The SEF Smart Electronic Factory e.V. association is committed to paving the way for companies into the fourth industrial revolution. Since its foundation in 2015, the association has been developing Industry 4.0 scenarios and applications under real production conditions in its Smart Electronic Factory - an electronics factory in Limburg a. d. Lahn - with a focus on the requirements of SMEs.

"Industry 4.0 is a broad field and the people involved, especially in SMEs, are confronted with many questions. Which digitalization measures should they start with? Are they even worthwhile? How far should a company's digital transformation go? There is often a lack of experience here. We want to show these companies how they can gradually implement digitalized processes and the digital transformation and thus also achieve a quick return on investment," explains Maria Christina Bienek, Managing Director of the association.

The focus of the members

The member companies are pursuing different priorities:

Limtronik and Micronex, for example, are focusing on digitalized production by linking classic automation technology with applications in the cloud - such as an analysis app for errors or impending failures. In addition to process optimization, Limtronik's digitalization measures also focus on data collection, sorting and analysis as well as further processing for value-adding business models.

"Especially in medium-sized companies, it is essential to consider both the return on investment and environmental goals when implementing digitalization projects," says Maria Christina Bienek. Micronex is therefore highlighting economic and ecological factors in Industry 4.0. Among other things, the company will be providing information on the implementation of paperless manufacturing in production operations and the use of data cubes, demonstrating how environmental and resource conservation works in practice.

SEF member GFT Integrated Systems will be focusing on energy efficiency. The company provides support with solutions for energy and store floor management as well as green technology. These include the cloud-enabled IIoT platform Sphinx Open Online. It can be used to identify and exploit optimization potential for both production and energy management. Together with other partner stands, the company's experts will be showcasing cloud use cases for individual and cost-optimized retrofitting and the resulting energy management options for reducing peak loads, CO² and the associated costs in production.

In the course of digitalization, cloud and edge technologies are increasingly finding their way into factories. The German Edge Cloud member focuses on how edge solutions with a cloud connection can efficiently increase the level of digitalization in the factory while maintaining control over your own data. The modular industrial edge cloud appliance 'Oncite powered by IBM' - i.e. hardware plus software in combination with components from the IBM Cloudpaks - with a secure cloud connection can be used for implementation. Existing applications can be operated on the open platform and combined with new applications. Thanks to standardized modules and managed services, digitalization can be easily implemented step by step.

As Industry 4.0 also gives rise to numerous new technologies, Dualis IT Solution recommends testing these in detail before using them in practice. Digital twin applications, for example, support this. They can be used to visually simulate machines, buildings or systems, as well as to better understand and optimize real workflows and processes visually. Dualis offers the option of creating, managing and using digital twins with a 3D simulation platform. At the trade fair stand, visitors can see how the 3D simulation solution can be used to support planning processes, design, virtual commissioning and maintenance in the factory.