Geopolitical crises, raw material shortages and sustainability regulations are just some of the challenges facing manufacturers. The use of smart factory technologies can help manufacturers meet these challenges and also reap many benefits.
The goal of Industry 4.0 is to create autonomous production in which people, machines, systems and products communicate with each other independently. The result are intelligent value chains and product life cycles in which not only production is controlled, but also the entire value chain, from suppliers and producers to customers can be optimized. This brings a lot of benefits: smart factories can achieve greater productivity and growth, ensure high quality and reduce the risk of human error, provide the right data for analysis and optimization purposes, minimizie downtime and disruptions through predictive maintenance, safeguard the supply chains from disruptions, offer customized products, meet sustainability commitments - to ultimately become more competitive.
SENSE: Data transparency for Industry 4.0
COMPUTE: Signal processing and control
ACTUATE: Empowering industrial automation
CONNECT: From IOs to high-speed-communication
SECURE: Scalable, easy-to-integrate security solutions
To make smart production at all possible, existing systems, machines, robotic arms, etc. must be networked to collect data. This is possible with robust connectivity and industrial sensors.
In today’s high-tech factories, the sensors integrated in the machines or systems provide data on their current status and record variables such as position, speed, torque, temperature, utilization, humidity or pressure. These industrial sensors play an integral role in processing systems’ precision and reliability. But the sensors must be durable enough to perform in an industrial environment – and small enough for the very limited space on an integrated printed circuit board (PCB). For high-quality industrial sensors, have a look at Infineon's offering.
The future of industrial automation is brimming with new opportunities to develop superior processes and deliver better products to customers.
During the last years, we've seen everything from a rush on hygiene products and food due to lockdown announcements to a significant shortage of semiconductor chips. These circumstances have led more and more manufacturers to consider ways to optimize their manufacturing processes. This hype in the field of industrial automation is being fueled by other trends mostly triggered by digitalization and sustainability goals - like the demand for power-efficient and industrial grade components with guaranteed long-term availability.
The orientation to the trends poses major challenges for many industrial companies.
Infineon provides its customers with the right technologies and innovations to address current and future security, functionality, connectivity and performance demands for industrial automation in smart factories. We offer high-quality industrial grade semiconductors along with a range of proven reference designs. All this makes your automation design as simple, efficient, and reliable as possible.
To remain competitive in the future, it is important to continuously look for technological developments and innovative ways to improve processes and efficiencies while being prepared for disruptions and unpredictable scenarios. Dive in and learn more about exciting topics like machine vision, predictive maintenance and more.
Innovations in industrial manufacturing are developing rapidly. Major trends in Industry 4.0 are fundamentally the further development of IIoT products, high-performance sensors and actuators, and artificial intelligence applications. Digital Twin technology will continue to enrich industrial processes and put them to the test. In addition, the topic of energy efficiency, for example in the field of robotics and automation, will continue to be pushed both by researchers and within industrial companies. In order to guarantee resilient supply chains, the trend in terms of locating production sites is clearly moving in the direction of reshoring.
Machine vision systems in industrial automation are based on digital sensors built into industrial cameras with special optics. These capture images by means of which computer hardware and software can process, analyze and measure various features for decision-making.
Modern industrial automation systems make use of machine vision (MV) system at their factory floor to control processes, quality, throughput or deviations in manufacturing process. Machine vision typically is a collaboration of hardware and software, based on object or pattern recognition. Artificial intelligence along machine learning, leads to a manufacturing process reaching highest productivity level, reduces production costs and helps to achieve repeatable outputs. Unmatched quality and long-term supply agreements, as well as a strong commitment to future investment in new technologies, Infineon will continue to lead the industry for decades to come.
Explore our products and solutions for machine vision systems.
Robots have joined the ranks of innovative and disruptive technologies by revolutionizing traditional habits and processes. Today’s robots can identify and navigate through surroundings, work alongside and even interact with humans. Moreover, they teach themselves the skills required to complete a new task.
According to ABI Research, shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% in 2030 compared to 2020 - for cobots, the expectations are as high as 43%! All this would not be possible without semiconductor solutions. Whether in an industrial robot, a collaborative robot (cobot), a mobile robot for warehouses, last-mile delivery (AGV & AMR) or a domestic robot, intelligent semiconductors are the key enablers for all major robotic functions.
As both a leading supplier of robotic components and an advanced user of robots in our own fabs, we at Infineon have carved out a unique position on the market. We provide a huge market-leading and comprehensive portfolio of power products, sensors, connectivity, and microcontrollers for industrial robots, cobots, mobile robots and more - everything from one single source.
Power electronic components, such as IGBTs and CoolSIC™ MOSFETs, including fitting EiceDRIVER™ gate driver solutions across various power ranges, support a wide range of robotic payloads. CoolMOS™ and CoolSIC™ MOSFETs as well as auxiliary power supply solutions such as CoolSET™ enable efficient power management. PSoC™ microcontrollers are applicable for system control and are also equipped with peripherals to enable connectivity via CAN, USB, or Wi-Fi based on the AIROC™ Wi-Fi & Combos offering. They are also well suited to interface with XENSIV™ sensors to sense the robot’s surroundings. Our range of external memory solutions for code storage and data logging enables the highest reliability, performance, and safety standards. Finally, the OPTIGA™ Trust hardware security solutions provide highly flexible, high-performance, secured access to the cloud.
Predictive maintenance offers the potential to optimize maintenance tasks in real time over system lifetime, maximizing the useful life of equipment while still avoiding disruption to operations.
With the help of the data collected in smart factories, predictive maintenance is possible - with great potential for reducing costs. In predictive maintenance, software analyzes the status data of machines and systems. It detects deviations from standard values, error patterns, and low-quality components - and can thus predict faults or technical defects. This enables the service department to react in good time and proactively prevent a costly machine failure. To do this, for example, it installs a new spare part or brings forward maintenance work. The runtime of the equipment can also be extended as a result.
Explore Infineon's broad portfolio and partner network for reliable data collection and processing enabling condition monitoring and predictive maintenance across diverse industry 4.0 use cases.
Artificial Intelligence in smart factories is expected to continue to play a key role in the future, along with related technologies such as machine learning.
AI technology can be used for more accurate forecasting and planning in the areas of maintenance, production capacity, inventory, sales and more. AI also plays a critical role in the development of virtual twins. These simulations of factory environments are updated in real time based on data collected from IIoT devices, allowing technicians to visualize layouts and workflows. This also allows them to optimize performance remotely.
As new business models emerge in the era of connectivity, industrial security is critical. That’s why it’s vital to find a strong partner with high-quality, reliable security technologies for your IIoT applications.
Security is of critical importance within an isolated production plant and even more so in an interconnected industrial value chain. Advantages when you source a solution from Infineon, are flexibility, so you can scale security functions from small systems to industrial-size installations, a robust, reliable performance, and easy to integrate solutions based on open standards.