At present, software-defined Automation (SDA) and open automation (Universal Automation) are developing rapidly, and the traditional industrial automation model is being transformed with an unstoppable force. With the maturity of software-defined open automation technology, a new generation of industrial automation tools and solutions are becoming more and more popular in the industrial market, and the automation era of the past will be a thing of the past.

Pilz 773731 Based on automation hardware and software decoupling, users can deploy the required automation functions on any standards-compliant platform of their choice. In this way, enterprises can be guided by their own business needs, maximize the technological value of the next generation of automation, and make the best decisions to meet the changing consumer needs, so as to better transition to Industry 4.0 and the digital future.

Relying on virtualization technology, leading the new height of industrial automation

On the basis of hardware and software decoupling, the new virtualization technology can be widely used in the industrial field, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the traditional automation paradigm, and further improving the overall efficiency of enterprises.

Pilz 773731

In traditional IT concepts, “virtualization” is often used to describe setting up multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single server. When applied to the field of industrial automation, although the technology covers a variety of meanings, the premise is very much the same – the virtual representation of physical entities.

Pilz 773731 In this connection, Ali Haj Fraj, global Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Factory for the Industrial Automation business at Schneider Electric, said: “People rely on the combination of hardware and software to achieve the digital upgrade of industrial process execution. In this process, the value of virtualization technology will be maximized by further invoking the power of software.”

Software + digital twin, help enterprises to “virtual” to “real”

Through the introduction of digital twin modeling technology in software, users can build digital twins of real assets in the virtual world, and realize the operation management of “virtual and real consistency”. In manufacturing, for example, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin (EMET) helps machine manufacturers transform a “waterfall” physical hardware development process into an “agile” one: By dragging and dropping through predefined object catalogs, manufacturers can design, optimize, test, and validate digital models of machine solutions in a virtualized environment before actually developing and commissioning them. As a result, users will no longer need to experiment with physical hardware to achieve optimization results. This will save companies up to 50% time to market and 60% time to debug compared to traditional development methods, resulting in a significant increase in overall efficiency.