Towards value chain and signal chain deployment for Industry 4.0

Due to its huge economic impact, Industry 4.0 is also receiving political impetus, and government officials are promoting a dual strategy that combines the supplier perspective and the user company perspective, mainly in the fields of industrial automation and factory engineering. To this end, manufacturers must use the latest technologies for their own production processes, and on the other hand, they must also put these technologies and products on the market, from Europe and the United States to China, and there are countless examples of this.

Figure 1: Over the past five years, the profit margin contribution rate of Chinese companies' intelligent manufacturing products and services has increased significantly.

From the perspective of the dominant supplier, the integration of information or communication technologies with traditional high-tech methods is primarily aimed at expanding the production sector and its technologies. To achieve this expansion, the prerequisites generated by the increasing market dynamics and market complexity need to be met. From the perspective of manufacturing companies, it is important to design smart technologies and products for new markets and serve these markets accordingly. In order to meet the needs of both suppliers and manufacturers, companies need a strategy that takes both perspectives into account. For example, companies in the semiconductor industry are very good at using such a dual strategy.

Semiconductor manufacturers such as Analog Devices are digesting this complex concept and transforming their own production lines into fully automated smart factories. In addition, these manufacturers are also providing innovative technologies to other companies in the manufacturing industry to help them transform their manufacturing facilities into smart factories.

Industry 4.0 will increase added value for enterprises, and they should seize the relevant opportunities to consolidate the company's success. Especially for semiconductor manufacturers, the research results can be divided into three aspects: new technologies, new products and new business models. All three aspects together cover the entire value chain of production and its products - starting from the sensor node through the cloud to downstream services.

Figure 2: New technologies that Chinese smart manufacturing companies are paying attention to.

As shown in Figure 2, the series of smart manufacturing-related technologies that Chinese companies are concerned about in Deloitte's 2018 Smart Manufacturing Enterprise Survey also reflect the demands of the above-mentioned value chain from one aspect.

ADI experts believe that in order to achieve the transformation of smart factories, it is necessary to provide intelligent and energy-saving products, or fully autonomous systems that can be easily integrated into existing production structures (such as plug and play). These systems are composed of various semiconductor devices and sensors, combined with analog and digital signal processing ICs. The value chain starts with these devices: First, the sensors are responsible for collecting data from the real physical world, then converting them into digital signals, and then processing them in the digital domain.

Figure 3: ADI’s view of the smart factory signal chain.

As the value chain evolves, market demands will change. That is why semiconductor manufacturers must adapt their businesses and products to the reality of smart factories. Technology trends are moving toward smart energy-saving products and integrated safety and security functions and energy harvesting capabilities. Figure 3 shows a device or a complete system, with the ADXL356 MEMS-based accelerometer from Analog Devices as an example.

The ADXL356 forms the basis of a system and can be expanded with additional functions: integrated signal processing with analog-to-digital converters, microcontrollers and various analog, digital (partially isolated) or wireless interfaces, supporting communication standards such as Ethernet, 6LpoWPAN or ADRadioNet. ADRadioNet is a communication standard developed by Analog Devices and is characterized by a wireless self-healing multi-frequency hopping communication protocol with high scalability and low memory consumption. In addition, it also integrates encryption methods (such as AES-128 and AES-256) to prevent possible network attacks and improve security. Last but not least, functional safety plays an important role in the development of these systems, as it is also very important for smart factories.

For semiconductor manufacturers, it will not be enough to simply expand the range of sensors and other semiconductor devices in the future. In order to become a global player in the market and to fully exploit the potential of Industry 4.0, their existing product range must be expanded with communication and low-power microprocessor technology. With this in mind, Analog Devices already offers relevant solutions in its product portfolio. In the field of communication, for example, there are several HART®

Figure 4: ADI’s MEMS-based smart sensor solution modem solution.

By using existing infrastructure to implement new energy-efficient technologies, these HART solutions from ADI can improve traditional congested communication networks in a fairly simple way.

Market research also shows that smart manufacturing companies want strong support from manufacturers and suppliers to integrate new products into their systems faster and more efficiently. In this way, companies can reduce additional workload and continue to focus on their core business. Specifically, cooperation or collaborative efforts between suppliers and companies belong to the support type.

Although Industry 4.0 has many advantages, the question now is why many companies have not yet invested in smart factories? One of the main obstacles to investment is that companies have not yet realized the benefits of smart factories and are unwilling to pay the associated costs. For example, it is still quite difficult to calculate the investment rate due to the lack of monetization evaluation standards. Therefore, semiconductor manufacturers must raise customer awareness and provide educational materials to explain the advantages of smart factories while pointing out the value of investing in smart factories.

As the production sector is transformed, areas such as data and IT security will repeatedly play an important role. These aspects are not only important requirements for the successful introduction of Industry 4.0, but should also be continuously implemented into digital systems as key success factors.

In summary, it is important for enterprises to develop a basic strategic route and collect relevant technical experience in the early stages of implementing Industry 4.0. However, this process requires patience, because many related technologies may take 5, 10 or even longer years to fully demonstrate their potential. Therefore, the implementation process of Industry 4.0 will take a long time.