Published on 02/27/2017 | Technology
The Schwabens of southwestern Germany are living up to their stereotype as inspired doers by blanketing the region with practical industrie 4.0 projects.
According to a country-wide visualisation of IIoT projects by Plattform Industrie 4.0, southwestern Germany is leading in implementation with 90 out of 148 national use cases. Across Germany, 87 of the use cases are classified as "Market-ready / Productive use" - meaning it's time to pay attention.
Meanwhile, the Industrie 4.0 research map features more than 500 funded Industrie 4.0 research projects at various levels of maturity. If you're wondering what the future of industry will look like, book a ticket to Stuttgart this spring.
How do you bring a complex, multi-partner IIoT solution to market? Testbeds have emerged as a critical path to success by enabling companies to refine partnership modes, technology architectures, and business models. The Industrial Internet Consortium has 22 testbeds in operation, with 5 companies leading the charge:
- Infosys (8 IIC testbeds)
- General Electric (5 IIC testbeds)
- National Instruments (5 IIC testbeds)
- Cisco (5 IIC testbeds)
- Real-time Innovations (4 IIC testbeds)
Industry leaders are also investing heavily to accelerate development. In January, National Instruments launched their Industrial IoT lab which will focus on IIoT interoperability and 5G. Willow Street Investments estimates that 5G networks will generate $250 billion in annual service revenue by 2025, with $6 billion spent on R&D between 2015 and 2020.
In 2015, global robot sales increased by 15% to 254,000 units and the International Federation of Robotics expects growth to remain robust with more than 1.4 million new robots in factories by 2019.
China's industrial modernisation is the primary driver. Robot sales to China grew 20% to 68,000 in 2015 and are anticipated to grow a further 30% in 2016 on the back of the country's Made in China 2025 initiative. This is not necessarily good news for the current market incumbents. China has prioritised localization of high performance equipment and Chinese-made robots are expected to grow from 262,000 worldwide in 2015 to 614,200 in 2018.
Today's robots remain a far cry from Optimus Prime but my money is on China to build the first fully functional Transformer (Beijing Motor Show 2035 prediction).
The IIC's Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) just got a reboot. If you have no idea what the IIRA is, put this email aside for a quick browse. It is by far the most useful framework for understanding IIoT solutions. Refer to the figure below to find out how this document fits in to the IIC Technical Publication Organisation.
So what's new?
1 - New sections have been added covering applicability, functions and key system characteristics
2 - An appendix on "Design Space Considerations" provides an overview of design parameters
3 - The description of architecture concepts has been updates based on experience
The IIC expects to release an analysis of connectivity options in the coming weeks. I'll keep you updated.
Journal of Innovation (3rd Edition)
- Erik Walenza, John Kowal, Calvin Smith, Smart Factory Task Group, IIC
The 3rd Edition of the JOI aims to address cybersecurity, machine learning and various testbeds initialised by the IIC, including the INFINITE testbed and the Proximity Network testbed.
The 3 Pillars of Autonomous Vehicles
- Thomas Yohannan, BD Management, Cisco Security
The 3 Pillars of Autonomous Vehicles - Safety, Connectivity & Security - will drive the auto industry forward. V2V protocols focus on public and personal safety that allows a promise for the future of "smart environment".
You need a Hero: The Project Manager
- Ethan James, Blogger, Toptal Design Blog
Simple reasons why you need a project manager... and no, neither a good programmer nor a client does not make a good project manager.
