MDA AUG-SEP 2018 FINAL AUG-SEP 2018 DIGITAL | Page 32
Article
New Requirements
for Machine Safety
in Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 would be inconceivable without functional machine safety. But the digital transformation
poses new challenges for experts in safety technology. They need to keep up with the rapid pace of
technical developments, even in terms of standardisation.
At the same time, safety technology needs to become an integral part of every system, not only to protect
the employees from injuries, but also as a tool to increase production efficiency.
Siegfried Rüttger
The modular safety controllers from the PSC product range from Schmersal provide the option of individually configuring flexible protection systems
based on software.
O
ne of the key objectives of Industry 4.0 is improved
efficiency, which can be achieved through predictive
maintenance, for example. This should also enable
improved production planning,
Siegfried Rüttger
Project Manager
for Industry4.0 at the
Schmersal Group Wuppertal.
[email protected]
32 | August-September 2018 | Global MDA Journal
longer running times and increased machine availability. This
requires the components used in the machines to be able to
generate data and information. Based on the machine and
production data read on an ongoing basis, predictions can be
derived on the status of the system. As a rule, these are used to