Open IIoT group to exhibit 'smart' demo at AUSPACK 2022

Open IIoT is on the road again and can be seen live and in action at AUSPACK 2022 in Melbourne.

Started in 2018, the Open IIoT group is made up of a group of Australia’s key players in the automation and manufacturing industry: SMC Corporation, NORD Drivesystems, Balluff, Beckhoff Automation, ZI-Argus and recent addition KUKA Robotics.

The cohort was formed to promote and assist with the adoption of Industry 4.0 among manufacturers. Together they have used their expertise in pneumatics, drive technology, sensors, automation, systems integration and robotics to create a fully operational demonstrator (demo) unit. This demo unit showcases all the Open IIoT members’ components working together in unison communicating their ‘smarts’ to an Industry 4.0 software platform.

An Open IIoT spokesperson said: “As component suppliers with a global presence we have a wealth of knowledge and examples in various countries, industries and applications. The adoption of Industry 4.0 was well established in Europe (where most of us have our head offices) but the pace of uptake in Australia left us with concerns.

“For our businesses and the Australian economy, it is vital that the barriers to implementation be removed and that we get our manufacturing section up to speed with digitisation as soon as possible.”

The demo unit is designed to demonstrate the benefits of full IIoT integration in a visually accessible way. This is illustrated by programming the unit system to circulate various sized boxes based on their size, colour, texture, RFID and external labelling. The demo unit provides a high-level overview of Industry 4.0 in practice and shows how implementing IoT can provide the user with intelligence that can increase production, reduce downtime, help predict trends and allow for adaptability within the business.

Visitors to the Open IIoT Stand G130 at the AUSPACK 2022 exhibition will be able to see first-hand how the collaboration of automation components can create a comprehensive IIoT end-user system, complete with a production dashboard that unlocks the power of the system data collected. Key areas such as predictive maintenance, energy savings, horizontal and vertical networking, dynamic changes and data analytics are brought to light through this unique creation.

Seminar series: Quick wins for Industry 4.0 implementation

Open IIoT members Jim Wallace (Balluff Australia Sales Manager) and Jozef Ceh (SMC Corporation Australia New Zealand Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0 Manager) will be hosting a seminar at AUSPACK 2022, which is titled: ‘Quick wins for Industry 4.0 implementation’. Visitors to this informative session will hear from Jim and Jozef as they explore the ‘quick wins’ to get users out of the starting blocks and into Industry 4.0 implementation. Much like the goal of Open IIoT, this interactive seminar aims to make the journey to Industry 4.0 as simple as possible by cutting through the jargon and sharing real-life examples.