Do Industry4.0 standards matter? Part 3
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
China’s Smart Manufacturing System Architecture was published in 2016, according to Tongji University’s Prof. Dr. Ming Chen, Director of Industry 4.0 Learning Factory.
Source – ResearchGate – a Sino-German white paper
The reference architecture model comprises three-axes representing the System Level (equipment, unit, workshop, enterprise and cooperation), Intelligence Feature (resource element, interconnection, fusion and share, system integration and emerging business formats) and Life Cycle (design, production, logistics, sales and service). These are mainly used to clarify the standardised objects and scope of intelligent manufacturing.
The Smart Manufacturing System Architecture comprises three principal levels which mainly reflect the composition relationship of each part of the standard system. The architecture starts with Basic Commonality (general, security, reliability, detection, evaluation and personal capability) as the base, an intermediate Key Technology level with Smart Empowerment Technology, Smart Equipment, Smart Factory, Smart Supply Chain, Smart Service and Industrial Network sub-levels with further sub-levels within each of them.
The Industry Application layer sits at the top and comprises a range of industry-specific applications such as in shipping and offshore engineering equipment, building materials, petrochemicals, textiles, rail, steel, aerospace, vehicles, power equipment, non-ferrous metals and digital information.
Standardisation work on smart manufacturing in China began during its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 – 2020), during which time the Smart Manufacturing Model was developed, with key technology standards in different industry sectors and the development of test beds for them.
This standardisation work on smart manufacturing continued under China’s current 14th Five-Year Plan (2021 – 2025) when the Guidelines for the Construction of National Smart Manufacturing Standard System was regularly revised, as well as the building industry application standard systems in the fields of textiles, petrochemicals, building materials, automobiles, power equipment, rail transit equipment, home appliances, food, steel, and non-ferrous metals.
Since 2015, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) the Ministry of Finance (MoF) jointly organised and implemented special projects related to smart manufacturing, and as 2019, there were 305 smart manufacturing pilot demonstration projects, 589 smart manufacturing standardisation and new model application projects, and 195 pilot demonstration projects for the integrated development of manufacturing and the Internet, covering 31provinces, autonomous regions, and 11 major industries classes, 92 classes in the industry.
These pilot projects included industrial cloud platform, key industrial products and equipment on cloud platforms, industrial big data application service, industrial e-commerce platform, cyber-physical systems, industrial Internet platform solutions, integrated management system of informatisation and industrialisation, and Sino-German smart manufacturing cooperation.
This standardisation work on smart manufacturing continued under China’s current 14th Five-Year Plan (2021 – 2025) when the Guidelines for the Construction of National Smart Manufacturing Standard System was regularly revised, as well as the building industry application standard systems in the fields of textiles, petrochemicals, building materials, automobiles, power equipment, rail transit equipment, home appliances, food, steel, and non-ferrous metals.
Besides the Smart Manufacturing System Architecture, the IEC 62890 standard for industrial-process measurement, control and automation – life-cycle-management for systems and components as well as the IEC 62264 enterprise-control system integration — Part 1 standard for models and terminology, as well as the IEC 61512 Part 1 standard for batch control models and terminology, as well as revision and guidance of standard viewpoints for implementation, function, usage and business for the manufacturing, transport, energy, healthcare and other sectors as well as specialised lifecycle processes for each industrial sector.
Also under the 14th Five-Year Plan are increased standards testing and verification efforts, and promoting the formulation and revision of basic common and key technical standards such as digital twins, data dictionaries, human-machine collaboration, smart supply chains, system reliability, cyber security and functional safety integration, to meet the needs of technological evolution and industrial development, to accelerate the development of industry application standards.
Standards application under the current plan focus on smart workshop and factory construction, new model application, supply chain collaboration, new technology application and so forth, carrying out pilot application of smart manufacturing standards, forming industry application standards and group standards supporting national standards, and promoting pilot results in small and medium-sized industries.
By 2023, more than 100 national standards and industry standards will be formulated and revised, and the advanced and applicable intelligent manufacturing standard architecture will be continuously improved. By 2025, more than 100 standard application pilot units will be selected, and more than 200 national and industry standards will be formulated and revised.
Professional standards
“China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security published professional standards for smart manufacturing engineers and Tongji University is in charge of the development of these talent training standards,” said Prof. Dr. Ming Chen.
