The 5G coverage will then be extend-
ed to all 30 halls and buildings. “We are thus changing from a
mere organizer to an operator of a site for testing and demonstra-
tion purposes in high-tech environments. We are developing our
exhibition center into a multifunctional innovation campus,” says
Dr. Jochen Köckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe AG.
What’s more, Siemens is setting up a private 5G campus net-
work with a focus on industrial use in one of the exhibition halls
in Hanover (for more, see p. 24). Exhibitors will be able to use this
network during trade fairs, and companies will have the chance to
conduct tests and field trials when no events are going on.
SPECTRUM
PEST CONTROL
Hunting bugs
with laser
beams
Modern technology instead of
chemicals: Scientists want to
combat plant pests using artificial
intelligence and lasers.
A system made up of image pro-
cessing, laser technology and arti-
ficial intelligence is to combat pests
in stored grain – entirely without the
use of chemicals. The surrounding re-
search project, which is being coordi-
nated by the Julius Kühn Institute in SMART METERS
Expansion with obstacles
Darmstadt, focuses on granary wee-
vils and Indian-meal moths. An im-
age-processing method detects these
unwelcome guests on the surfaces of The broad application of intelligent measuring systems in
the stored food or on walls. An AI sys- Germany still has challenges to contend with. These include
tem then analyzes them and compares data protection and poor network coverage.
them with reference images. Once
the position of a pest is known, a re- More than a year ago, the statutory roll-out of intelligent measur-
mote-controlled scanner is used to di- ing systems was launched in Germany. However, there are still a
rect a fine laser beam to the coordi- whole host of obstacles in the way of this program according to a
nates concerned, which renders the study conducted by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little. One of
weevil or moth harmless. Due to the the hurdles it cites is strict data protection, which hinders the de-
low temperature and intensity of the velopment of business models and innovations that are based on
laser, the food supplies the bugs are the processing of measurement data. Another of the main chal-
resting on should not be affected. lenges lies in the integration of the technology and associated
products into energy suppliers’ systems. Then there are the prob-
lems caused by poor network coverage: According to the study,
only 60 percent of the meters can currently be installed without
any issues via mobile communications.
Meanwhile, technology is not the only thing creating difficul-
ties. There is also a lack of knowledge among consumers. The
Arthur D. Little study reveals that very few people, including both
business and private customers, have ever heard of an intelligent
metering system.
While underlining the general importance of improving the
technology and creating more space for data-based business mod-
els, the study states that extensive educational work will also be
"fundamental to the successful and comprehensive introduction
of intelligent measuring systems".
10EYE TRACKING
Taking on mouse arm syndrome
“Gaze, don’t click” is the motto of the Munich start-up 4tiitoo. The company’s technology
allows users to control their computers with their eyes. We spoke with founder Stephan
Odörfer about the benefits of eye tracking.
How is 4tiitoo changing the way we work on computer reduce by up to 80 percent. We're
screens? tapping into potential for increased
The computer mouse and keyboard are now more than efficiency and creating the digital
50 years old. In other words, the way we interact with workplace of the future – a “smart
our computer has remained more or less the same for workplace”, if you will. STEPHAN ODÖRFER
decades. We're thinking about the evolution of the digital Founder and CEO
workplace with a focus on optimizing operation. After all, 4tiitoo also offers a solution for 4tiitoo
users want to achieve their objectives as quickly and con- direct eye contact between par-
veniently as possible, and the fastest thing we have is our ticipants in web conferences and
eyes. Before I move the mouse cursor to a button, I always remote-learning sessions.
look at it with my eyes first. 4tiitoo uses eye tracking to That’s right. Studies have shown that direct eye contact
recognize where the user is looking and thus simplifies the helps people learn better and listen more attentively. If
interaction. Links, buttons and input fields can be selected teachers use our NUIA technology in a web conference,
directly at a glance, and users can also automatically scroll they can look into the eyes of all their students at the same
through content. time by simply looking into the camera. We're already facil-
itating more profound connections in our customers’ daily
Besides saving time, what are the benefits? team and Zoom meetings using this method. Meanwhile,
At many companies, we're speeding up knowledge work- we shouldn't abandon the benefits of in-person teach-
ers’ processes while making their work healthier and more ing, which have a lot to do with the face-to-face aspect.
pleasant, as well. Excessive mouse use can lead to health Being present brings us together, and that togetherness is
problems such as mouse arm, which gaze control can achieved through eye contact.
