Manufacturers are under constant pressure to optimise their processes in order to remain competitive. Increasingly, this means using big data analytics tools to mine enormous volumes of production data. When these tools utilise cloud services, there are a number of important factors to consider.

Industry 4.0 demands modular, flexible production lines. While these qualities are being implemented successfully at a functional control level, achieving comparable levels of flexibility in line-level safety technology has so far seemed an insurmountable hurdle. With the combination of OPC UA and openSAFETY, B&R aims to change that – providing seamless safety for production lines.

  B&R presented the SuperTrak industrial transport system at the SPS IPC Drives trade fair. Other highlights included a multitude of mapp components and connected manufacturing solutions based on OPC UA communication.