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FROM PAGE 91 It’s interesting that even in the early days of these elaborate, technical products, the manufacturers never over-complicated things by explaining the inner workings of the devices to consumers. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t need an explanation on how the tyre information is gathered and communicated to my dashboard, nor how my dealership knows when I’ve run out of fuel in the outback. I’m just grateful when they do. This leads me nicely onto the fastest growing topic in today’s technological world: industry 4.0 and the concept we’ve named the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Yes, the IIoT is a flexible, cost-effective and game-changing concept, but it’s also widely misunderstood, often confusing and typically over-complicated by those hoping to convince future customers it’s right for them. I’ve watched technical experts talk tirelessly to IIoT newcomers about edge computing, machine learning, digital twins, cyber-physical systems, machine to machine, advanced robotics, big data and cognitive computing and, long before the end, I’ve watched even the most ardent listener give up and activate sleep mode. It’s time we demystified industry 4.0 and looked at the concept of the IIot in far simpler terms. Many in the industry agree. Data drives decisions Siemens Head of Digital Enterprise Leonie Wong is conscious IIoT initiatives all revolve around data and she’s firmly committed to supporting every Australian business looking to embrace Industry 4.0 technologies, whether those projects are large or small. “We must be careful not to get ahead of ourselves in our discussions, such as talking about digital twins and other wonderful things like AI and edge computing,” she said. “Those things may not be relevant when a manufacturer is wanting to go on the journey of embracing industry 4.0. “That scalability of being able to start with the absolute basics and build from there can actually be very valuable. I think sometimes we dilute that in our messaging because it’s not that sexy. “The very core of what industry 4.0 and industrial IoT is all about is data and having that data accessible to you in the time frame that you need it, and in a complete form. That way you can make better decisions on what to do with your operational establishment. “The foundation of having that data available starts from the very basics of connectivity. “There are a lot of FMCG manufacturers out there that have facilities with levels of automation ranging from very manual and primitive to highly advanced. You have the full spectrum and we at Siemens don’t want anybody to feel left behind because they to feel that industry 4.0 is inaccessible to them. “Whenever there’s a manufacturing process happening, there’s a lot of quality data that needs to be captured with regards to both product and process parameters, such as whether or not it meets quality specifications. We know regardless of how automated that production line may be, that data is being captured in some way, shape or form. “Our scalability message to those companies is that you can start the digital journey from any level of automation. We’ve worked with clients who were doing things very manually, reading gauges and taking manual counts that were recorded on a clipboard to be put into a spreadsheet, and yet today, we’re helping them. “We’ve got solutions, such as our MindSphere industrial IoT cloud platform, which allows those companies to store all the data they collect, in the cloud, and use some of the applications within that platform to perform analytics on that data. Often, that’s enough of an opening experience for them to justify going further on the automation journey.” Melbourne based refrigerated transport business Cold Xpress is an example of a business taking simple steps towards automation that have quickly led to big rewards. The company started out specialising in the collection of fresh produce from wholesalers and making the onward delivery to retailers and supermarkets such as IGA, Red Rooster and the like. “We’ve always liked change,” CEO John Di Losa said, “but our biggest challenge has been our partners adapting to new technology. “Five years ago, we wanted to introduce paperless signatures to create some efficiencies and cost savings. The problem was the whole industry is so paper based they didn’t want to change. On the one hand they were saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, while we were telling them we could improve things. “At the time we were spending about $2500 every week on postage, giving people back their proof of delivery (POD) and various other documents. Today, that figure has gone down to maybe $50 a month. “We now do a delivery and within a few seconds the data gets uploaded, so the customer can view the POD online, including a picture of how we delivered it. That alone has helped reduce customer discrepancies about items supposedly missing from deliveries, quite apart from protecting all the people that previously had to manually touch the paperwork.” Since Covid struck, Cold Xpress has put on 35 extra vehicles, is delivering about 20,000 cartons a day, and is now promoted as Victoria’s largest refrigerated transport business. “Because we had already made a start with the automation of our invoicing and POD paperwork, we’ve been able to progress to automated manifests and now use barcodes and scanning to help with speed and accuracy in the warehouse operation,” Mr Di Losa said. “We’ve now installed 80 chutes in the warehouse and scan the barcode on each box to know which chute to send it down. From there, it goes to the correct consignment and means our error rate is among the lowest in the industry. “Automation is a big contributor to the reputation we’ve earned for reliability, and yet we’ve only just started exploring the possibilities.” Keeping it simple No doubt there are businesses still trying to make sense of IIoT’s potential. However, a group of companies with a shared interest in growing the adoption of IIoT technologies has come together to offer end users and the broader industry worthwhile, valuable and understandable information on industry 4.0 and the associated topics. The group, Open IIoT (openiiot.com), brings together a broad range of industry 4.0 related experience from companies including SMC Corporation ANZ, Beckhoff Automation, Nord Drivesystems, Balluff and ZI-Argus. TO PAGE 94 INDUSTRY 4.0 IIOT NOV, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 93