Mr. Müller, what are the key issues for you in the context of the fourth industrial revolution?

Müller: The smart factory can only be implemented if robust and intelligent sensor technology reliably records the data volumes required for Industry 4.0 concepts. This is the starting point for complex systems to be able to make autonomous decisions. The aim of Industry 4.0 is, among other things, highly flexible and very efficient production with short downtimes that can produce batch sizes of 1 wherever possible. In order to achieve this goal, two questions arise: how can I optimize the efficiency of my individual machine and how can this machine contribute to improving the higher-level production processes in which it will be integrated? Both presuppose that a machine generates information that is not necessarily used directly to control the machine, but that says something about the machine itself, the workpiece or the process.

And what does that mean in concrete terms in terms of sensor technology?

Müller: In order to process the unprecedented amounts of data, sensors must become more robust and more powerful, but above all more intelligent. The same applies to data: quality before quantity. The more compact and meaningful the data fed in, the more efficiently resources can be used and the more accurate the analysis. Intelligent sensors that pre-process, compress and filter data directly in the sensor perfect the processes in Industry 4.0, which is why next-generation sensors also have more integrated computing power

The added value of 'Sensor Technology 4.0' is that its data can be combined with data from other systems to open up new business opportunities. However, the ownership and usage rights of the data must be clarified in technological and legal terms. This is why Sick has been a founding member of Industrial Data Space e. V. from the very beginning.

Speaking of communication - you are convinced that in future a sensor must be able to 'talk' not just to one, but to two participants. What exactly do you mean by that?

Müller: Above all, we need sensors that communicate not only at the control level, but also at the higher-level data level. The additional interface in the data or software system enables new analyses and functions there - a radical adaptation of the industrial pyramid. The sensor must therefore initially transmit the recorded data to both outputs in parallel and independently of each other. In some cases, sensors such as intelligent camera systems can already do both: they transmit reliably to the PLC, but also to the data world. For 'simple' sensors that are not yet able to do this, appropriate edge gateways need to be developed.

In the more distant future of Industry 4.0, sensors will even play a disruptive role: as soon as data systems are powerful enough, they will control the machines directly and exclusively via the data level, while the PLC will change significantly or even become superfluous.

I would like to emphasize one more thing in this context: Industry 4.0 is a holistic approach. A machine alone is not capable of Industry 4.0, at most it is prepared for it. The information from an individual machine alone does not provide any real added value beyond maintenance issues. The main idea behind Industry 4.0 is to collect data from many machines and link them together. After all, it is only by combining data from many machines or other circumstances that the information that helps to improve processes can be obtained. An important prerequisite for this is the networking of machines.