PHOTOS: PAGE 10: VDE (BOTTOM), METAMORWORKS/STOCK.ADOBE.COM (TOP); PAGE 11: 4TIITOO GMBH
DIGITALIZATION
No longer uncharted territory
Germany has made in advances in terms of digitalization. The D21 Initiative’s
Digital Index for 2020 reached a new high, especially among younger
and well-educated people. But not everyone is benefiting equally.
The large-scale social study D21-Digital- Index working from home doubled to 32 percent. How-
provides an annual picture of the digitalization ever, if socio-demographic aspects are taken into
of society in Germany. For last year, it reports an account, the D21-Digital-Index reveals marked
increase in digitalization to 60 points out of 100, differences: The digitalization value for those with
which is two points higher than the previous year. a low level of formal education and elderly p eople,
The figure is calculated on the basis of various cri- as well as persons with a low net income, is b elow
teria, such as access to digitalization, usage behav- the national average. Around two-thirds of the
ior, digital skills and openness to digital topics. The teachers, students and parents surveyed also re-
use of various digital applications also increased ported barriers to digital education.
significantly. For example, the proportion of people
11TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0 12
PUSHING THE
ENVELOPE –
EDGE AND AI
IN THE IIOT
If you drag your feet on Industry 4.0, you risk missing out on the future.
Once the spirits of the Industrial IoT have been awakened, however, you need to be able
to tame them. As the number of networked devices and the accompanying data volumes
grow exponentially, manufacturing companies are facing ever more complex tasks.
BY MATTHIAS LAASCH
If the pandemic of 2020 taught us anything, it was that pro- tor industry, which is known to follow Moore’s Law. As
cesses that follow an exponential function can hardly be a result, CPS in today’s production environments can al-
contained. It is difficult for us to assess their effects because ready generate data volumes that can barely be handled by
their dynamics push the limits of what we can comprehend. established methods in the server farms of a centralized
Along with the spread of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, bacte- cloud. On the one hand, big data dramatically increases
ria populations, radioactive decay, pulsed lasers and com- data traffic and storage space requirements, which in turn
pound interest reflect the same mathematical principle. As drives up the energy needs of data centers. On the other,
the digital transformation continues apace and our society the latency and lack of determinism in a cloud environ-
becomes increasingly connected in the Internet of Things, ment fundamentally run counter to the high availability
the entire technical world – including industrial manufac- and real-time reaction capacity required on the shop floor
turing – finds itself in an exponential paradigm. In numeri- of a modern production facility.
cal terms, this means that approximately 50 billion “things” A theorem of sorts that is attributed to cybersecurity
will be connected online by 2030. And that is only the tip insider Rod Beckstrom – CEO of the Internet Corpora-
of the iceberg. Even then, the large majority of all devices, tion for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from
instruments and machines will still be working in conven- 2009 to 2012 – dramatically lays out the danger of cyber-
PHOTOS: PAGE 12/13: DMYTRO / STOCK.ADOBE.COM
tional local domains – and waiting to be replaced by (In- physical systems in the (Industrial) IoT:
dustrial) IoT nodes such as cyber-physical systems (CPS). 1. Anything connected to the Internet can be hacked.
2. Everything is being connected to the Internet.
The main question: 3. Follows from the former two.
