Digitalisation

Artificial intelligence, automation & robotics, and connected value chains – digitalisation is one of the key topics in the plastics and rubber industry. In this section, you will find the most important articles on digitalisation.

Roboterhand und Menschenhand berühren sich, eine leuchtende Glühbirne dazwischen; digitale Linien symbolisieren KI und Innovation.

Results (45)

  • Sustainable plastic packaging: AI supports design and production

    Interview with Mauritius Schmitz, Scientific Director, Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University Exclusively for K-MAG Copyright: zamrznutitonovi 15.03.2023 Plastic packaging made from recycled material? Yes, but please as high quality as possible – and recyclable! This poses great challenges for manufacturers, because the use of recycled materials still often leads to downcycling. One key to more sustainable plastic packaging lies in digitalisation. This is also where the KIOptiPack project comes in. Mauritius Schmitz; Copyright: Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung, RWTH Aachen In an interview with K-MAG, Mauritius Schmitz talks about the requirements for plastic packaging, the role that design plays in the sustainability of packaging and the extent to which artificial intelligence can support this. To make plastic packaging more sustainable, the entire value chain must be considered. The KIOptiPack innovation lab deals with the beginning of the value chain - design and production. What role does design already play in sustainability? Mauritius Schmitz: Product design plays a central role in the sustainability of products. It defines the choice and consumption of materials and thus the types and quantities of plastic introduced into the cycle. It also influences functionality and suitability for (packaging) use, manufacturability and production efficiency. Furthermore, product design can facilitate or complicate the sorting, separation and reprocessing processes – which in turn determine the quality of the resulting recyclates. Exhibitors & products around recycling Recycling plants Separating and sorting systems for waste Size reduction equipment (crushers, shredders, grinders) Compounding lines Recyclates How can AI be used in the design of packaging? Schmitz: Even with sustainable packaging design, the same, or at least comparable, expectations and criteria must be fulfilled for the product as for products made of virgin material. This is about product functionalities, such as barrier properties, purity and mechanical stability, and about subjective requirements from the consumer's point of view, such as appearance, smell and safety. But also the processability of the chosen material in the production process plays a decisive role for a functioning product design, by this I mean, for example, the thermal or flow properties of the plastic. AI can be used to take these complex and diverse influences into account and make them optimisable. By using AI, these influences can be made quantifiable and packaging designers can get a better idea of how their designs affect the different requirements and how they can optimise them to create more sustainable packaging. Copyright: Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University How can AI make production more sustainable? Schmitz: To improve the quality of plastic packaging, AI is used in different production phases. AI is already used at the material receiving stage to detect material fluctuations and adjust the processing accordingly. During the processing stages, neural networks are used to generate and optimise process models. In this way, correlations between material characteristics, process settings and quality can be recognised and used for correct process adjustment. In the KIOptiPack project, the processing methods compounding, flat film and blown film extrusion, injection moulding and thermoforming are specifically considered. Copyright: Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University Why is cooperation with industry – i.e. companies like Brückner, Reifenhäuser or Pöppelmann – important? Schmitz: Cooperation with industry is of great importance and depends in its way on the respective industry. However, an important aspect that has not been sufficiently considered so far is the consideration of the entire value chain. In order to achieve optimal sustainability, changes have to be made at various points in the value chain, which may not be initiated and implemented out of their own motivation. For example, the responsibility for more sustainable plastic packaging could be shifted to the collection and reprocessing process alone, but this would certainly not be the most effective and sustainable approach. Instead, it makes more sense to develop incentives and business models that enable global change and load-sharing along the entire value chain. To achieve this goal, it is essential to understand the hurdles and potentials for each participant. Through the AI Application Hub, which networks project partners from established machine manufacturers to technology start-ups, as well as from research institutes to food manufacturers and distributors, the possibility of a direct exchange along the entire value chain is created. Only in this way can we achieve a common understanding of the potentials of more sustainable packaging production. What will the plastic packaging of the future look like? Schmitz: It is difficult to predict what packaging will look like, because we will also be able to develop and produce sustainable plastic packaging in great variety in the future. These will be individually tailored to the specific application, so that they fulfil minimal material consumption and at the same time reliable suitability for the application. At the same time, however, this packaging will have to be returned to the cycle with the minimum possible losses. What can already be predicted with great certainty, however, is that the packaging of the future will contain a maximum proportion of recyclate. It will preferably contain only one type of polymer and be easier to handle when sorting and separating. In order to improve and simplify the sorting processes, digital – and at best global – product or material passports, which are currently being developed through various initiatives, will play a decisive role. And in this area, we will not make progress without digitalisation and artificial intelligence methods. Click here for the exhibitor profile of the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University Credit The joint project KIOptiPack with around 40 project partners is funded by the Federal German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Research for Sustainability" ("Forschung für die Nachhaltigkeit", FONA) initiative and, together with the partner laboratory K3I-Cycling, maps the entire cycle for plastic packaging. More information here . Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Artificial Intelligence

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  • Productivity management via app: capturing and understanding machine data

