Industry 4.0 is considered the future direction of global manufacturing. The factories of the future, built with smart technologies, will bring industrial production into a new era of human-machine collaboration. To adapt to future development trends, many factories have already begun to transform.
What will the factory of the future be like?
There is no definitive conclusion yet, and a hundred people may have a hundred different ideas, but one point has already been agreed upon: safety and security will be an indispensable and important part of intelligent manufacturing systems.
Safety
Before discussing mechanical safety, let's first talk about what mechanical injury is:
Injuries caused by mechanical equipment in motion (or at rest) or by parts, tools, or processed parts coming into direct contact with the human body, such as squeezing, collision, impact, shearing, entanglement, throwing out, cutting, and puncture.
Simply put, mechanical injuries are caused by unsafe conditions of equipment or unsafe acts by personnel. The ultimate goal of mechanical safety is to ensure that even in the event of either of these unsafe conditions, the equipment will not cause harm to personnel.
The simplest and most direct way to prevent machines from harming people is to cut off the power supply and shut down the machine when danger occurs. This method is simple, direct, and effective, and it is not difficult to implement; it can be done through special safety wiring or components, such as safety relays.
However, this type of hardware-based approach is not well-suited for smart manufacturing scenarios that require constant changes to factory layouts.
Smart manufacturing requires a comprehensive and dynamic solution based on constantly changing automation processes and functional safety requirements. Current safety automation technologies can fully meet this need. However, functional safety planning needs to be carried out in the early stages of automation project planning so that a comprehensive strategy can be effectively implemented.
Security
In intelligent, networked production processes, the demand for information and communication security is increasing daily. Simply put, preventing personnel from damaging equipment falls under the scope of security. This includes protecting factories or equipment from unauthorized external access, as well as protecting sensitive data from damage, loss, and unauthorized access from the internal level.
In today's transformation from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, industrial information security has risen to a position of almost equal importance with mechanical safety.
For manufacturers, although there is already an international standard IEC 62443 that comprehensively addresses the information security of automation , providing best practice guidelines for factory operators and equipment manufacturers on how to effectively implement security, when you actually look at the requirements of this standard, you will find that these requirements are very complex to implement.
For equipment operators, an intelligent safety concept should provide not only maximum freedom and flexibility, but also maximum safety.
A machine access control concept that integrates security and safety.
Pilz offers comprehensive security and safety solutions, including the PITmode fusion operating mode selection and access authorization system , modular security door systems, PNOZmulti2 miniature controllers, and firewall industrial bridges. The PITmode fusion operating mode selection and access authorization system authenticates personnel based on data on encrypted RFID keys and allows specific personnel to perform certain operations according to stored permissions. No one can open the security door lock until the correct permissions are registered with the reader unit.
Firewall industrial security bridges protect network access by monitoring communication with controllers and ensuring that field operations are not affected by unauthorized network access. This solution not only considers the needs of machinery safety but also defines different permissions for personnel who have direct contact with the machinery based on their roles. This ensures that personnel are not harmed by any potential dangers posed by the machine, while also ensuring that the machine is not affected by operator error or manipulation, thus balancing machinery safety and industrial information security.
For the factory of the future, mechanical safety and industrial information security are equally important. Increasing data shows that companies that prioritize safety investment and implement strict safety policies tend to have stronger growth potential and greater market success.
Visit https://www.pilz.com/zh-CN/access for more information on industrial security.
