Full steam ahead into digitalisation

Full steam ahead into digitalisation: Just as older analogue model steam locomotives - i.e. brownfield models - can be operated digitally with appropriate retrofitting, proven analogue sensors and analysers can also be combined into one system with a data management system, which is used as a gateway, the worlds of analogue and digital systems.

Full steam ahead into the digital future

It’s our destiny as a brownfield provider: we have to admit we’re still rather fond of Industry 1.0. At the same time, we want to reap the benefits of Industry 4.0. Is that like squaring the circle?

Could there possibly be a better example of Industry 1.0 than this?

This is a steam engine that belongs to my old model railway. It’s meanwhile more than 50 years old and I cherish it to this day (even if it is packed away in a case in the basement). This treasured locomotive is about as Industry 1.0 as they come but I wouldn’t dream of parting with it.

You can’t get more analog than this model. You place it on the track, connect the traction current by switching on the transformer and off it goes. And all the other trains start moving too. If your high-speed train threatens to bump into the goods wagon in front of it and there isn’t a signal to brake it, you just reduce the current to zero. Then everything comes to a standstill. I’d hate to think what havoc that would cause if Germany’s national rail operator was involved.

To make playing with a model railway as realistic as possible – and even more fun than it was already – the manufacturers came up with a digital version of it all a few decades ago (Industry 3.0). From that point on, you could control each engine separately using digital technology. And with a decoder retrofit, even a brownfield model understood the commands and was capable of running in digital mode, even if it didn’t support the full functionality. So, there you go!

Okay, we shouldn’t overdo the comparisons. There are plenty of good reasons why we don’t travel around by steam train any more today. On the other hand, we don’t want to replace all the tens of thousands of analog sensors and analyzers we’ve installed in the past, and that have proven themselves over and over, just yet – even if did want to, we couldn’t and in any case there’s no reason why we should. That will have to wait until it makes economic sense. In the meantime, we’re quite happy if those sensors and analyzers will carry on “playing” with their digital equivalents.

Transition concepts are the answer!

With a data management system acting as a gateway, you can combine the analog and digital worlds into one and upgrade them to OPC UA communication, for instance. That’s your first step towards reconciling brownfield with digital without having to commit yourself all-out to digital.

So, it’s full steam ahead now, destination IIoT.


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