Industry 4.0 with a Pharma Focus

Automation World
Pat Reynolds

During a well-attended Open Factory April 10-12 at its Pianoro headquarters plant outside Bologna Italy, pharmaceutical packaging machinery specialist Marchesini Group (www.marchesini.com) officially unveiled its Industry 4.0 program.

Industry 4.0, of course, is the fourth industrial revolution, a transformation now underway where sensors, machines, and IT systems will be tightly integrated all along the value chain. These connected systems can interact with one another thanks to standardized Internet-based communications protocols. And by interacting with one another, they can analyze data to predict failure, reconfigure themselves, and adapt to changes. Industry 4.0, sometimes called the Internet of Things (IoT), will make it possible to gather and analyze data across machines, resulting in faster, more flexible, and more efficient manufacturing processes to produce higher-quality goods at a reduced cost. (Full Article)