{"id":2215,"date":"2018-09-03T06:58:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T04:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.blogs.yokogawa.de\/chemical-pharma\/uncategorized\/full-steam-ahead-into-digitalisation\/"},"modified":"2022-06-17T09:28:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T07:28:26","slug":"full-steam-ahead-into-digitalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yokogawa.com\/eu\/blog\/chemical-pharma\/en\/full-steam-ahead-into-digitalisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Full steam ahead into digitalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full steam ahead into the digital future<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s our destiny as a brownfield provider: we have to admit we\u2019re 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?<\/p>\n

Could there possibly be a better example of Industry 1.0 than this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"This is a steam engine that belongs to my old model railway. It\u2019s 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\u2019t dream of parting with it.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t 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\u2019t a signal to brake it, you just reduce the current to zero. Then everything comes to a standstill. I\u2019d hate to think what havoc that would cause if Germany\u2019s national rail operator was involved.<\/p>\n

To make playing with a model railway as realistic as possible \u2013 and even more fun than it was already \u2013 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\u2019t support the full functionality. So, there you go!<\/p>\n

Okay, we shouldn\u2019t overdo the comparisons. There are plenty of good reasons why we don\u2019t travel around by steam train any more today. On the other hand, we don\u2019t want to replace all the tens of thousands of analog sensors and analyzers we\u2019ve installed in the past, and that have proven themselves over and over, just yet \u2013 even if did want to, we couldn\u2019t and in any case there\u2019s no reason why we should. That will have to wait until it makes economic sense. In the meantime, we\u2019re quite happy if those sensors and analyzers will carry on \u201cplaying\u201d with their digital equivalents.<\/p>\n

Transition concepts are the answer!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s your first step towards reconciling brownfield with digital without having to commit yourself all-out to digital.<\/p>\n

\"\"So, it\u2019s full steam ahead now, destination IIoT.<\/p>\n

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Process analytical technology is expensive, isn\u2019t it?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n