The correct quote from Beckstrom is less eye-catching,
Who trusts the cloud? but it still serves as a dire warning: As the number of net-
This self-propelled growth in the number of intelligent net- worked devices (such as the CPS in a smart factory) grows,
work nodes, sensors and other CPS reflects the increasing the number of potential error sources and attack points in-
complexity of microelectronic circuitry in the semiconduc- creases in kind. Indeed, every “thing” in the IoT is a poten-
13TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0
ten times their volume in 2019. The primary drivers of
this market are personalized real-time customer services,
tools for the financial sector and insurance companies,
and the effort to defend against – see Beckstrom’s forecast
above – increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. The realms
of trade and medicine will adapt AI technologies particu-
tial vulnerability, which raises the possibility of cybercrime larly quickly, and AI applications have already reached an
taking on an unprecedented dynamic. It demands the es- advanced stage of development across multiple industries,
tablishment of a new level of security, which will elicit new especially in logistics.
criminal attacks, which will then need to be addressed with Machine learning and deep learning, in tandem with neu-
even more new measures, and so on. ral networks, have developed into pioneering technolo-
The problem is that, compared to conventional network gies of industrial AI in image processing, and especially in
devices like web servers, CPS are a very new phenomenon. automation, robotics and quality control. Most of the latest
Developers of IoT-capable sensors, to name one example, industrial applications of artificial intelligence are linked to
have yet to build up long-term experience in network secu- the topic of predictive maintenance. This approach prom-
rity. For manufacturing companies in an industry dominat- ises a particularly favorable cost-benefit ratio because it
ed by medium-sized enterprises, the question arises wheth- seeks to maximize productivity by preventing machine
er cybersecurity can be achieved at all under the conditions downtime.
of a highly dynamic IIoT. Such organizations need to es- Artificial intelligence is thus useful for optimizing ser-
tablish measures to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, au- vices, improving industrial logistics and making manufac-
thenticity and availability of their processes. In a produc- turing more profitable. However, data security issues and
tion environment, availability is usually the most important data usage regulations can slow its progress.
consideration since machines and processes are at the core Establishing AI technologies in production technolo-
of value creation. Beyond that, though, the integrity of CPS gy requires a decentralized approach involving distribut-
and data transmission is an essential prerequisite of an or- ed and embedded intelligence. This is because the most
ganization’s ability to manufacture quality products. promising answer to the security question raised above is at
the edge of the network. Edge computing, which refers to
Increasing security: artificial intelligence data aggregation and preprocessing at the field level of au-
tomation technology, can ensure the protection of devices
at the network perimeter and data in the field through edge-based security architec-
Cloud-based applications for the Internet of Things have tures, firewalls, intrusion detection systems and authenti-
historically proven to be an ideal breeding ground for the cation protocols, to name a few examples. In addition, the
development of machine learning, deep learning and arti- decentralized approach helps solve the power and latency
ficial intelligence – fields whose respective markets are ab- problems of the cloud. Data and analyses that are gener-
solutely exploding. Observers predict that sales of AI tech- ated on site are, after all, more likely to be available in real
nologies will grow to nearly $267 billion by 2027, almost time. Since less information needs to be transported from
14the edge to a server, cloud traffic and the associated energy
requirements also decrease accordingly. Furthermore, edge
computing is beneficial wherever a stable Internet connec-
tion is not always available since it can work offline to a cer-
tain extent when necessary.
Protecting data: systems,
chips and digital twins
The path to a secure, highly available and deterministic
Industrial IoT will now inevitably lead through the edge.
Automating on the edge is no small task, however. On the
one hand, the shop floor is not an obliging or uniform
structure. On the contrary – the world of field devices is
quite unruly and heterogeneous (in terms of its interfac-
es, for example), and yet safety, availability and short cycle
times still need to be guaranteed. On the other hand, this is
not the domain of sophisticated intelligent algorithms that
need the hardware-accelerated convenience of a server en-
vironment. What is necessary here is a lean but efficient in-
telligence; an embedded AI that is satisfied with the limited
resources of the nodes found at the edge of the network. like special intellectual-property blocks that can run any
The fact that an AI of this kind is not completely stranded embedded AI.
in such an environment is again due to the Moore’s-Law Once the required system performance is achieved at
advances in chip development. This exponential progress the edge, developers and system integrators have to ensure
has enabled semiconductor manufacturers to equip their that their edge devices react to malfunctions in a way that
highly integrated “systems on a chip” (SoC) with things protects users and equipment from damage, data loss and
misuse. In terms of security and availability, the concept of
digital twins is making a forward-thinking contribution in
this regard. It comprehensively describes all the relevant
functions of each system and subsystem so that they can
be exchanged between the layers of the automation pyra-
mid at defined intersections and in standardized formats.
