Dr Piotr Szulewski (Warsaw University of Technology)

Abstract:

The new manufacturing paradigm “Industry 4.0” is well known all over the world.  As a main result, it is commonly expected to obtain "new quality" in industrial production and, consequently, also in the economy (effectiveness significant grows up). However, in this innovative concept, there are some inconsistencies that may have a negative impact on the achievement of the expected results. The implementation of the full idea is possible only in totally automated production environments specific to global industrial plants. The prohibitive cost of such an implementation is also important. This is a serious barrier for small businesses that are, in fact, the most resilient and flexible part of the national economy. Such companies have a direct impact on the quality and insensitivity to any crisis situations. To support them, it is necessary to develop specialized solutions (hardware and software) "tailored" for each production environment separately. The created hardware and software must be useful in terms of functionality, easy to implement and in line with the trends supporting the concept of horizontal connecting. It is supposed to be the first step on the way to achieve full and harmonious cooperation of people, devices and systems in workshops with varied automation. Concepts will be presented and practically taken actions aimed at the effective introduction of ICT environments (I4.0) to SMEs (small medium enterprises) created at the Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.