    Interview with Julius Scheuber, Product Manager and Managing Director, ENLYZE GmbH Exclusively for K-MAG Copyright: westend61 21.06.2023 Efficient work only works when everything runs smoothly – also on the shop floor. But how do I know how busy and productive my machines are at the moment? This requires data that reflect reality, but which is often still lacking today. ENLYZE has developed an analysis platform that can close this gap and make production more efficient. Julius Scheuber. Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH In an interview with K-MAG, Julius Scheuber talks about data-driven productivity management and how it can be used to achieve higher performance, less downtime and fewer rejects. You have developed a solution for data-driven productivity management. What problem are you addressing with it? Julius Scheuber: Most companies today are "blind" when it comes to their shop floor. They often have no live information about utilisation and productivity. If this data is available, it is usually based on manually recorded data by the workers. But this does not reflect what is really happening on the shop floor. Fast, efficient work and the clarification of important questions that arise in production are not possible in this way. By this I mean questions like: Which plant had the highest productivity this week? What was the top reason for a shutdown and how many hours of downtime does this reason allocate? Which product causes the most frequent production problems? ENLYZE provides insights into all these questions based on machine data. In our app, the most common problems can thus be quickly identified and rectified so that production is always running at a top level. ENLYZE shows the most important information on your shop floor at a glance. Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH How does that work? Scheuber: We connect our edge device to all systems from which data is needed. Typically, these are the PLC and, if necessary, other sensors such as the inline quality measurement. Afterwards, the relevant data points are identified and transferred into a data model. We also connect to the MES/ERP system to obtain order and product data. Overview of how ENLYZE works. Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH The data is then merged in our analysis platform "Shopfloor BI". Some selected features of this platform are: The downtime analysis in ENLYZE Shopfloor BI shows the most common reasons for downtime, the length of the last downtime and much more. Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH The automatic downtime recording: here, all downtimes of your plants are automatically recorded based on machine data and KPIs are displayed in order to remedy them. The co-pilot acts as a digital setting sheet for your workers. Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH The co-pilot for workers: Like a digital setting sheet, the ideal setting parameters for the product to be manufactured are displayed and compared with the values currently applied to the line. Search: With one click, the entire production history of an order can be made accessible with all its data. Questions of traceability can thus be clarified quickly and easily. From which sectors do your customers come? Scheuber: Our app, especially the out-of-the-box analyses (OEE, process analyses, standstill detection) are designed for continuous production – be it the production of noodles, wire, paper, plastic films et cetera. Wherever a long, stable process is to be achieved, we have our expertise. That's why no industry can be so firmly assigned. Schüco is one of our biggest customers. However, the majority (around 60 %) are from the plastics extrusion industry, for example Storopack, Bischof+Klein and Duoplast. They are all united by the motivation to manufacture excellent products, and for this they rely on reliable data from their production. What does a concrete application look like? Scheuber: Our customers realise the most diverse use cases as soon as they have access to their data. However, we always start by identifying the biggest losses in production. After this step, our customers know exactly where the problem areas are and what the causes are. Our customers achieve on average 5% more output, save 3 hours of downtime per month and can reduce their scrap by about 2%. Of course, the latter makes us doubly happy in terms of sustainability! In addition, there are other very special but enormously interesting cases that make us proud: Adhesive tape without (left) and with partial "rewinding" (right). Copyright: ENLYZE GmbH One customer was able to perfect its quality management to such an extent that delivered defective goods could be traced back to a specific batch, thus reducing returns many times over. In our latest analysis of 1,328 products across 12,413 customer production orders, we were able to uncover 8.9% performance variations for the same product that would have gone undetected without systematic recording. An adhesive tape manufacturer was able to save about 30 % of scrap by detecting a production error ("rewinding"). In general, it is evident that use cases only become clear once data collection has been set up and the biggest losses have been identified. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) You also participated as an exhibitor at K 2022. How did the trade fair go for you? Scheuber: K was the first trade fair ever for us, as we entered the market virtually at the beginning of the Corona crisis. Our expectations weren't huge, but we naturally hoped to learn a lot about the market through discussions, to talk about our product and to win over one or two potential customers. K exceeded our expectations by far – and not only because of the amount of interested parties, but also because of the great insights into the state of the art at the stands, the in-depth exchange of experiences with other companies, especially start-ups, and a general aura of innovative spirit and technological progress. For us, the fair was a complete success, and our founders are still talking about the fair party today. We are already looking forward to the next K! Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Software & Apps

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  • Automated Lab: Robots optimise adhesive development

    Interview with Tim Welters, Head of Lab Innovation Services for the Adhesive Technologies, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Exclusively for K-MAG Copyright: Henkel AG 10.05.2023 Robots already take over a large number of monotonous, repetitive tasks today – freeing up time and resources for creative and more exciting tasks. Henkel is also automating work steps in its new Inspiration Center Düsseldorf (ICD). In a data-driven laboratory, new adhesive formulations are automatically prepared and tested around the clock. Tim Welters. Copyright: Henkel AG In an interview with K-MAG, Tim Welters talks about the Automated Lab and the extent to which it relieves employees, accelerates the product development cycle and shortens the time to market for new products. Mr Welters, you use automated testing machines from ZwickRoell in Henkel Adhesive Technologies' new Inspiration Center Düsseldorf (ICD). What does their work look like? Tim Welters: In general, our product development staff need large amounts of data, for example from mechanical tests, to evaluate and optimise the performance of our adhesives. To do this, they carry out different types of tests, for example tensile and tensile shear tests at different temperatures or even after passing through hard tests for accelerated ageing. Either our employees prepare the samples in their laboratory and then bring them to the central automated laboratory. Or the samples come from our formulation line, where automated dosing and mixing takes place and at the end, for example, test specimens can be bonded or tensile specimens can be produced. All parameters and boundary conditions of the test are defined by the employees in our laboratory information and management system and transferred to the automated laboratory. After the test specimens have been scanned and placed in the specimen carriers, the rest of the process is automatic. The robot picks up one sample after the other and inserts it into the test set-up. The control software sets the boundary conditions required by the user and the test takes place. Images of the fractured surfaces are created and the results are finally written back to our laboratory information system. Here, the staff from product development can then analyse and evaluate all the results. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) To what extent does the robot relieve the employees? Welters: The mechanical testing of large quantities of test specimens is a time-consuming and monotonous activity. Especially the tests at elevated or low temperatures require long equilibration times that disrupt the laboratory workflow and often cannot be used sensibly. These tests are therefore rather unpopular and tend to be abandoned. By using the robots, we increase efficiency because our employees have more time for other and creative research and development tasks. Exterior view of the Inspiration Center Düsseldorf (ICD); Copyright: Henkel AG Interior view of the Inspiration Center Düsseldorf (ICD); Copyright: Henkel AG To what extent can the use of the robot prevent errors - or also help to identify the source of the error? Welters: The automation of materials testing and other laboratory tasks fundamentally increases reproducibility because it eliminates a whole range of sources of error, for example the inaccurate clamping of specimens or insufficient conditioning under test conditions. In addition, more tests can be carried out in this way. As a result, you get improved statistics and thus easier and clearer identification of causes and a better understanding of sources of error. Henkel Adhesive Technologies' Inspiration Center Düsseldorf (ICD) is a state-of-the-art and globally unique innovation and customer centre located on the premises of Henkel AG's corporate headquarters in Düsseldorf. With a floor area of 47,000 square metres, the ICD provides space for more than 30 laboratories and over 650 employees from the areas of research and development as well as application technology. At the same time, the ICD serves as a global customer centre where new solutions are developed together with customers from over 800 industry segments. Copyright: Henkel AG Are there other advantages? Welters: Automated laboratory processes provide us with larger amounts of data of higher quality in a shorter time. This allows us to use other development and optimisation strategies, for example with the help of modern iterative methods of artificial intelligence. On the one hand, this helps us to bring optimised products to market. On the other hand, we accelerate the time to market of new products and can react faster to trends and developments. What requirements are necessary for the use of automated machines? Welters: At Adhesive Technologies, automation is used in product development, especially for standard tests such as tensile shear tests for the general adhesion of products to different substrates. The decisive factor here is always a sufficient number of tests to be carried out and the individual effort required to automate the test procedure. With an increasing variety of test variants, humans are often simply more flexible. Ultimately, the introduction of automated test procedures is always a question of economic evaluation. Copyright: Henkel AG In your opinion, what role will robots play in the laboratory of the future, and what role will humans play? Welters: Basically, automation is not a panacea, it always has to fit the individual application. Automation and robots today lay the foundation for a more data-oriented and reproducible way of working in product development. Their use will become more important in the future because they can significantly accelerate development in a targeted manner. Robots increasingly complement humans, but they will not replace them. In product development, human creativity is a decisive factor, and artificial intelligence cannot yet provide this creativity. In addition, one of Henkel's great strengths lies in our specific application know-how. Customised customer-specific trials and tests, for example in the automotive industry or for electronics applications, often cannot be automated at a reasonable cost. Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Automation & Robotics