The training standards comprise three levels – namely:-
Primary: Auxiliary design, Auxiliary development, Auxiliary testing, Operation and others in areas of Equipment and production line development, Equipment and production line application, Smart production control and Smart maintenance of equipment and production lines
Intermediate: Detailed design, application, development, integration, deployment, analysis and others in areas of Equipment and production line development, Equipment and production line application, Smart production control and Smart maintenance of equipment and production lines.
Senior: Top-level architecture, research, program design, data analysis and optimisation and others in areas of Construction of intelligent manufacturing system architecture, Equipment and production line development, Smart equipment and production line application, Smart production control and Smart maintenance of equipment and production lines.
Tongji University worked closely with Germany’s TÜV Rheinland on Industry 4.0 talent certification, which helps China develop smart manufacturing engineers as well as train Industry 4.0 technicians.
Whilst Malaysia is good at developing plans, roadmaps, blueprints, strategies and so forth, however their implementation falls short from targets.
Founded almost 150 years ago, TÜV Rheinland is one of the world’s leading testing service providers whose highly qualified experts test technical systems and products around the world, support innovations in technology and business, train people in numerous professions and certify management systems according to international standards.
Its Industry 4.0 Talent Certification System is divided into two parts – namely, Industry 4.0 Application Engineer Certification System and Industry 4.0 Skilled Talent Certification System.
Application Engineer Certification covers four levels – namely system level – in smart manufacturing system architecture, system evaluation and system safety; sub-system level – in smart manufacturing system integration, automation production line design, industrial IoT and smart factory planning; equipment level – in 3-D printing, industrial robots, computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment and PLC control; and the key-technology level – in industrial big data, machine vision, industrial AI and production system simulation.
Skilled Talent Certification for Industry 4.0 technicians covers five levels – namely system level – in digital production system; production line installation and adjustment – in digital chemical station and production line installation and adjustment; industrial software – in digital chemical station and development of production line software; system operation maintenance – in smart maintenance; and network and security – in production system networking and information security of production system.
Panel discussion
On why standards were mentioned in many documents but many standards were not implemented, Mr. Fattah said that it has been an issue for some time now that whilst Malaysia is good at developing plans, roadmaps, blueprints, strategies and so forth, however their implementation falls short from targets.
Moreover, there are few, if any, interim progress reports on implementation, and it is therefore difficult for industry observers to know whether things are on track, deviations or shifts in priorities if any, and the reasons why such deviations or shifts are necessary (budget or resources constraints, economic landscape changes etc).
Also, there is a perception in some areas that standards make life more difficult and some people say that it involves too much work without adding value; this arises mainly from incorrect understanding on how standards should be used, and the wrong perception needs to be addressed.
“I get the impression that even some consultants in these areas are not giving the right perspectives with regards standards, so there is a gap, and I am trying to promote proper use of standards to get a broader audience to address,” said Mr. Fattah.
Whilst Prof. Ir. Dr. Tan is directly involved in standards, their review, adoption and so forth, however why has the adoption of standards been a big issue or why has coming up with standards been slow?
“Mindset is very important over everything else. Based upon our presentations, we know that standards are very important but in Malaysia, whilst we have a smart manufacturing technical committee, however its progress is very slow, with our last meeting being last year,” said Prof. Ir. Dr. Tan.
“Whilst the policies look beautiful, however people don’t regard standards as a big issue and they are not aware of the role of the consultants, unlike system integrators who know.
China is a big market with a number of people involved in industry, so it is difficult to come up with standards to fit China and also face competing standards from the United States and the United Kingdom.
“On the other hand, the German culture is very structured, very systematic, they have an engineering mindset and know that they need a very systematic framework for Industry 4.0, and we need to adopt such practices for Malaysia to move forward.”
Adding to that, Mr. Cheng, a practitioner, said that it is a very complicated issue. Whilst we talk about the challenges of how people can buy into the idea of standardisation, however business people and manufacturers tend to go back to the question of the return-on-investment and whether it will benefit them, and they want immediate benefits of standardisation, when it can be realised in three to five years later, so they don’t give it priority, when they should look at the whole investment cycle.
On the other hand, the semiconductor industry has been very successful at standards adoption. They understand the benefits of standards and the importance of getting their suppliers and employees to abide by standards and the culture is already there.
Also, these multinational companies have deep pockets so can readily adopt and comply with standards but with small to medium enterprises, it will require some momentum being built with everybody in agreement on standards adoption before there will be some movement, though it will still be very hard to make it happen within this segment.
