Manufacturing Trends Noticed at Hannover

My Website traffic dropped significantly during the week of Hannover Messe in April. As an independent thinker/writer, I cannot afford such a trip unless I can find a sponsor. There were none this year. I do enjoy Hannover. It’s an intense few days walking about 10 miles a day.

I did view it from afar through press releases and other websites and correspondence. Two analyst firms that I trust sent me their thoughts on trends seen at the show. It is important to note that both are European (does England count as European?) and one is German. There is a decided emphasis that way that might be missed in the US. They have a few different issues. Interact Analysis and IoT Analytics each had several analysts in attendance. The links are to their reports for greater depth about companies covered. I should note that I have worked with IoT Analytics in the past but have nothing going on with them now.

Interact Analysis, analysts Blake Griffin, Brianna Jackson, Tim Dawson

Over the years, Hannover Messe has evolved to include an ever-broadening range of products and companies. Despite the wide range of technologies on display, an emphasis on energy efficiency and flexibility emerged as the central theme of the 2023 show. As more sustainability-conscious legislation, such as the Net-Zero Industry Act and the EU’s Eco-Design Initiatives, are being enacted, industrial automation technology is being pushed to evolve to support these efforts. Additionally, we continue to see increasing emphasis placed upon flexibility within intralogistics. Both of these trends were on prominent display throughout the fairground. In this insight, we aim to highlight the products on display that we believe most clearly represent the current status quo within the industrial automation markets we cover.

Against the Backdrop of High-Electricity Prices Across Europe Energy Efficiency Technology is Paramount

Drives

While motor drives are inherently an energy efficiency device, new models are pushing this idea even further. Nearly all drive vendors that exhibited at Hannover Messe were displaying models of their drives which provide additional efficiencies to the system through features like regeneration, harmonic mitigation and electronic bypass. 

Motor Vendors – IE4 & IE5 Technology:

2023 is a big year for the low voltage motor market, particularly in Europe. In July of this year, the EU Eco-design Initiative will mandate that motors between 75kw and 200kw carry an efficiency level of IE4 at minimum. This represents the first time IE4 efficiency levels will be required in any region. In preparation for this legislation, many vendors of motors had their high-efficiency capabilities on display at Hannover Messe.

Despite the standard not being properly defined yet, many vendors were going beyond IE4 to show their IE5 capabilities. 

Battery Manufacturing and Recycling – Festo

According to the European Federation for Transport and the Environment, Europe comprised 41% of new investment in lithium-ion battery production in 2021. However, legislation from other regions, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, posed a threat to European industries, with the US act incentivizing European manufacturers to expand their operations within the US. Europe’s answer to this is the Net-Zero Industry Act, which aims to push the EU to produce more of its technology domestically and localize supply chains. As a result, battery manufacturing in Europe is expected to see increased investment in order for the continent to remain competitive globally.

Smart Conveyance Technology

Alongside energy efficiency, Interact Analysis has also provided substantial commentary about new entrants shaking up the supplier landscape for smart conveyance technology (here). 

Final Thoughts

The focus for Hannover Messe has shifted over the years to incorporate a broader range of technologies, and it can be difficult to find common themes across products as a result. However, flexibility, energy efficiency and sustainability were clearly identifiable in the products on display across the industrial automation halls. This perhaps speaks to the strengths of these trends across Europe. While energy prices and supply chain woes remain a concern, you can expect continued emphasis to be placed on solutions like the ones we observed at Hannover Messe 2023.

IoT Analytics

1. Modularity is becoming the top theme for future manufacturing

Almost all exhibitors somehow highlighted the need for modularity and interchangeability.

2. Hardware platforms are consolidating

The lines between PLCs, IPCs, gateways, and other hardware devices are further fading as powerful multi-purpose chips such as the new Intel 13th gen Raptorlake CPUs become the go-to compute platform across devices. At the same time, hardware devices become smaller while integrating more functionality inside that separate devices (e.g., I/O master functionality) used to be handle. Another notable, recent change is the addition of AI acceleration across the hardware stack so that companies can run AI interference (mostly for vision use cases at this point).