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  • Circular Collaboration Platform: for more recyclates in food packaging

    Interview with Dr Hermann Achenbach, Group Leader Sustainability and Circular Economy, Das Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ Exclusively for K-MAG Copyright: RossHelen 21.04.2023 The share of recycled material in plastic products is growing. The exception: food packaging. The requirements for the quality of the material for food contact are high, but in the case of recyclates there is still often a lack of corresponding information today. The project COPPA ("Open Circular-Collaboration-Platform for Sustainable Food Packaging from Plastics") wants to create transparency in this area – with an open digital platform. Dr. Hermann Achenbach. Copyright: SKZ In an interview with K-MAG, Dr Hermann Achenbach talks about the goals of COPPA, how an internet platform can help to increase the share of recycled material in food packaging, and how digitalisation and sustainability are linked. Dr Achenbach, in Germany, only 9 % of the plastics used annually in packaging are recyclates. Why is that? Dr Hermann Achenbach: German manufacturers currently use about 370 tonnes of PCR recyclates to produce new packaging. That more is not possible at the moment is due to the fact that food packaging in particular has to be made almost 100 % from primary plastics, since secondary plastics often still lack the quality required for food safety. With the COPPA project you want to change that. What are the goals of the project? Achenbach: The EU wants to achieve a PCR recycled content of 10% in food packaging by 2030. The new EU Regulation Recyclates in Food Packaging (EU 2022 / 1616) aims to ensure the safety of food in packaging made from recycled plastic. New rules apply to novel recycling technologies and the assessment of recycling processes. Actors in the value chain must therefore create transparency on the origin and quality of recyclates used. As a result, COPPA should be an open and scalable Circular Collaboration Platform (CCP). As a cross-company information concept, the COPPA internet platform should enable seamless tracking of secondary plastics for food packaging. Then, among other things, it will be possible to prove that recycled materials are suitable for food packaging. Through this, we ultimately want to increase the use of PCR plastics in food contact packaging. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) Who can use the platform? What information is stored there? Achenbach: All stakeholders involved in plastic food packaging, i.e. plastics processors, packaging manufacturers, brand owners and food retailers as well as sorting plant operators and recyclers. In addition to the proof of origin and quality, other functions such as the transfer of carbon footprint values for materials or information on the recyclability of products will be integrated. This is to be made possible via data exchange in digital product passports. How will the work with it then look in concrete terms? Achenbach: All stakeholders who have an interest in increasing the recycled content in food packaging can make data entries in pre-processed digital product passports and share them with their business partners via COPPA. As the system will use a standardised traceability solution (EPCIS standard), the aim is to ensure that cross-company data exchange works well. For example, a recycler can enable a brand owner to track which recycling processes were used to prepare their raw material. A food manufacturer can use it to ensure that its products are packaged in a food-safe manner even with the use of recycled material. The result of this newly gained certainty should lead to the actors in the value chain being willing to use recyclates. Schema zur Kreislaufwirtschaft bei Rezyklaten als Basis für COPPA. Copyright: SKZ Who are the cooperation partners and what expertise do they each bring to the table? Achenbach: In the consortium we combine expertise from research and industry through 7 consortium partners. Das Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy contribute knowledge in the field of sustainability, Circular Economy and plastics. The Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung (FIR) of RWTH Aachen University is active in the field of business transformation. GS1 Germany GmbH, as a standardisation organisation, underpins the market economy orientation of the CCP. The European EPC Competence Center (EECC) operates in the market as a leading provider of traceability solutions, while Infosim GmbH & Co. KG covers the areas of network management and ERP systems. The consortium is rounded off by the Reifenhäuser Group , which supplies equipment for the production of plastic packaging. Since an internet platform can only develop its function through users, numerous associated partners are also involved in the project. These partners are companies along the entire value chain of food packaging that are to participate in the development of the platform in a practical way and make the added value of the platform visible in a pilot phase. In your opinion, what potential does digitalisation have when it comes to making plastics and corresponding products more sustainable? Achenbach: The increased use of digital technologies can bring progress for recycling at almost every point in the plastics life cycle. Examples include tracer-based and digitally-standardised traceability solutions to materials and products, AI-based data analytics applications for the processing of plastic waste, AI-based pattern recognition in the sorting of plastic waste and digital marketplaces for simplified trading of secondary plastics. The potential of these technologies seems far from exhausted. However, their market success will ultimately also depend on the framework conditions that are set and on whether investment security can be created through a political commitment to the Circular Economy and corresponding incentives. Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Software & Apps

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  • ENGEL Software: Driving Digital Transformation in Injection Molding

