Jowat Magazine 2015-09 EN

Soon, smart appliances and machines of all kind will be part of our daily life. According to industry experts, about 15 billion devices are already connected to the internet today. In the next five years, there are expected to be more than twice this as many. Some of these devices already communicate with each other. Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication is the technology that lays the foundation for a great vision – the fourth Industrial Revolution. According to Pricewater- house Coopers, over 80 % of industrial businesses will have digitalised their value chain by 2020. German enterprises expect an increase in annual turnover of more than 30 billion euros due to Industry 4.0. It has been proven that solutions in the Industry 4.0/M2M communication sector deliver faster results of a higher quality, increase productivity and use resources more efficiently. Interlinked machines and devices provide a great deal of information to manufacturers, which would not have been available otherwise. They can see exactly which and how often functions are used, monitor the wear of individual parts and detect regular overload spots. This information can be used to improve future product developments and to respond more effectively to customer requirements. Additionally, manufacturers can develop new business models based on M2M communication, for instance in the Predictive Maintenance sector. In the future, many problems can be detected in time, avoiding expensive downtimes. For example, the manufacturer or a service partner can proacti- vely contact the customer when a vibration pattern indicates There seems to be a consensus that Industry 4.0 will revolutionise business manufacturing and services and only those who participate will be able to rise to future challenges. In a few sectors, like logistics and factory automation, functional working systems are already standard - many other companies are still struggling to implement automated processes effectively. To remain in a competitive position, it is high time to start the digitalisation of the processes. Focus Conprocesses 04

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