3. Decoupling of hardware and software is gaining momentum

To the surprise of many at the fair, the world’s leading industrial automation vendor Siemens announced a “virtual PLC” software offering that is completely decoupled from proprietary hardware. This announcement marks a paradigm shift for industrial automation as it allows Siemens control software to basically run on any third-party (standard) hardware. Siemens is not the first to announce such an offering (e.g., Schneider Electric, BoschRexroth, Beckhoff, and Codesys have done so before), but it shows that the market leader is further opening up and getting ready for a truly software-defined automation stack.

4. More and more IT technologies are coming to OT

There is a push toward using an IT-style approach (e.g., low-code, integrated development environments and containerization) to configure/engineer/deploy OT applications and control logic.

5. The industrial metaverse is starting to take shape

HMI 2023 saw a revival of the “industrial metaverse.” While it had become quiet regarding the usage of the term leading up to the fair, a number of companies presented their vision of the industrial metaverse, including Microsoft, Siemens, CapGemini, SAP, and Schneider Electric. We noted that the visions were clearly not aligned, with some putting augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) into the center, whereas others clearly excluded AR/VR. In all cases, the industrial metaverse was, to a large degree, a new marketing term for an existing set of technologies. The most common denominator was the fact that digital twins played a key role for all companies, with some saying that the industrial metaverse is the next step in that journey.

6. There is a strong push toward sustainability

At last year’s Hannover Messe (2022), we highlighted how sustainability had entered the fair as a key theme. This year, we noticed a lot more “meat to the bone.” We came across a considerable number of solutions to help companies track their carbon footprint, driven in part by new ESG regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

7. Generative AI is being implemented in manufacturing

With generative AI unarguably the #1 buzz in tech right now, the first applications in manufacturing were visible at the fair.

8. Interoperability focus is shifting from assets to data

Discussions at the fair showed how specific asset connectivity technologies such as OPC-UA, IO-Link, or MQTT have become or are in the process of becoming global interoperability standards. With such standards establishing themselves, at the same time as AI and data are taking a much bigger role in many digital transformation initiatives, the focus is shifting away from standards to connect assets toward data format standards and architectures.

9. DataOps is maturing

Making data interoperable is one side of the coin, whereas ensuring manageability in day-to-day operations is the other. Therefore, unsurprisingly, we noted a lot of interest for vendors (often start-ups/scale-ups) that promised to manage and optimize OT data streams. These vendors target the severe need for high-quality data without spending too much time on preparing/cleaning the data.

10. Wireless connectivity on the shopfloor is becoming a reality

Shopfloor control operations are traditionally performed using wired/tethered connectivity between sensors/actuators, IO devices, controllers, and other compute platforms. However, HMI 2023 revealed that wireless may be becoming a viable alternative in some cases.

Cyber Integrity Software Update Released

I’m still catching up from the flurry of press releases in April and early May. This one from Hexagon Asset Lifecycle Intelligence and from the PAS group they acquired a couple of years ago. The new version is PAS Cyber Integrity 7.3. Updates include:

  • Delivering an enterprise-wide, holistic image of multiple risk domains with a clear understanding of vulnerabilities and enhanced risk-based decision-making
  • Utilizing proprietary risk scoring to rapidly identify risks in the environment of greatest concern while simultaneously considering the vulnerabilities and patching level of various assets
  • Precisely identifying systems at risk of penetration or exploit and providing meaningful and actionable data regarding risk level, vulnerabilities for remediation and the associated patches and upgrade paths providing the highest value
  • Prioritizing risk-reducing and vulnerability remediation activities that shrink the attack surface and quickly providing paths that reduce the greatest risk, with the least amount of effort

Honeywell Cyber Insights Announcement

Honeywell began sending press releases about things called Forge and Connect and Connected Enterprise in 2019. I was puzzled. Then came the pandemic making contact and conversations difficult. I think this was much like initiatives from a few other former automation companies now trying to become software companies—they had some ideas and appointed some GMs, but they were feeling their way forward, as well.

I was confused again this month. There was registration for something called Honeywell Connect, and then pre-brief for Honeywell Connect (for which I never received a link) and then for Honeywell User Group (HUG). I registered for so many things, I wasn’t sure what was next. Then there’s the issue that HUG is in Orlando—and I’m tired of going to Orlando and supporting Florida. 