    Automation in Injection Molding Enhanced: ENGEL Expands Software Capabilities for Smarter Injection Molding Machines sim link combines simulation with real production – and is now being extended to a third simulation software provider Moldex3D. Copyright: ENGEL 20.11.2023 Updated on 04/02/2025: We have revised this article to include the latest developments and provide the most up-to-date information. ENGEL Software drives digital transformation in injection molding, supporting manufacturers along the entire production process. To provide a holistic experience, the e-connect customer portal is gradually being extended to a production portal. To allow this to happen, ENGEL is relying – among other things – on the know-how of software vendor TIG GmbH. Following the takeover in 2016, the company is now being fully integrated with the ENGEL group. The vision is clear: "We want every injection moulder to use our e-connect portal as their default start page one day and we want them to find everything they need for their day-to-day production," as Gerhard Dimmler, CTO of the ENGEL Group, explains. ENGEL is deriving its inject 4.0 strategy from this vision. Already introduced at K 2022 , the strategy envisages expanding the previous customer portal to provide a production portal. The production portal will then be compatible with all manufacturers, giving injection moulders the ability to map all the value-added stages of their production on the portal. Stronger Digital Transformation: Integrating TIG into ENGEL's Software Landscape ENGEL acquired software vendor TIG, which developed the authentig MES solution, among other products, back in 2016. Some years later, the distribution of authentig was brought into the ENGEL fold and assigned to the Digital Sales department, headed by Hannes Zach. As part of its digital transformation strategy, ENGEL software is fully integrating TIG know-how to enhance automation in injection molding . The company will be merged into the ENGEL Group on 1 January 2024. ENGEL will take over all the employees, and the headquarters in Rankweil, Vorarlberg, Austria, will also be retained. Hannes Pils, previously the company's CEO now has the role of Head of Service & Consulting in ENGEL Customer Service. Hannes Zach, Sales Director Digital Solutions at ENGEL, remains the customer contact for former TIG customers. Copyright: ENGEL Automation in Injection Molding: ENGEL's sim link Now Compatible with MOLDEX3D ENGEL is also presenting another innovation for the design phase – the first of the four phases along the injection moulding process. sim link, a solution from the inject 4.0 family for a bidirectional exchange of data between the simulation and the injection moulding machine , is being expanded and is now also compatible with MOLDEX3D. In product development, the question of the manufacturability of a part is key. Simulation delivers the answer for the injection moulding processes here. Despite this, a survey shows that many injection moulders fail to integrate the expertise from simulation into production and, conversely, that actual parameters from production rarely find their way back into the simulation either. The result is time-consuming and cost-intensive iteration loops to optimise the mould and the production process. ENGEL expands its automation in injection molding capabilities with sim link, optimizing the connection between simulation and injection molding machines. Boosting Efficiency: How Improved Simulation Optimizes Injection Molding ENGEL presented sim link for the first time at the K 2019 . Thus far, the tool has been available for Moldflow (Autodesk) and CADMOULD (SIMCON). Release 1.2 saw the application spectrum expanded to include the MOLDEX3D simulation software . Using sim link is an intuitive and efficient experience. Users can already store the physical dynamics and performance data of the machine intended for sampling the mould and for production later on, along with the material data, before simulating injection moulding. In a second step, the process settings determined in the simulation are transferred via sim link to the control unit of the injection moulding machine as an initial setting data set. This makes it possible to produce high quality parts in the shortest possible time. In a third step, the processing settings, process parameters and measurement results from the machine, optimised during operation, can be stored and fed back into the simulation program. This leads to more accurate data and optimised simulations, which strengthens digital transformation in injection molding by improving accuracy, efficiency, and automation in injection molding machines. 04/02/2025 ENGEL Software in Action: Digital Solutions for Research and Teaching The all-electric ENGEL e-mac 100, which was recently handed over to the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials (IVW), enables precise and energy-efficient plastics processing. It is used for practical experiments and optimally combines theory and practice. Thanks to ENGEL sim link , students can apply simulation methods directly in the injection molding process. Get more insights! From Simulation to Production: Closing the Loop in Injection Molding "sim link facilitates the cooperation between the simulation experts and the process engineers," as Alfred Angerer from Digital Injection Moulding Development at ENGEL explains. "This is how we create a basis for ensuring that the lessons learned from the simulation are actually used in the real world." All told, sim link improves the quality of the simulation with real-world data, accelerating the sample inspection process and process optimisation , while reducing costs and boosting productivity. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) Source ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH More around Software & Apps

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  • AI-based sorting: the smart way to recycle plastics

