Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018 - 40

Plastics News photo by Frank Antosiewicz

40 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 10, 2018

Wittmann Battenfeld's
David Preusse sorts
through 4.0 confusion
By Audrey LaForest
Plastics News Staff
Industry 4.0 is a simple phrase
with a not-so-simple definition.
At trade shows, especially ones
as big as NPE, the phrase and its
myriad applications flaunted at
exhibitor booths can often cause
plastics experts and showgoers
to scratch their heads.
"Ah, yes, Industry 4.0 - that
means robots, right?" one might
say. "Or, wait, is it computers
talking to each other?"
Smart factories can include
many tech-savvy, timing-saving
functions. Production cells where
injection molding machines, robots and auxiliary equipment are
all connected to a network together is one example. Other features
of Industry 4.0 technology might
include mold setup recipes for
faster mold changes with zero
errors, remote support, service,
access and control via Wi-Fi, or
smartphone apps alerting operators of production status.
But alongside the benefits are
also the challenges facing plastics
processors who are implementing
this technology. Industry road-

BOOTH W3742
WITTMANN BATTENFELD INC.
blocks, such as finding or training
workers with the adequate skill
sets to manage smart factories
or operate connected machinery,
are closely followed by IT security issues that include protecting
intellectual property and maintaining the integrity of production
processes. And then there is the
overall lack of Industry 4.0 regulation, standards and forms of certification, to name just a few.
It is confusing, to say the least.
Executives wear many hats in
the plastics industry, but cloud
consultant or software engineer
are not always in the job description. Thankfully, David Preusse,
president of Wittmann Battenfeld
USA in Torrington, Conn., is here
to remedy those confusion headaches - or at least alleviate some
of the tech-overload symptoms
Industry 4.0 can induce - as
show attendees are bombarded
by marketing semantics and applicable 4.0 technology benefits.
"While it will not be difficult to

Wittmann Battenfeld CEO Michael Wittmann, left, and David Preusse, president of Wittmann Battenfeld USA.
hear a lot of Industry 4.0 talk at
NPE ... it's going to be awkward
for editors and show attendees
to understand the finer details,"
Preusse said. "This leads to confusion."
In an interview before NPE2018,
Preusse gave Plastics News the 411
on 4.0 and how the smart factory
of today is on track to become the
smarter factory of tomorrow.
Q: What is Industry 4.0?

Preusse: Industry 4.0 introduces what has been called the
"smart factory," in which cyberphysical systems become the
internet of things that monitor
the physical processes of the
factory and make decentralized
decisions, communicating and
cooperating both with each other and with humans in real time
via the wireless web. We learned
in grade school of the agricul-

tural era, then we learned about
the Industrial Revolution and
now, from years of the internet
of things, it brings us into a new
revolution that has been called
Industry 4.0.
Q: Who is shaping the development?
Preusse: Many suppliers are
working to move into some features of 4.0 for their customers,
See Preusse, Page 42

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018