Trade fair boss Dr. Jochen Köckler: "Hannover Messe 2016 will bring together global Industry 4.0 expertise."

© German Trade Fair

Under the guiding theme 'Integrated Industry - Discover Solutions', over 5200 exhibitors will be presenting technologies and products for future automation concepts in Hanover. True to its motto, this year's trade fair aims to be more practical than ever before with regard to I4.0: "For the first time, we are expecting more than 100 concrete application examples for Industry 4.0 at the trade fair. That is unique worldwide," says Dr. Jochen Köckler, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Messe.

Hannover Messe 2016 is therefore all about networked industry: "In April, all the drivers of industrial digitalization will come together in Hanover: German companies with core competencies in mechanical and electrical engineering, leading US software providers and companies from Asia, which for their part are driving forward networking in industry. This will result in new partnerships and business models on the way to Industry 4.0."

IIC shows presence

The presence of this year's partner country, the USA, should be particularly interesting in view of the tensions surrounding the dominance of Industry 4.0. In total, more than 400 American exhibitors are taking part in the trade fair - around 350 companies and around 50 business development organizations from the states and regions. This is the largest presence the United States has ever had at Hannover Messe. Particularly interesting from an Industry 4.0 perspective: The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), which was founded in the USA, is also presenting itself for the first time with a special area (Hall 8, Stand C24) in Hanover.

And the IIC is not only an exhibitor but also an organizer: VDMA, ZVEI and Plattform Industrie 4.0 are cooperating with the IIC to host the 'Forum Industrie 4.0' this year. One focus of the forum will be the discussion of standards for communication in the Industrial Internet of Things. Industry 4.0 enables cross-company networking and the integration of different value creation networks. Norms and standards are of fundamental importance for this. However, IT security is also an important topic: the forum will therefore focus on various cloud solutions and the question of how companies can secure data.

Digital Factory continues to grow

With the trend towards digitalization in the industry, the 'Digital Factory' trade fair has been growing for years. And the importance of digital solutions in today's industry is reflected in the increase in exhibition space: this year, the fully occupied Hall 7 is no longer sufficient - more than 2500 square meters will also be occupied in Hall 6.

"Topics such as Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet and digitalization will shape the trade fair like never before. On the one hand, these topics have developed into a real hype in Germany and the industry, and on the other hand, the world champion for IT and Internet technologies, the USA, will be a guest in Hanover," explains Rainer Glatz, Managing Director of the VDMA Software Association.

The 'Digital Factory' will showcase solutions from all areas of IT - from product design with CAx, production planning and control with ERP and MES, simulation and pre-calculation with the help of virtual reality and 3D models, through to the management of product and production data over the entire life cycle with PDM and PLM.

The Industry 4.0 hype is also increasingly driving related topics such as predictive maintenance. Due to the increased interest, there will be a separate 'Predictive Maintenance 4.0' exhibition area in Hall 17 (Stand A38) for the first time this year. There, visitors will learn how machine data is continuously recorded, processed and analyzed in order to provide operators with specific information about the condition of the component, system or machine.

The virtual Post-it

© CIIT

Who doesn't know them - colorful sticky notes that can be used to make short notes practically anywhere. But virtual post-its on industrial production systems? This is exactly what scientists at the 'Centrum Industrial IT' (CIIT) in Lemgo are working on. At the SmartFactoryOWL model plant, they are carrying out specific research into application-oriented solutions that can be used to intuitively guide non-skilled employees through an assembly process using mobile tools such as tablets, data glasses or smartwatches. For example, virtual post-its can be used in the production of tomorrow to document error messages, facilitate maintenance work on industrial plants or reduce downtimes. Virtual sticky notes are created on the model system via an app on a tablet or smartphone using optical camera recognition. These mark errors for the user on site, for example, and can be annotated.

In the field of augmented reality (AR), the computer-aided extension of reality, the Lemgo scientists have also developed an advanced technology with the projection-based AR environment on the assembly system, which even works entirely without mobile aids. All relevant information required by the fitter is projected directly onto his workstation - from the virtual or color-coded individual part to be assembled to the 3D model as assembly instructions.

Autonomics for the industry

The BMWi's 'Autonomics for Industry 4.0' technology program aims to dovetail state-of-the-art information and communication technologies with industrial production and accelerate the development of corresponding products. Four individual projects will be presented at the joint stand of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy at the trade fair:

Project Cocos
The Cocos project is developing an intelligent software platform that enables various independent components and systems in a production environment to network autonomously. For example, machines from different manufacturers can be easily connected and operated from a standardized software solution for production control. Two scenarios are presented: On the one hand, the cross-location networked production of a product from order placement to final quality control, whereby the production process is monitored in the cloud and can be tracked by visitors on mobile devices. On the other hand, the automatic detection of a technical fault and the subsequent self-healing of the IT infrastructure is simulated.