    Interview with Michael Köster, Sales Manager Waste Recycling Division, STEINERT GmbH Exclusively for K-MAG STEINERT's AI-based technologies are making the sorting of plastic waste at RE Plano even more reliable and efficient. Copyright: STEINERT 22.11.2023 Updated on 24.02.2025: We have revised this article to include the latest developments and provide the most up-to-date information. Artificial intelligence and plastics recycling – two concepts that have little in common at first glance, but which form an impressive symbiosis in practice. STEINERT and RE Plano are impressive proof of this. Thanks to AI, they have succeeded in overcoming the challenges of sorting polyethylene and polypropylene, paving the way for innovative recycling solutions. Michael Köster. Copyright: STEINERT How AI Enhances Plastic Sorting Efficiency In an interview with K-MAG, Michael Köster talks about the collaboration, the innovative sorting technology and the extent to which AI-controlled processes improve the quality and efficiency of recycling plastic waste. Mr Köster, how did the partnership between STEINERT and RE Plano come about and what goals are you pursuing with the implementation of AI-based sorting technologies? Michael Köster: In order to enable closed-loop applications for PP and PE plastics, such as those that exist for PET, RE Plano was looking for a partner that could sort these materials by colour and material in a correspondingly good quality. This is possible with the sensor fusion of colour and NIR cameras in STEINERT UniSort sorting systems and is even more reliable and efficient thanks to AI-based sorting programs. What are the challenges involved in sorting plastic fractions such as polyethylene and polypropylene and how does AI-based technology help to overcome them? Köster: There are foreign substances in the material flow that cannot be sorted using conventional technology. One example of this is silicone cartridges made from HDPE, which can contain silicone residue and therefore contaminate the PE sorting product. STEINERT sorting systems are able to sort out these materials using AI-based sorting programmes. The same applies to single and multi-layer packaging. In addition, the reliability of sorting white and natural-coloured materials can be improved. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) Intelligent Object.Identifier – The Future of AI Sorting STEINERT's Intelligent Object.Identifier technology combines various state-of-the-art technologies. Can you tell us more about this? Köster: In our UniSort sorting systems, we use an NIR and a colour camera that look at the same point on the conveyor belt. We call this sensor fusion. As the information from both sensors overlaps so perfectly (as the material on the belt cannot move between sensor 1 and sensor 2), this information is the best teaching material for an AI to generate our sorting programmes from. We also use a hyperspectral imaging NIR camera. This has many times the spatial and spectral resolution within the near-infrared spectrum compared to conventional point-to-point scanners. This additional information also helps to generate particularly reliable AI sorting programmes. The UniSort sorting systems from STEINERT provide optimum training material for an AI software. Copyright: STEINERT Success Story: AI Sorting at RE Plano What advantages does it offer over conventional sorting methods? Köster: New sorting applications are made possible and existing ones can be executed with greater reliability. Can you share some specific results or successes that have been achieved since the implementation of STEINERT technology at RE Plano? Köster: The RE Plano plant in Bochum did not exist before, which is why no improvements can be named in comparison. However, purities of over 97% are produced there, which is the first time a purity similar to that of PET cycles has been achieved. and that the recycling of PP and PE is improved compared to the industry. The RE Plano plant in Bochum produces purities of over 97%. Copyright: STEINERT The Future of AI in Plastic Recycling What advice would you give to other companies in the plastics recycling industry that are interested in implementing AI-based sorting technologies? Are there any particular challenges or stumbling blocks they should be aware of? Köster: Nothing that can't be solved together. In order to train the AI, the materials have to be scanned in advance in our test centre. This is a more complex process than with conventional materials. However, we have already done this for many products, such as the silicone cartridges, so that these sorting programmes can be used immediately. What motivates you personally most about working in the field of plastics recycling? Köster: It is important to find a balance between reducing plastic on the one hand and the sustainable use of recyclable plastics on the other. The growing demand for high-quality plastics such as those used in food packaging or the automotive industry – to name just a few – is also increasing the demands on plastics recycling. New and exciting tasks await us, because we have a great responsibility for the future of our planet and our children! Want to learn more about AI -powered plastic solutions and the use of artificial intelligence ? Read our latest insights on K-MAG! Elena Blume (Editorial team K-Mag) More around Artificial Intelligence

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  • Smart Waste: how AI can increase the recycling rate of plastics

    Interview with Dr Sophie Pachner, R&D Manager Process Engineering, EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH. Exclusively for K-MAG Copyright: EREMA 23.08.2023 Nine percent – that is the proportion of all plastic waste that was recycled from 1950 to 2015. This must change urgently. Artificial intelligence can help. EREMA and the Software Competence Center Hagenberg (SCCH) are researching exactly how in a joint project. Sophie Pachner. Copyright: EREMA In an interview with K-MAG, Dr Sophie Pachner talks about why so little is recycled and what potential AI holds in plastics recycling. Dr Pachner, of 6,300 million tonnes of plastic waste generated from 1950 to 2015, only 570 million tonnes were recycled. Why is the recycling rate so low? And how can we change that? Dr Sophie Pachner: The challenge with plastics recycling is that the incoming material stream is very heterogeneous in its composition – shape, degree of contamination, etc. – but in the end the recyclates have to be of a consistently high quality so that they can be reused at all. In order to be able to produce a high-quality recyclate, not only precise waste sorting is required, but also flexible adaptation of the recycling processes to changing material flows. However, these recycling processes are very complex: the feedstock is sorted, crushed, washed, prepared, extruded, degassed, filtered and processed into regranulate. Artificial intelligence can help us optimise these processes. To what extent can AI optimise plastics recycling? Pachner: Various companies work together along the value chain: Recycling collection points, companies that buy the waste, do the sorting and then the companies that produce the recyclates. A particular challenge in data management is the traceability of material flows along the value chain. However, the problem with cross-company data analysis is often that the companies do not want to disclose the data. Here, universities and competence centres are developing privacy-preserving methods for data collection in order to obtain a holistic view of value chains in the future without having to exchange data across company boundaries. With the help of AI, waste will be networked and thus become "smart waste". Artificial intelligence recognises patterns in production data, can warn in the event of anomalies, develop forecasting models, thus providing decision support for the customer and ultimately ensuring consistent product quality. Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) Your project partner is the Software Competence Center Hagenberg (SCCH). What expertise do you each bring to the project? Pachner: Our innovative recycling solutions for different requirements make us the world market leader in plastics recycling machines and system components. There are currently around 8,000 EREMA machines in use, which together produce more than 21 million tonnes of high-quality granulate every year. In this way, we are making a significant contribution to the Circular Economy. SCCH contributes its expertise in the areas of data integration, knowledge extraction, process modelling and process optimisation. Machine learning methods are used to analyse the data. SCCH has developed a dashboard to visualise and analyse the process data. Here, it contributes its know-how of automated pattern recognition and analysis of complex correlations in the field of data science, as well as its many years of experience of machine learning methods for the analysis of process data. EREMA PredictOn. Copyright: EREMA AI in the plastics industry – what else could be possible in the future? Pachner: There is definitely still a lot of potential in our industry to improve processes, products and services with the help of AI technologies. There are a multitude of possibilities along the value chain, from waste collection and sorting to extrusion and post-treatment of the re-granulate. Here, it is primarily a matter of making good use of AI and data analyses for more resource protection and recycling. EREMA and SCCH are currently project partners in the lead project circPLAST-mr, which deals with the mechanical recycling of plastics, and in the CHASE project, which deals with the chemical process industry. Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Artificial Intelligence

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  • Reifenhäuser relies on new "Circular Plastics Traceability" Guideline by using digital product passports from R-Cycle

