From product to process intelligence

Engineering is undergoing fundamental changes in HARTING's special machine construction activities. Pursuing a holistic approach, systems engineering is combining and merging mechanics, electrical engineering and software. The motto here is: "Intelligence before steel". Where mechanical precision used to take centre stage, software is now increasingly handling and managing flexible tasks – such as camera-based inspections and corrections replacing mechanical solutions. Development work takes place in a team and is simulated in advance. The additional work involved in programming and commissioning is compensated for by virtual processes running parallel to mechanical engineering. Digital tools are indispensable here, for example to precisely describe the capabilities of individual process modules. The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) plays a central role in this context by reducing configuration and integration costs, overcoming translation difficulties between mechanical, electrical and control engineering and creating a complete digital image.

Development sets in already at the sales stage: Customer requirements are defined at an early juncture and seamlessly transferred to implementation. Process modules facilitate this process, as sales-relevant data is available right from the outset. The significance of software development is rapidly on the rise – shifting away from conventional PLC programming and towards complex IT tasks that enable deep integration into higher-level systems. This allows the orchestration of machines and systems, the digital support of maintenance and servicing, as well as the continuous data-based optimisation of production – which is understood as an overall system in which value-adding processes and intralogistics are automated and digitally integrated.

Despite all the progress that has been achieved, obstacles do remain. Efficient simulation tools and integrated engineering tools are just as much in demand as is engineering support for electrical and control technology commissioning. Artificial intelligence and machine learning must be integrated as easy-to-use tools in engineering, documentation and adaptive control tasks. The AAS should be supported across the board, as well as editor software enabling seamless collaboration. Cooperation platforms are necessary in order to overcome divergences in terminology and labelling between specialist areas – for example between electrical planning and PLC programming.

An example from actual practice: HARTING's assembly systems are designed along the lines of injection moulding machines. A basic system is flexibly customised with product-specific grippers and devices. The combination of hardware and software is the special feature here, which significantly elevates the degree of automation – also for low-volume products. The processes – such as feeding, assembly, labelling and packaging – are viewed as "skills" that can be easily adapted in a skills-based environment.

The future of manufacturing is flexible, intelligent and digital - and HARTING is playing an active role in shaping and designing this future.