Implemented for the first time in 2016, the concept of the areas obviously successfully dovetails different areas of industrial production. While two areas address special topics in production technology, two others focus on specific sectors. This allows visitors to find answers to their main topics and at the same time discover synergies with neighboring areas.

One question that concerns many visitors to the Quality Area in particular is how the quality of processes can be improved with the help of digitalization. Andreas Wank, research associate at the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) at TU Darmstadt, knows what small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular should look out for.

Wank not only conducts research in the field of digitalization, but as Managing Director of the new Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Centre in Darmstadt, he also helps SMEs to break new digital ground within a secure framework. As a first step, Wank recommends thinking carefully about which key figures companies want to improve in concrete terms. "Above all, we approach digitalization methodically," explains the scientist. "The focus is not on replacing human work, but on supplementing it." This involves, for example, automating previous manual activities such as recording and entering measurement data in the digital process.

Among other things, the experts use their so-called Value Stream Mapping 4.0 to search for digital types of waste in manufacturing processes. These include digital media breaks, where data is either not recorded or not forwarded. Wank: "Measurement data is often entered manually into the measurement computer, but the information is not regularly analyzed and forwarded."

Chaos cannot be eliminated digitally

Newcomers should therefore first learn to understand their processes and stabilize them before digitizing them. "It's often not worth going straight into further digitalization if you don't know exactly what the processes look like," explains Wank. "Most of the time, things go wrong when someone tries to eliminate chaos with digitalization." For example, when analyzing a Hessian company with a large number of variants, the Darmstadt-based company discovered that the flow of information between purchasing, work preparation and assembly was not functioning properly. Digitization had already failed in the first step because no one really understood the flow of information.

However, the merging of existing, historically grown IT systems into a consistent digital concept is also problematic. "The big problem is developing a consistent digital solution without stopping operations," says Wank. "What's more, in SMEs, this task is usually undertaken by employees alongside their usual job."

In his work, the scientist sees the chance that the flow of information in companies will be completely paperless in the future as an important challenge. "Ideally, the entire process will run digitally because the products will provide the necessary information," says the expert, looking to the future. "Then the processes can be dynamically controlled or interlocked on the basis of real-time data. This would not be possible with a static, paper-based way of working." Wank is particularly interested in the digital view of quality assurance in conjunction with metal processing: "I therefore see the Quality Area at Metav 2018 as a very interesting topic for us."

Entry via practice-oriented fields of action

Frank Knafla, Master Specialist Industry 4.0 at Phoenix Contact, also knows that the benefits of Industry 4.0 for production sometimes seem somewhat abstract, especially for medium-sized companies. Phoenix Contact has therefore defined practice-oriented fields of action. "Not everything that is technically possible is implemented," explains Knafla, "but only what guarantees an advantage for the respective process." The focus is on aspects such as quality, flexibility, performance and cost-effectiveness.

"Communication is the key", Frank Knafla, Master Specialist Industry 4.0 at Phoenix Contact

In order to utilize the advantages of digital data in tool and mould making, for example, all process phases within the value creation network must first be supported with a uniform digital description. Digital data is assigned to each physical product. With the corresponding technology, which ranges from heavy-duty connectors and power supplies with individual parameterization to marking systems and individual design solutions for embedded systems, Phoenix Contact creates the associated infrastructure. This allows project-related information to be collected, for example on costs and material type in injection molding, and the right decisions to be made for the production of plastic parts.

Batch size one at the cost of mass production

The company is demonstrating how Phoenix Contact intends to create the conditions for the fully automated production of individual end products down to a batch size of one using the example of its own production line for the production of isolating amplifiers at its Bad Pyrmont site. Isolating amplifiers, as the company explains, are always required in electrotechnical systems when sensitive measured value signals need to be transferred from the sensor level to the control level without interference. As very individual requirements sometimes arise here, the automation specialists manufacture the isolating amplifiers as configurable variants in flexible production systems. The communication between product, employee and machine leads to an improved process flow, they say, in which even small batch sizes can be produced economically. From order creation to the finished product, all systems involved use digital data.

To this end, an RFID tag establishes the connection to the information provided by the higher-level system from the very first step. This includes, for example, information on which tests need to be carried out on the device and which firmware needs to be implemented. Thanks to the tag, the higher-level system knows the current processing status of the individual module. The employee sees the information he needs for his task on the screen. Thanks to the communication between the product and the system, the employee can master the complexity resulting from the wide range of variants at all times.

Recognize synergies

The complexity caused by the high degree of customization is a challenge that needs to be managed in modern production. Others are precision, quality and reliability in production. Medical technology is at the forefront of these requirements. According to experts, "only the best of the best" are used for machine tools in the medical technology sector. How an experienced pioneer manages this, even with highly complex 3D parts, is highlighted by Citizen from the perspective of a long-standing exhibitor in the Medical Area.

Nils Westphal, Head of the Neuss branch of Citizen Machinery Europe GmbH: "We're happy to take the opportunity that METAV 2018 offers us with the Medical Area for a separate presentation of our expertise in the field of medical technology." Photo: Citizen

"We entered this industry over three decades ago in Germany and Europe," explains Nils Westphal, Head of the Neuss branch of Citizen Machinery Europe. Because Citizen has its origins in watch production, the company was already familiar with the manufacture of extremely precise machines from its day-to-day business.

The "all-round carefree package" is in demand

Customers include global companies that use Citizen sliding headstock automatic lathes to produce bone nails, implants, cannulas, surgical tools and instruments, for example. Westphal: "These are all companies that not only place the highest demands on their parts, but also on process capability and reliability." The branch manager therefore speaks of the so-called all-round carefree package, in which the actual machine accounts for around 50 percent of the value. Added to this is the entire periphery, which covers the entire process. In addition to the loading magazine, feed system, high-pressure pump unit, chip removal system, palletizing unit and laser head, this also includes safety-relevant peripherals such as fire extinguishing equipment and extraction.