    Copyright: donut3771 06.11.2023 The Reifenhäuser Group – leading manufacturer of extrusion machinery and components – relies on R-Cycle, the digital product passport (DPP) for plastics based on GS1 standards. With R-Cycle DPPs, Reifenhäuser enables its customers to make their products traceable. All relevant information on the material and processing is stored in the DPP and made available along the entire product life cycle, offering enormous potential for data management in the manufacturing process and recycling of plastic – especially in the packaging industry. Source: Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik R-Cycle was founded as an initiative by leading companies and organizations along the plastics value chain (including Reifenhäuser) and today offers – as a solution provider – a turnkey software-as-a-service solution for the application of digital product passports. GS1 Germany, known for standards and solutions around barcodes, has now published a new guideline "Circular Plastics Traceability", which offers all stakeholders in the plastics value chain a uniform framework to model cross-company processes and exchange data. R-Cycle was involved in the development of "Circular Plastics Traceability" and follows the new GS1 Germany Guideline with its solution. The underlying technology is the cross-industry and internationally established GS1 EPCIS interface (Electronic Product Code Information Services). EPCIS is GS1's core standard for improving transparency in companies or value networks. Bernd Reifenhäuser, CEO of the Reifenhäuser Group, explains, "The publication of the 'Circular Plastics Traceability' Guideline is a decisive milestone for the establishment of R-Cycle. It gives us, as a machine manufacturer, the certainty of investing in a future-proof technology that enables our customers to use standardized digital product passports." Exhibitors & products around digitalisation CAD systems Simulation software Quality assurance software (SPC/SQC) Maintenance software Equipment & software for manufacturing execution system (MES) R-Cycle's digital product passport provides information on all relevant ingredients of a plastic packaging. Source: Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik The plastics industry – particularly in the packaging sector – faces ever-increasing industrial and regulatory information and reporting requirements. Recyclability assessments, EPR schemes or plastic tax calculations are just a few examples. The otherwise time-consuming and costly generation of the relevant data is now possible with R-Cycle at the push of a button. Currently, more than 45 leading industrial companies and organizations rely on R-Cycle as the solution for the digital product passport. In addition to providing efficient information in the manufacturing process, digital product passports also enable better recycling to recover high-quality recyclates. Using the information stored in the DPP, waste sorting facilities can precisely categorize recyclable packaging and form recycling-friendly, single-sort fractions. The DPPs can be accessed via suitable marking (e.g. digital watermarks or QR codes) on the packaging. Source Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik More around Software & Apps

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  • LANXESS software calculates carbon footprint for Group's own products

    Copyright: freedomnaruk 05.04.2023 LANXESS has developed a tool that automatically calculates the carbon footprint for the Group's products. The Product Carbon Footprint Engine uses existing data from various business units and calculates the emissions generated using a cradle-to-gate approach. This includes greenhouse gas emissions during production, product-specific emissions related to raw materials, energy, operating materials and transport and emissions from waste disposal. The tool has been certified by TÜV Rheinland according to ISO 14067 standard for quantifying the carbon footprint of products. With the Product Carbon Footprint Engine, the speciality chemicals company aims to help its customers achieve their sustainability goals. Customers can request the emissions data from their sales contact. The data pool used to calculate the carbon footprint is constantly being improved. Thus, in the future, emissions can also be calculated for products for which sufficiently qualified data is not yet available. "Our customers are setting ambitious targets to improve the sustainability along their supply chains. LANXESS can now support them even better in achieving these goals," says Anno Borkowsky, member of the LANXESS Board of Management. Goal: climate-neutral along the entire value chain LANXESS produces thousands of products. The Product Carbon Footprint Engine automatically calculates their carbon footprint. Copyright: LANXESS LANXESS too is focusing more closely on its emissions along the entire supply chain. In August 2022, the Group announced the intention to make it climate-neutral by 2050 (Scope 3). This target includes indirect emissions, especially from purchased raw materials, but also from logistics and end products. For direct emissions from production (Scope 1) and energy sources (Scope 2), LANXESS had already set a target three years ago to become climate-neutral by 2040. The renowned Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) had previously confirmed that LANXESS' climate targets are in line with the 1.5 °C pathway and the Paris Agreement. To achieve its Scope 3 targets, LANXESS has launched the company-wide Net Zero Value Chain Program. As part of this, the specialty chemicals company is increasing its sourcing of sustainable raw materials, implementing "green" logistics and expanding its portfolio of climate-neutral products. Source LANXESS More around Software & Apps

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  • The many ways that 'going digital' is changing manufacturing