The concept of the administrative shell has taken hold in
this arena, especially in the context of information technol-
ogy. Viewed as the implementation of digital twins for In-
dustry 4.0, the administrative shell comprises component
models that map certain properties and functions of things
PHOTOS: PAGE 14/15: DMYTRO / STOCK.ADOBE.COM
within the IIoT (which are referred to more broadly here
as “assets”). The “Reference Architecture Model Industry
4.0” serves as the basis for the communication involved.
The administrative shell promises a standardized exchange
of these component models, which in turn facilitates the in-
teroperability of assets across manufacturers. On this foun-
dation, the digital ecosystems now regarded as innovation
drivers throughout industry and society can be created.
15TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0
ments of existing concepts such as pay-per-use models.
If companies go the bold, visionary route, disruption can
open up new opportunities for value creation, but this re-
quires open digital ecosystems where partners – ideally –
operate on equal footing. In order to unleash the potential
of disruptive processes, proprietary standalone solutions
need to give way to flexible digital platforms consisting
largely of software. But how real are such digital ecosys-
tems in industry today? “When we hear or read about dig-
ital ecosystems nowadays, we should always be aware that
we’re talking about ideal scenarios that all have their gaps –
some bigger, some smaller,” says Prof. Rahman Jamal, who
covers the topic of networking and collaboration in manu
facturing on the advisory board of the “Internet of Pro-
duction” Cluster of Excellence. He finds it understand-
able from the manufacturer’s point of view that suppliers
in areas like automation technology incorporate their prod-
ucts and platforms into seamless stories that can be in-
terpreted as a holistic and feasible path. But is an ecosys-
tem really so comprehensive that it not only works with
its own products, but allows integration in all directions?
That needs to be verified. Integration with external ele-
Digital ecosystems: it takes a whole ments is the crux of the matter, says Jamal: “This is often
orchestra to play a symphony a huge effort, and system integrators frequently need to
Digital ecosystems are not a purely technical phenome- be called in to combine the interfaces involved. However,
non, but industrial segments such as automation, which are the faster standardization advances, the faster the work
highly interconnected and already subject to a strong digi- required decreases.”
talization trend, seem tailor-made for them. Marcus Trapp The Standardization Council Industry 4.0, DIN, DKE
and his co-authors from Fraunhofer IESE describe these and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs
ecosystems as socio-technical structures that include not and Energy have addressed this problem in the fourth edi-
only digital elements, but also organizations and people, tion of the “Standardization Roadmap on Industry 4.0”.
as well as their relationships with each other. As a result, a This national standardization strategy is meant to form
digital ecosystem is characterized by participants who act a basis for the development of internationally valid stan-
independently in their respective markets, but also collec- dards. To that end, it contains use cases and reference ar-
tively in the ecosystem due to the mutual benefits that this chitecture models and for the first time also covers the in-
type of collaboration creates. dustrial use of artificial intelligence. Anyone who uses AI
Such networking of CPS and other assets from many ac- to adjust the behavior of automated functions, for exam-
tors in the IIoT not only drives incremental innovation, but ple, must consider how it impacts conformity assessment
can also lead to disruption. The exponential pace of growth depending on the functional safety requirements at hand.
that starts with chip development and now dominates in-
dustry and society manifests itself in disruptive processes. Further information:
Since established and successful market participants often ä www.plattform-i40.de/PI40/Navigation/EN
find it difficult to abandon or redesign processes that have ä www.sci40.com/english/
worked well enough thus far, this kind of upheaval main-
ly surfaces in niche markets or is favored by newcomers. The VDE Institute tests and certifies the IoT:
“Real disruptive changes in business models require cour- ä www.vde.com/industry40-en
age and vision,” says Dr. Jens Gayko, Managing Director
of the Standardization Council Industrie 4.0. At the mo-
ment, one can observe companies offering new data-based MATTHIAS LAASCH
services in connection with their traditional products, he is an independent journalist and PR consultant specializing in technological aspects
explains. However, these are often evolutionary develop- of electronics, mechatronics and photonics.
16DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Conducting the
standardization orchestra
Dr. Jens Gayko coordinates the standardization of digital production. His work at the Standardization Council
Industrie 4.0 (SCI 4.0) aims for sovereignty, interoperability and sustainability – and can help German SMEs
improve their competitive standing.
for medium-sized German compa- ing, they are creating the basis for a
nies: The terms of use for data are not core value proposition of Indus-
dictated by Internet companies, but try 4.0 – the end-to-end usability of
developed by consensus and defined data over the life cycle of a product
in standards. and the integration of individual re-
sources into larger business process-
Why is the German Standardiza- es.
tion Roadmap on Industry 4.0 so
important in this context? Can you explain this using an ex-
Standardization roadmaps perform ample?
several tasks for topics such as Indus- Take pumps for the process industry:
try 4.0. It starts with experts sharing The service-oriented architecture of
ideas on the formulation of recom- the administrative shell allows certain
“Standardization mendations for action, which serve as usage data to be passed from the op-
an aid for the work of standardization erator of a pump to its manufacturer,
creates a level playing bodies, but also as a reference for who can combine this data with infor-
field for the use of data.” identifying projects where there are mation on wear and tear and thus op-
DR. JENS GAYKO, delays. In short, the Standardization timize the service life of the pumps.
Managing Director, Roadmap makes it possible to man- Since the data is exchanged using
Standardization Council Industrie 4.0
age standardization efforts. standardized mechanisms, it’s no lon-
ger necessary to coordinate the gen-
What is the specific role of SCI 4.0 eral conditions for data transfer.
Germany is already regarded as in this?
the country of standards. Why is SCI 4.0 combines and orchestrates How far has the standardization
standardization so important here standardization work related to digital progressed?
PHOTOS: PAGE 16: DMYTRO / STOCK.ADOBE.COM; PAGE 17: VDE / UWE NOELKE
and now? transformation in industrial environ- So far, the basic mechanisms of In-
In the case of so-called convergent ments. It does so by implementing the dustry 4.0 have been developed and
technologies, you have to coordinate objectives of Platform Industrie 4.0 – the results are currently being incor-
activities in order to avoid duplicate sovereignty, interoperability, sustain- porated by the international standard-
work and conflicting provisions in dif- ability – in standards. ization organizations with an eye to-
ferent standards. In addition, the con- ward achieving global standards. One
cept of Industry 4.0, which was devel- In this regard, the Industry 4.0 ref- standard proposed by Germany, for
oped in Germany, is to be established erence architecture model and the example, involves the description
worldwide. This is important given that administrative shell are seen as drawn up by experts at DKE on the
the big five Internet platforms are promising steps. How so? structure of the administrative shell.
based in the US or Asia. Standardiza- By describing essential aspects of the
tion creates a level playing field here digital transformation of manufactur-
17TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0 BIG DATA Data Usage 4.0 Networking and the exchange of data across companies are the next step for Industry 4.0. Unfortunate- ly, many firms are finding these things difficult. GAIA-X is expected to change that, and numerous proj- ects are now getting underway. Whether this moonshot will succeed remains doubtful, however. BY OLIVER VOSS When Helge Braun, Head of the Federal Chancellery, pre- Economic Institute (IW) estimated the value of the EU's sented the German government's data strategy at the end data economy at €400 billion for 2019 – an increase of al- of January, he cited a shocking figure: According to sci- most eight percent on the previous year. entific estimates, 90 percent of all data goes unused. The It’s not for nothing that data is often referred to as the government’s strategy is to help unearth such troves and new oil or gold. “That comparison isn’t particularly mean- promote their use, especially among businesses. Indeed, ingful, though,” says Volker Markl, director of the Berlin the importance of data is constantly growing. The German Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BI- 18
FOLD). Since data is not consumed, Markl explains, it tions group Orange; the IT specialists Amadeus, Atos and
is less comparable to a raw material than it is to produc- OVH; and the energy giant EDF. Over 180 other compa-
tion factors such as capital, labor or land. As he likes to nies have already applied for membership.
