Digitalization and Industry 4.0 — from sensor to data
How sensors, data collection and digital tools are changing the operator role
The regulation requires that as an industrial operator you can demonstrate basic knowledge of the latest technology and digitalization in industrial production, and that with the help of digital devices and with knowledge of data security you can communicate and report in connection with your job functions. It is a direct recognition that the factory floor today is far more digital than it was just fifteen years ago.
§What is Industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0 — the term for the fourth industrial revolution — describes how the digital and physical worlds are connected using sensors, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), data analysis, artificial intelligence and robotics. According to the Danish Technological Institute and industry organisations, the technologies can be grouped into four main areas: connectivity (sensors that register and send data), analysis and intelligence (data converted to decisions), machine-human interaction (humans and machines collaborating more closely) and advanced manufacturing (new forms of automation and flexibility).
§From sensor to decision
A modern system is filled with sensors that continuously measure temperature pressure vibration speed and position. Where sensors previously only showed a number on a local screen today data is often sent to a centralised system where it is stored compared over time and used to sound an alarm if a value moves in a direction that has historically led to failure. This makes it possible to react to a pattern long before a single measurement would trigger an alarm.
§Digital twins and simulation
A digital twin is a virtual copy of a physical plant built from the same data the plant itself delivers. By testing a new setting or a new recipe in the digital twin first you can predict how the real plant will react without needing to stop or risk waste on the physical line. For the operator this means in practice that some of the testing that formerly happened directly on the plant is increasingly being moved to a computer screen first.
§Data security on the factory floor
The more systems and facilities are connected to networks, the greater the risk that someone from outside can gain access or disrupt operations. That's why knowledge of data security is now a direct part of the regulations' requirements for you as an operator: you follow the company's IT policy, don't connect unknown USB devices to control systems, don't share login information, and report suspicious system behavior – just as you would report a suspicious noise from a machine.
| Technology | What it's used for |
|---|---|
| IIoT sensor | Collects and sends data about process and system in real time |
| Digital twin | Virtual copy of the facility used for testing and simulation |
| MES/SCADA-system | Collects production data and centrally controls/monitors the process |
| Predictive maintenance | Use data to predict wear before the installation fails |
§What it means for your future in the trade
Digitalization does not change the operator's basic function — to monitor adjust intervene and ensure quality — but it changes how it happens. More decisions are supported by data rather than gut feeling alone and the ability to understand and use a digital system becomes just as important as the ability to read an analog meter was previously. The operators who are comfortable with both stand strongest when systems become increasingly connected.
“The sensor sees everything but it is still the operator who understands what it means.”