    Exclusively for K-MAG Engel notes that digital service products boost the availability of machines and production units, ensuring high productivity and continuous delivery capability even in the event of crises; Source: Engel Austria GmbH 23.08.2021 There are many aspects and forms of digitalization in manufacturing, ranging from Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing, to augmented and virtual reality, 5G connectivity, mobile apps, blockchain technology, and more. These digital tools and strategies are helping to enable automation, smart factories, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and the collection and crunching of big data. This widespread digital transformation is revolutionizing how we design products, make things, run factories and assess customer feedback in ways no one could have imagined just a couple decades ago. Generally speaking, the manufacturing industry today relies on automation as much as on people. But, noted Jabil Inc. in a recent online post , the factory of the future, which is a marriage of physical and digital capabilities, requires more real-time data, connectivity and AI technology at the forefront. In fact, according to a study by Accenture , 84 percent of C-suite executives believe they must leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve their growth objectives. And three out of four such officials believe that if they don't scale AI in the next five years, they risk going out of business entirely. AI can help manufacturing companies in many ways, to include refining product inspection and quality control, augmenting human capabilities, and enabling preventive maintenance – all of which can help to increase productivity. Volkswagen has launched a digital push to drive manufacturing performance in its North American plants; Source: Volkswagen AG Witness Volkswagen, which on Aug. 10 announced it has launched a digital transformation push across its assembly plants in the United States and Mexico. As part of its estimated $1 billion dollar investment in electric mobility and digitalization in North America up to 2025, the company said it is working to bring technologies such as cloud-based industrial software, intelligent robotics and artificial intelligence into the factory operations. The company aims to drive a 30 percent increase in manufacturing performance for its electric vehicle assembly and large-scale car assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Puebla, Mexico, by 2025. To accelerate its digital push, Volkswagen also plans to increase on-site training efforts for its North American workforce. "We're pushing our ambitious digital transformation to make Volkswagen's factories in the North American region more productive, connected and more sustainable than ever before," said Johan de Nysschen, chief operating officer at Volkswagen Group of America. "Our digital transformation also supports skilled labor and high-profile, future-proof jobs throughout North America." Another consulting firm, Plante Moran PLLC, focuses part of its practice on Industry 4.0, which it suggests has had less of impact to date on middle-market manufacturing businesses due to complexity and cost. But such firms have begun investing more in Industry 4.0 technologies as these solutions have become simpler and more affordable. "Couple that," says Plante Moran, "with the need to significantly improve efficiencies of plant operations to accelerate recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis, and we're seeing a growing focus on Industry 4.0 in the middle market. For good reason." "we’re seeing a growing focus on Industry 4.0 in the middle market. For good reason." – Plante Moran PLLC. There is plenty of evidence that plastics and rubber companies are embracing these technologies as we usher in a new era of manufacturing. Here are just a few examples of digitalization in action. Advancing protocols Austria's Engel Group has long played a leadership role in efforts to get the industry more fully "connected." Digital technologies enable innovative business models and present numerous opportunities, the firm notes, but also demand new ways of thinking. Industry 4.0 essentially began a decade ago, recounts Gerhard Dimmler, the firm's vice president of research and development, and Engel and others engaged in discussions at K2013 about the standardization of communication protocols. At K2016, he said, the industry established standardized communication interfaces for all machinery, but efforts are still continuing to streamline all the related aspects. Engel has opted to focus on three areas – smart machines, smart service and smart production. Using its Inject 4.0 platform, the company states online: "We ensure seamless exchanges and the availability of relevant data across the entire value chain through horizontal data integration. You benefit from plug-and-produce production systems that can easily be integrated into other Engel systems and peripheral devices, guaranteeing maximum flexibility." "At the same time," it continues, "vertical integration allows continuous communication from the individual sensor, any peripherals and the machine with the manufacturing execution system (MES) and even the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system." Customer acceptance Another major machinery maker, Arburg GmbH & Co. KG, continues to expand the digitalization strategy it calls arburgXworld, which it launched globally at K2019. The multi-language portal allows customers to configure machines online and buy both presses and aftermarket parts on the site. ArburgXworld also includes various apps that can assist users with material processing and predictive maintenance at the screw, simulate the machine controller, analyze and remedy faults and downtime issues, and other such tools. Arburg says it continues to update this portal with new digital services and features, including an AnalyticsCenter for process analysis. In the future, the firm says, it will be able to integrate machines and peripheral devices from other manufacturers into the central platform. Digitalisation is central to many of Arburg's current technology and customer initiatives; Source: Arburg The company announced in June that 2,000 customers are now on the portal, with an average of three users per company, or 6,000 total users. "Digitalisation is advancing in leaps and bounds, both for us and for our customers in plastics processing," says Benjamin Franz, team manager for digital solutions at Arburg. "The fact that 2,000 companies have already registered in 'arburgXworld' this spring is a real milestone. Our platform is developing into a central marketplace for plastics processors, and we are putting a lot of energy and know-how into it." Milacron is expanding its M-Powered digital solutions business; Source: Milacron U.S. machinery maker Milacron Holdings Corp., meanwhile, continues to expand M-Powered, a full suite of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. Using technology from its partner ei3 Corp., that unit connects Milacron equipment to the cloud, linking customers to a full range of services such as remote monitoring of its equipment, troubleshooting and predictive maintenance. Late last year Milacron joined with ei3 in The Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) workgroup to establish best practices for remote access methods. The collective knowledge among this workgroup focuses on timing, safety and security that ultimately will be a model that is appropriated among the growing remote connections in injection molding, extrusion equipment and automation systems. Germany's KraussMaffei Group also has been active in the area of predictive maintenance and other platform-based analytics, via its Digital Service Solutions unit. And these are just a few of the machinery companies pursuing these objectives. A connected compounder Some compounders are also active in the IIoT space. Alterra Holdings, based in Clifton, N.J., has built its own Industry 4.0 platform – called SmartChronos – at its 120,000-square-foot production plant in Seymour, Ind. This remote monitoring system became even more important in early 2020 when the pandemic kicked in, causing many workers to have to stay home. Using a network of sensors on each of its machines, Alterra's system tracks a variety of processing parameters in real time and alerts the firm's production and quality control (QC) teams as soon as a parameter falls out of spec. Alterra CEO Arash Kiani has been quoted as saying his firm "created a product-dependent platform that allows live feedback between QC and the operator on the line. As soon as something is out of range, the operators will be notified by a Slack SMS text to react to it immediately." The system allows Alterra to assess in detail every box of material the compounder produces – and customers have live access to Alterra's process data, offering unrivaled transparency. Leveraging blockchain Covestro, Borealis and Domo Chemicals, together with Porsche, are partnering with Circularise to leverage blockchain technology to help ensure transparency throughout the resin supply chain; Source: Covestro Resin producers are using yet another aspect of emerging digital technology. In one example, materials suppliers Borealis (polyolefins), Covestro (polycarbonates) and Domo Chemicals (polyamides), together with vehicle maker Porsche, have partnered with Circularise, the blockchain supply chain transparency provider, to enable the traceability of plastics on blockchain. The aim is to ensure that the use of sustainable materials in Porsche cars can be proven. By digitizing materials Circularise says it has been able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability, tracking the CO₂ footprint and other sustainability metrics such as water savings. Each batch of material was digitized on the blockchain receiving a digital copy called digital twin, according to Covestro. The digital twin carries all relevant information regarding the batch, such as its environmental footprint and origin. This digital thread created transparency between project partners, without revealing any underlying sensitive data, leading to an improved supply chain collaboration. Graham's AccuStrength Using its patented AccuStrength computer simulation technology, Graham Packaging has developed a way to add material only to critical-to-function areas in a container, resulting in a strong yet lighter weight, more sustainable bottle; Source: Graham Packaging Bottle blow molder Graham Packaging of Lancaster, Pa., meanwhile, is leveraging a different kind of digital technology to enhance product performance and sustainability. It has applied computer simulation with structural analysis to predict bottle function before it reaches the production line. The result is a patented, vertically applied processing technology it calls AccuStrength that uses electronic programming to add material only to critical-to-function areas in a container. While most extrusion blow molded plastic bottles are formed through horizontal material distribution, which maintains product integrity and load-bearing properties, Graham says AccuStrength takes this process to the next level by also using vertical bands of material that can be adjusted to increase or decrease the bottle’s thickness in desired locations. The process, which allows for additional plastic to be placed along a vertical orientation of the parison, allows the manufacturer to concentrate the container's thickness in the corners only while removing excess material from areas where it isn't required – all without compromising structural integrity. It also allows for more post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic to be incorporated to reduce the weight of a container. The end result is a more sustainable bottle. So, just this small sampling helps to indicate the breadth of digital technologies available to advance the plastics industry – from managing smart plants remotely, to tracing a material's history, to boosting end-product sustainability. This only scratches the surface of the digital revolution that is happening as we speak. Hang on tight, because bits and bytes will only increasingly reshape how business is done, going forward. Robert Grace (USA) More around Artificial Intelligence