say, “Data is not the new oil, but the new soil.” Just as new Interest in the project is also increasing in more and more
grain grows from the ground, data offers a foundation for European countries. “In addition to Germany, there are al-
obtaining new information. “And just as you have to fertil- ready eight other national hubs, and I expect that there will
ize or water soil, you also need to maintain, clean and up- be 20 by the end of the year,” says Peter Krämer of the
date data,” Markl says. National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech).
The basis for profitable analyses is not simply collecting Krämer is the coordinator of the German GAIA-X hub,
data, but systematically processing it. This is the only way which is the central point of contact for interested parties
to go one step further and link information from different in the country. If an entrepreneur from the Sauerland re-
sources. Data networking is thus a key element of Indus- gion wants to join GAIA-X, he or she does not have to call
try 4.0: Factories require information from suppliers and someone in Brussels; there’s a direct contact in Munich.
customers alike to optimize their logistics and production Some 200 people from 175 companies regularly share
processes. The exchange of data between the user of a ma- ideas through the German hub, with the production indus-
chine and its manufacturer is the basis for predictive main- try and Industry 4.0 use cases playing a prominent role.
tenance, for example (see the article on page 22). This even “For a lot of people, the lack of opportunities to exchange
enables completely new business models in which addi- data is a barrier to getting involved in the data economy,”
tional digital services are sold or customers pay for usage says Krämer. “I think GAIA-X can solve this problem.”
time instead of purchasing machines themselves.
Some companies are still struggling with this, though. The administrative shell as an
“Many German SMEs are sitting on data without know-
ing what practical applications they can build with it,” says
important communications interface
Keran Sivalingam, project manager for the smartMA-X There is still a lot of work to be done until then, though.
project at SmartFactory Kaiserslautern. The team there is Krämer describes the requirements formulated so far in
planning the foundations for a Europe-wide machine net- the papers and concepts for GAIA-X as sometimes “very
work based on the European data project GAIA-X. vague and metaphysical” and thus more akin to a wish list.
Cloud infrastructure is a central element of the Ger- “We’re now in the process of expanding them with con-
man government’s strategy to promote data utilization. The crete technical specifications,” he reports. This involves,
hopes being placed in GAIA-X could hardly be greater. At for example, determining which existing standards and
the start of last year, German Minister for Economic Af- interfaces in the various domains must be considered in
fairs Peter Altmaier described it as “a moonshot in digital the GAIA-X architecture in order for the planned data ex-
policy” and “perhaps the most important digital endeav- change to actually work. “We’re not trying to reinvent the
or of a generation”. “GAIA-X must become the gold stan- wheel; we want to take existing elements and build a car out
dard of European industry,” says Iris Plöger, member of of them,” says Krämer.
the executive board at BDI. One of these elements is the so-called administrative
shell. The concept of the shell, which is also known as the
Enormous expectations for GAIA-X Asset Administration Shell (AAS), was developed within
the framework of the Platform Industrie 4.0. It is meant to
On the one hand, this networked data infrastructure is in- be the virtual image of every relevant object in a networked
tended to reduce dependence on the major US cloud pro- production facility while also functioning as an interoper
viders – hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) able communication interface. Frank Melzer, steering com-
or Microsoft's Azure. On the other, it is meant to create the mittee chairman of the Platform Industrie 4.0 and CTO
PHOTOS: PAGE 18: AMGUN / STOCK.ADOBE.COM
basis for better data exchange, and thus for a European at Festo, therefore calls the administrative shell “the core
data ecosystem. technology of digital twins for Industry 4.0”. It can be used
This year will reveal whether or not GAIA-X really is to store the properties and operating data of a machine, for
capable of these objectives. In 2020, this German idea tru- example; at the same time, the machine can be controlled
ly became a European project when 22 founding mem- via the AAS, or data can be extracted.
