Mr. Jamal, what personal connection do you have to the topic of Industry 4.0?

Prof. Rahman Jamal: As early as 1990, I dealt with the forerunner of Industry 4.0, the vision of CIM - Computer Integrated Manufacturing - in my diploma thesis. CIM ultimately failed, particularly due to the lack of Ethernet and the proprietary fieldbuses that were emerging at the time. I therefore see Industry 4.0 as the evolutionary continuation of CIM.

How successful has the future-oriented project initiated by the German government been over the past ten years?

With Ethernet, including TSN, and the Ethernet fieldbuses, we have now laid the foundations for an 'Industry 4.0' environment. The topic of networking is now more or less complete. Today, we can make production and supply chain data available both digitally via cable and mobile via cloud systems. But the real work is only just beginning.

In your opinion, what still needs to be expanded or added?

The goal of Industry 4.0 over the next ten years must be AI-based zero-defect production. Emerging megatrends will have a decisive influence on this development. These include edge computing through to the edge cloud, the arrival of 5G in the factory, robotics integrated into production processes, autonomous systems in intralogistics and cross-company secure data infrastructures, as envisaged by the Gaia-X initiative. But above all, industrial AI will form the basis for the next stage of digitalization in production. This is because production data can be analyzed in real time by AI systems. This means that it can be interpreted in context. This in turn forms the foundation for new value chains and business models.

The big challenge in the coming years will therefore be to merge our outstanding industrial expertise with AI technologies. This is the only way we will be able to hold our own technologically against the competition from the USA and China, which are definitely ahead in terms of AI technology as such.

So factories will be what in the future?

The smart factories of tomorrow will be characterized by self-learning capability and modular long-term autonomy. In other words, they will be extremely agile and production processes will be extremely stable. Other side effects will be improved occupational safety and also increased energy efficiency and a more resource-efficient production method.

Where do you see the biggest obstacles or stumbling blocks?

I would like to quote Acatech here on the major challenges, which summarizes all the points very well: The standardization of architectures, data exchange formats, semantics, vocabularies, taxonomies, ontologies and interfaces is still a central prerequisite for establishing interoperability between the various technologies within the complex and highly heterogeneous subject area of Industry 4.0.

In recent years, it has become clear that it is not necessarily essential to establish a specific standard at the drop of a hat. What is crucial here is that we get standards that become established in a wider context so that interoperable and flexibly integrable systems can be realized.

How should the players in Germany behave and position themselves?

In order to expand and consolidate Germany's pioneering role in Industry 4.0, we need a two-pronged strategy: on the one hand, Germany must continue to promote a holistic Industry 4.0 vision with reference architectures, norms and standards that have already been successfully launched. On the other hand, we need to focus much more strongly than before on practical implementation. We need to provide companies with more tangible Industry 4.0 solutions than we have done so far. - Otherwise, the American and Chinese players will overtake us as 'leaders'.

Editorial tip on the topic

Prof. Rahman Jamal has witnessed the development of the automation scene and its enormous growth rate over the last 30 years. In this interview, he explains the challenges facing companies today.

The full interview here