"The interplay of automation technology, platforms and machine learning takes Industry 4.0 to the next level," says Dr. Jochen Köckler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Messe. Visitors to Hannover Messe, whose main theme is "Integrated Industry - Connect & Collaborate", will therefore be able to experience how networking in industry is creating new ways of doing business, working and collaborating. "The result: more productivity, sustainable jobs and new business models," continues Köckler.

Factory technology is becoming ever more powerful, industrial IT platforms are entering the market and suppliers are digitally connected to their customers. Added to this are machine learning approaches that enable machines and robots to make decisions.

Networking production and logistics

At the same time, digitalization is also one of the key drivers of logistics. It is about mastering complex processes and designing them efficiently. In the future, new logistics processes will be necessary to cope with the complexity of supply chains. This begins in the automated warehouse, where processes are controlled by software programs, robots navigate independently through the halls around the clock and bring goods to their destination at the right time and in the right quantity.

Production and logistics processes are also becoming ever more closely and intelligently networked. Cemat, which is integrated into Hannover for the first time this year, is intended to illustrate this fusion.

Combining IT and integrated automation

And there is another innovation this year: the new leading trade fair Integrated Automation, Motion & Drives (IMDA), a merger of the annual Industrial Automation (IA) and the biennial Motion, Drives & Automation (MDA). IMDA is intended to cover the entire spectrum of industrial automation, IT, drive and fluid technology.

In the IAMD and Digital Factory halls, companies will show how they are currently changing and what new solutions and business models are being created by combining IT and integrated automation. "IT and industry have moved towards each other from two directions," says Arno Reich, Global Director IAMD and Digital Factory in the Hannover Messe team. "Automation companies now have great software expertise and are upgrading their products and services using digital technologies. At the same time, IT and internet companies are turning their attention to the industry and are finding a highly attractive field of application there with adaptations of their existing offerings - keyword platform economy."

In order to tap into the potential of digital transformation in industry, companies need to rethink and change. As a result, automation companies are also becoming software companies and machine manufacturers are becoming providers of digital products and services. "We are currently experiencing a radical upheaval," says Rainer Glatz, Managing Director of the VDMA's Electrical Automation and Software and Digitalization associations. "For a number of years, digitalization technologies such as PLM, MES or CRM had to contend with the prejudice that they mainly generate costs. That's different now. Digitalization is increasingly seen as an enabler for new business models and additional sales."

Interlocking of energy systems

Digitalization is also changing the energy market. Innovative technologies are making the electricity system more flexible, linking sectors intelligently and integrating new market participants. With its energy section, Hannover Messe not only shows how industrial companies can save enormous costs through efficient energy use and make an important contribution to climate protection, but also how the energy transition can succeed.

"Everyone is talking about the mobility transition. But the fact is that the electricity grid is not prepared for e-cars," says Köckler. The energy industry assumes that significantly higher peak loads will occur in the future than in the past. In addition, electric driving is only environmentally friendly and sustainable if the electricity comes from renewable sources. Energy suppliers and municipal utilities are focusing on this megatrend and are starting to build the necessary energy infrastructure. This includes a nationwide supply of charging points, the expansion of distribution grids and electricity highways. And here, too, there is no way around networking: the challenge lies in intelligently optimizing the interaction between renewable energy sources, storage and electromobility. Solutions for an electricity grid that meets the requirements of e-mobility will be on show in Hanover. as