bers formed an umbrella organization in Brussels. They “The administrative shell is also meant to serve as
include companies such as SAP, Siemens, Deutsche Tele- a communication interface for GAIA-X,” says Daniel
kom, Bosch and BMW, but also Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Senff, deputy director of the Platform Industrie 4.0. First
and French industry players such as the telecommunica- and foremost, however, it has to be put into widespread
19TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0
practice. With this in mind, 20 mechanical and electrical Following the networking of factories and machines in In-
engineering companies including ABB, Pepperl+Fuchs, dustry 4.0, the next logical step is to extend this to entire
Schneider Electric and Trumpf founded the Industrial industries and value chains.
Digital Twin Association (IDTA) last year. “By the end of
the year, we’ll be able to present demonstration projects,” A shared goal: simplifying
says Senff. One of these deals with collaborative condition
monitoring (CCM), which involves a component supplier,
the exchange of data
a machine manufacturer and an operator sharing data on According to presentation documents from the alliance,
the state of a machine across different locations. This use there are currently only “data puddles” for individual ap-
case for the joint utilization of big data is currently being plications within companies, and for direct partners in
developed by Fraunhofer IOSB-INA at the AI Living Lab the value chain in some cases. The companies are there-
in Lemgo. fore planning to “link the individual data puddles into data
Another GAIA-X application scenario is emerging at chains between companies and applications, and to cre-
SmartFactory Kaiserslautern. “There are various reasons ate collaboration environments across the entire automo-
why machines often aren’t performing any work; some tive value-creation network”. The first use cases are main-
are even only in operation a few days a month, especial- ly related to supply chain management – to the traceability
ly at medium-sized companies,” says Martin R uskowski, of parts, for example, but also to the verification of ethical
head of SmartFactory and the Innovative Factory Sys- and ecological standards. In the future, BMW wants to be
tems research department at DFKI. When not in use, a able to trace how much CO2 is emitted during the manu-
machine could be used by someone else for a fee. Rus- facturing of an electric car and its battery.
kowski calls this approach “shared production” or “pro- All these projects share the hope that GAIA-X will fa-
duction-as-a-service.” Besides giving rise to new business cilitate the exchange and use of data, but they also have a
models, this can also ensure more resilient production. In common problem in that its infrastructure currently only
the future, someone could jump in on short notice at a dif- exists on paper. This is also the predicament for Stefan
ferent location if there is an outage at one point in the man- Stiene at the German Research Center for Artificial Intel-
ufacturing process. ligence (DFKI). The DFKI laboratory in Lower Saxony is
leading a consortium of 20 companies and organizations
Different information combines from the agricultural sector. At the end of January, they
received nearly €12 million in funding for the Agri-Gaia
into smart skills project from the German Federal Ministry for Econom-
In the GAIA-X network, machine modules with specific ic Affairs and Energy. “We’re working on the question of
production capabilities (“skills”) are to be connected to how to develop AI in agriculture and then incorporate
communicate with each other throughout Europe. Howev- trained algorithms into machines,” says Stiene. However,
er, even a simple skill like “drilling holes” includes a wealth he describes the parallel development of GAIA-X as the
of information, such as rotation speed, drilling pressure main challenge. “A lot is still abstract, so we don’t have a
and drilling angle. “We now have to figure out what level of clear picture of the technologies we’ll be able to build on,”
abstraction is necessary and suitable in order to offer a skill Stiene explains. Nevertheless, he believes in the success of
in the GAIA-X network,” says smartMA-X p roject manag- GAIA-X. In the spring, more detailed documents are to be
er Sivalingam, who adds that testing will also be needed to submitted for the definition of its standards, technical ar-
determine what is even technologically possible and prac- chitecture and policy rules. The formal process of found-
tical. ing the umbrella organization GAIA-X AISBL has only
The Automotive Alliance, which was founded at the just been completed. The process for certifying whether
Digital Summit in late 2020, also has great ambitions. services are GAIA-X-compliant will still take some time.
