Connected and Highly Automated: Every Component Counts!
Our fully electrified and highly connected world would be unthinkable without the automation of industrial production processes. And even if plugs and sockets, switches and circuit protection devices do not receive the greatest attention, they are still of fundamental importance for the economically viable use of highly automated production processes.
It is worth taking a look back in history: the mechanization of manual work steps began as early as the first industrial revolution (end of the 18th century) – steam engines drove looms and other machines for the first time. Electrification followed with the second revolution in the 19th century: electric motors replaced steam engines, and electrical safety devices and relays made the first rudimentary control systems possible. The third industrial revolution, beginning in the 1960s, brought digital technology: programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and microprocessors enabled flexible, software-supported automation solutions. At the same time, standardized fieldbuses and input/output modules were developed.
Today – in the age of Industry 4.0 – machines, sensors and actuators are networked via Ethernet-based protocols (e.g. Profinet, EtherCAT). Data is analyzed in real time and stored in cloud or edge architectures to further increase efficiency and quality.
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