Several governments around the world continue to help manufacturing companies towards digital transformation, the ultimate goal being to allow companies to integrate people, processes and systems in order to improve production efficiency and agility in responding to last-minute changes.
Over the years, Atomos Hyla has become specialised in the field, with a team dedicated to the integration of management and operating systems with the industrial and automation world.
Integration projects generally involve the line/plant control and supervision systems already installed, therefore an accurate and preliminary analysis and verification phase of the characteristics is necessary, in general of the following:
- Control and supervision systems architecture
- Factory network infrastructure
- Machine control units (PLC, RTU, etc.) evaluating the availability of the communication interfaces (market or custom STD) and the necessary data mappings.
Relations with the various manufacturers/suppliers for the purposes mentioned above must be based on the clarity of the data exchange and the methods with which this takes place.
The interface mechanisms must not be invasive (the code is not “touched”, only “read”, except in the case of “writing” the recipes, for which only the sending of the recipe codes associated with the reference in the OdL to be produced are considered).
Suppliers’/manufacturers’ resistance is generally due to their propensity to protect their know-how, as well as the issue of responsibilities/guarantees on the continuity of the features of their machine.
Manufacturers are increasingly aware, within an integration perspective, that the requisites requested for the supply of a new machine or system, in addition to those relating to performance, flexibility, etc., also include the detailed references above: communication interface and availability of the data mapping deemed necessary.
These and other points are the true value of Industry 4.0.