Companies including Siemens, SAP, Deutsche Telekom “We'll see the first certified GAIA-X applications in the
and BMW (as well as BMW suppliers Robert Bosch and middle of this year,” says Boris Otto, managing director of
ZF Friedrichshafen) joined forces at the event. Other part- the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Techno
ners such as Mercedes-Benz, Schaeffler, BASF and Hen- logy (ISST) and interim CTO of GAIA-X AISBL.
kel have just signed on, as well. They want to develop com- But will the project – which Peter Altmaier once called
mon data-exchange standards based on GAIA-X under an “Airbus for AI” – be able to take off in time? BIFOLD
the name “Catena-X”. “Data is of enormous importance director Markl criticized the current implementation as
in the automotive industry and for vehicles themselves,” half-hearted in the Tagesspiegel newspaper. “Instead of
said BMW CEO Oliver Zipse at the alliance's presentation. creating a provider with great impact and clear objectives,
20With the help of information and communication technology, people, machines and products are directly interconnected at smart factories. Networked systems make it
possible for these elements to exchange data and information as a means of responding intelligently to each other.
a consortium of diverse partners is now coming together ing concrete has been developed yet, and at first there will
with many different – and sometimes conflicting – goals,” only be prototypes and minimum viable products (MVPs).
he said. “Involving so many players creates complicated “CIOs should avoid being the guinea pigs for these MVP
coordination processes, and you’re probably slower on the trials,” Forrester’s analysts warn.
market than necessary.” It is also clear to the GAIA-X participants themselves
that practical applications are now expected in short order.
For now, GAIA-X is little “We have to get our act together,” GAIA-X CTO Otto said
in the Handelsblatt newspaper. It looks as though 2021 will
more than a concept be the decisive year for the future of the project.
Analysts from the US market research firm Forrester are
also skeptical. “GAIA-X was announced very late in the More information on the GAIA-X project:
development of the European public cloud market, so it ä www.data-infrastructure.eu
needs to catch up – and quickly,” they write in their report.
PHOTOS: PAGE 21: SIEMENS AG
“GAIA-X will be irrelevant if it does not demonstrate its
value by mid-2021,” the harsh verdict reads. Due to the
enormous size of the project, however, it could take years OLIVER VOSS
for GAIA-X applications to mature enough to displace the is an editor for the Tagesspiegel newspaper who writes about the digital economy,
established providers for mission-critical workloads. Noth- startups and other technology topics.
21TITLE INDUSTRY 4.0 PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE Looking ahead is key Sensors, data and artificial intelligence are enabling predictive maintenance for machines. This is not only a matter of functionality, but also of cost efficiency. After all, preventing malfunctions from occurring in the first place offers key competitive advantages. BY MARKUS STREHLITZ In the automotive industry, a production standstill of only covers the topic of predictive maintenance, which entails five minutes costs an average of €100,000. To prevent this, machines and devices only undergoing upkeep when it is machines and systems need to undergo regular mainte- actually necessary. nance. If this is not carried out efficiently, though, it can re- Predictive maintenance is currently the main ace up the sult in even more unnecessary costs. Production facilities in sleeves of proponents of Industry 4.0. It is the talking point Germany alone overspend on maintenance by€14 billion that experts always mention when asked about the benefits every year. These numbers are laid out in a guide from the of networking and intelligent systems in factories. As stated Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineer- in the WZL guide, this would have sounded like science fic- ing (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University. Here, the WZL tion only a few years or decades ago. But thanks to the in- 22
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