Yesterday was Honeywell Connect—a series of announcements from the Honeywell Connected Enterprise group. The big announcement that concerns me follows.  HUG follows June 19 for the process systems group. That one is live. As it stands now, I’ll be there. If you’d like to connect and give me your thoughts on using all this new technology or where AR/VR is going, ping me at [email protected].

The big news from Connect is the release of Cyber Insights for operational technology applications. Its focus is improving the availability, reliability and safety of their industrial control systems and operations. Cyber Insights is designed to integrate information from multiple OT data sources in order to provide a customer with actionable insights into their facility’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, threats and compliance, thereby helping reduce their overall cybersecurity risks.

Cyber Insights brings a tailored approach by providing a purpose-built cybersecurity solution for OT environments and users. It is designed to offer a site-level view of a facility’s cybersecurity posture and provide insights into security events, vulnerabilities, active threats and to manage compliance. Cyber Insights can help organizations strengthen their cyber resilience and respond faster to incidents through access to critical information at the right time.

Cyber Insights is pre-configured for OT use, with already available customization options designed to address certain needs specific to different industrial environments, while being vendor agnostic so that it can deployed on Honeywell control systems as well as many other systems. It is also deployed, supported and maintained by Honeywell Cyber Care services during the applicable subscription license term to help customers maintain continuous tuning and optimization as required for any system to run in peak form.

Beckhoff Celebrates 20 Years of EtherCAT

I remember my introduction to industrial “fieldbus” technology that came even before I became an editor with Control Engineering. That was in the 90s. Another indication of the maturity of the automation and control market lies in this announcement from the EtherCat Technology Group.

I love press releases. The writers are not bashful about proclaiming their virtues. I’m sure there are a couple of others who would contest some of the proclamations. But, this network did bring Ethernet early on and works well with motion control more so than some others.

Beckhoff Automation, a pioneer in automation solutions, proudly commemorates the 20th anniversary of EtherCAT, the groundbreaking industrial Ethernet ystem that transformed the world of industrial networking. Since its introduction at Hannover Messe in 2003, EtherCAT has emerged as the leader in speed, flexibility and openness, solidifying its position in the global market through its reliability and continuous technical advancements. Today, EtherCAT remains an open IEC standard and empowers companies across industries to leverage its key technological advantages.

EtherCAT combines the standard Ethernet protocol with the reliability, performance and stability required for industrial communication, delivering significant advantages:

  • Fast communication and nanosecond synchronization via distributed clocks
  • Reduce CPU loads by up to 30%
  • Flexible topology: tree, star, drop, line, circle, etc. – or any combination of these is possible
  • Automatic addressing of nodes 
  • Comprehensive and highly localized diagnostics
  • Noise immunity and high bandwidth
  • Integrated safety
  • No switches are necessary, masters only need an Ethernet port, and sub-devices can use a variety of ESC chips – all of which keep expenses near or less than legacy fieldbus costs.

KPMG and Context Labs Partner for Carbon Metrics

What’s the old saying, “You can’t control what you can’t measure”? Here is news about a partnership to better measure environmental footprint.

KPMG LLP and Context Labs today announced an alliance to help companies better measure, quantify, and reduce their environmental footprints using distributed ledger technology and advanced climate data and analytics, enabled with machine learning and AI. The alliance will provide strategic support to companies working to reduce environmental impact, analyze their efforts to decarbonize, and provide transparent and traceable data, as investors, regulators, and other stakeholders increasingly demand ESG disclosures.

The alliance combines Context Labs’ technology with KPMG’s environmental monitoring, analytics and reporting for customers across market sectors. The collaboration between Context Labs and KPMG U.S. is already demonstrating results with Williams, an energy company handling 30% of the natural gas in the United States.

Williams is leveraging Context Labs’ Decarbonization-as-a-Service platform to track and measure emissions across the full energy value chain, executing the energy industry’s first end-to-end methane intensity certification, supported by KPMG. The platform provides transparent data and insights on the carbon intensity and climate performance attributes for energy sector customers.

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