SPOTLIGHT
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RETHINKING DIGITALIZATION Robert Merz, research director at Austria’s Digital Factory Vorarlberg, explores the potential that digital twins and AI offer in industrial production. In this interview with IU, he talks about the exciting opportunities arising between scientific research and productive applications – and why the possibilities are far from exhausted. INTERVIEW: ROBERT KOREC, PR & COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
IIoT and Industry 4.0 are concepts that have been around for years – and not only at COPA-DATA. They don’t seem to have lost any relevance. How do you view these trends in retrospect? Robert Merz: These ideas actually go back to the 1970s. At that time, CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) and CAx (computer-aided x) were used to look at how computers could help to improve processes in different areas in a company. This faltered but was revived 30 years later under the slogan Industry 4.0.
That was and still is a good idea. However, it’s basically the same thing, just evolved. It’s a slow and steady process. A lot has already been achieved in the meantime. More and more machines are communicating with each other. Nevertheless, we are still far from the desired and much-hyped vision. To be honest, what surprised me at first was that it is extremely difficult to connect machines and get usable data. Of course, like everyone else, I bought into the hype back then. Now it doesn’t surprise me any longer.