There also are many competing standards alliances of component makers, equipment makers, technology developers and so forth which are profit-driven, and each of them tends to discourage the adoption of other standards.
China is a big market with a number of people involved in industry, so it is difficult to come up with standards to fit China and also face competing standards from the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to Prof. Dr. Ming Chen, with the over 10 years of experience in Sino-German projects and opportunities to discuss with German professors, all of whom have between 10 and 20 years of industrial experience, as well as entrepreneurs, coupled with close relations between China’s and Germany’s experts, one area of this cooperation has been in Industry 4.0, where experts from both countries have often discussed standards development and have worked on many projects together. Similarly, Chinese and American professionals collaborated on Industrial Internet projects.
China’s central and regional governments have also launched many projects in smart manufacturing. Whilst many experts speak of standardisation of projects, however it is not mandatory.
“Many of China’s companies have pilot projects but they are not very deep. It is very important to test after the pilot projects to see whether the efficiency of the production line is improved, costs reduced and quality improved, so it takes time,” said Prof. Dr. Ming Chen.
Also, whilst many companies have smart manufacturing projects, however they lack the talents and technical workers, so China wants to cooperate with the Germans to develop common occupational standards and need digital production system technicians, network cybersystem and software development knowledge combined together. “I believe that one person can do this after training and certification and Chinese students can achieve a lot,” said Prof. Ming Chen.
With regards those industries which would adopt Industry 4.0 standards the most and the least, Mr. Fattah said that whilst he does not have a precise feel from the ground about the extent of Malaysian companies’ adoption of Industry 4.0, however the government has been speaking about its adoption in smart cities.
“Part of the problem is that Malaysia’s manufacturers are going for low-wage workers for short term economic gains, and several government agencies work in silos with no synergy for overall benefit to the country”, he added.
Industry 4.0 standards are not new, according to Prof. Ir. Dr. Tan, as they are already being used to improve productivity and efficiency.
“These technologies are already embedded in industrial controllers and thanks to the Internet, they have become very common. However, it is all about ringgit and sen, as the cost-conscious culture is still there, with the focus on return-on-investment”, said Prof. Ir. Dr. Tan.
With regards the size and type of industries in Malaysia which are most and least ready to adopt Industry 4.0 production facilities, Mr. Cheng said that he always tells his clients that Industry 4.0 technologies are like items in a big shopping mall, where they can pick what they want, and like items in a shopping mall, these various technologies are applicable for all industry sectors and sizes.
However, big companies have the financial advantage of being able to hire more highly talented staff and to train them so they know well how to deploy Industry 4.0 production equipment and facilities and realise its full benefits.
On the other hand, small-to-medium enterprises somehow do not have the advantage to hire the most highly skilled staff, so have to settle on acceptably skilled staff, and they cannot afford to provide them with the same level of training as the large companies.
With regards the size and type of industries in Malaysia which are most and least ready to adopt Industry 4.0 production facilities, Mr. Cheng said that he always tells his clients that Industry 4.0 technologies are like items in a big shopping mall, where they can pick what they want, and like items in a shopping mall, these various technologies are applicable for all industry sectors and sizes.
They also need people who understand the risks, benefits, pros and cons of Industry 4.0, and whilst some small-to-medium enterprises know about Industry 4.0 technologies, however they need lots of lots of help from the government and civil society.
Whilst we have had different standards from previous industrial revolutions, however what are the panelists’ main messages and thrusts of important Industry 4.0 standards for success?
“We’ve heard a lot about government driving plans and standards from Dr. Ming Chen” said Mr. Fattah. “Compared to earlier initiatives when we could work in silos, with Industry 4.0 we need to be able to work across supply chains and other multi-party process flows. In China, a lot in this area is driven top-down which is necessary and proven to succeed; so in Malaysia we also need strategic thrusts from top down (not merely on paper) to ensure success.”
In conclusion
“Implement standards first, develop talent and sustainable development power,” said Prof. Dr. Ming Chen.
“Encourage the adoption of Industry 4.0. It’s challenging and needs a struggle to implement but many benefits will follow which put companies above their peers which do not,” said Mr. Cheng.
“Go for the most reliable and effective standards,” said Prof. Ir. Dr. Tan.
“Make sure standards work for you, and not you work for the standards,” said Mr. Fattah.
Charles F Moreira is a Council Member of the MNCC and a member of the MNCC-AI-SIG.