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  • App, AI, data glasses: digital toolbox for the plastics industry is well filled

    Interview with Nadine Despineux, Managing Director and Executive Vice President Digital & Service Solutions, KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH Exclusively for K-MAG smartAssist. Copyright: KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH 28.02.2022 We live in a world in which processes are becoming increasingly complex. This also applies to the plastics industry. One way to support people in production with their demanding tasks is through digital tools – and not only on site at the plant, but also remotely. The increasing amount of data also contributes to predictive maintenance of machines. One machine manufacturer that has recognized this potential is KraussMaffei. In an interview with K-MAG, Nadine Despineux explains what digitization in the plastics industry actually looks like, what advantages it has and with which products KraussMaffei is paving the way to a networked future for its customers. Nadine Despineux. Copyright: KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH What role does digitalization currently play in the plastics industry? Nadine Despineux: Digitization offers new and unprecedented opportunities for differentiation. In our market, it is becoming apparent that classic differentiators such as price or technology alone are becoming less and less decisive for a machine purchase. Suppliers must therefore actively look for new differentiation factors – digitization is playing an increasingly important role. The shift from product-centricity to customer-centricity is crucial here. Digitization opens up completely new possibilities for reducing the complexity of demanding production processes and providing targeted support for people in the plants. Which digital products do you use at KraussMaffei? Despineux: One of our digital products is smartAssist, our mobile audio and video communication with augmentation, which gives the customer's service technician access to our domain expertise on site. The intuitive app can also be used via data glasses to perform maintenance under remote guidance. In times of "social distancing", smartAssist has hit the nerve of our customers exactly to reduce waiting and downtime and save costs in the future as well. smartAssist is continuously being expanded with further augmentation functionalities together with our customers. Another example of how we support our customers in their daily work with digital products is socialProduction: Here, the production process of the injection molding machines is continuously monitored by a patented, self-learning process. Relevant anomalies in the process are detected at an early stage on the basis of all recorded machine data and proactively communicated to users via notifications in a shared chat room. The evaluation of the process parameters takes place completely autonomously and without any pre-configuration by the process owner. One of the success factors of socialProduction is the clear focus on the customer and the cooperation with him – from the first idea to field tests and optimization of the product. What opportunities does the use of machine learning open up for you here? Despineux: With the help of intelligent algorithms, we can detect anomalies and thus possible process malfunctions – and do so well before a machine stoppage occurs or the component quality suffers. Here, KraussMaffei's plastics process knowledge is also embedded in the patented algorithm. Anomaly detection identifies abnormalities in the manufacturing process at an early stage and proactively reports them to the user in the dedicated chat room. This prevents excessive stress and unnecessary wear of components or machine downtime in a timely manner – completely autonomously, without the need for configuration. Unexpected machine downtime can be avoided by measuring the actual condition of machine components or even by predicting the expected time of failure. Maintenance measures are only taken when they are necessary. socialProduction. Copyright: KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH What challenges does digitization pose? Despineux: The possibilities offered by digitization naturally also increase the risk that traditional machine builders will find themselves competing with companies from the software and Internet industries that are not part of the industry. That's why we as machine builders must manage to intelligently combine our domain know-how with digitization expertise in such a way that, on the one hand, we can hold our own in the future in competition with data companies and, on the other hand, create continuous added value for customers that cannot be achieved by pure software groups in this way. What do you have planned in this area in the near future? Despineux: As digitization increases, so does the amount of machine data that can and must be processed. We are working on establishing a so-called "closed loop" for ongoing improvements to processes and products. In the future, data-based applications will also be the basis for predictive maintenance solutions. The technological requirements for this are already available today. Digitization supports us in filling customer centricity with further content and developing new, value-creating digital products for our customers. Customer centricity can be learned and must be built up as a competence in relevant organizational units. The digital world provides a well-stocked toolbox of digital technologies and customer-centric methods for this purpose. At this year's K 2022, we will also present in detail some innovations that we have developed in a customer-centric manner and transferred into digital products. In your opinion, which technologies will become more important in the plastics industry in the coming years? Despineux: A decisive success factor for the digital transformation and thus the scalable implementation of "Industry 4.0" is customer centricity. Standardized and modular machines supplemented by digital solutions will enable customers to achieve highly efficient and at the same time flexible production all the way to batch size one production. This will be supported by comprehensive and integrative service offerings. The machine builders themselves will produce in a climate-neutral and more localized manner, and the machines produced will have a far wider range of applications than today due to their automation and digitalization. Through digitalization and "hyper-connectivity", we must manage to successfully counteract the shortage of skilled workers. Through increasingly intelligent functions, including the use of artificial intelligence, machines will increasingly regulate themselves and support humans in decision-making. In addition, there will be applications that make certain work processes obsolete and enable preventive early action. Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Artificial Intelligence

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  • Plastics industry meets Metaverse: igus presents products in virtual reality

    Interview with Marco Thull, Senior Marketing Activist Purpose & Vision, Corporate Identity & Corporate Communication, igus GmbH Exclusively for K-MAG Virtual reality holds potential for the plastics industry. For example, customers can experience products in virtual space instead of just leafing through brochures. Copyright: seventyfourimages 31.01.2023 Studies show that we are up to nine times more likely to remember something we have experienced in virtual reality. This knowledge can also be interesting for the plastics industry. With the iguversum, igus has created a digital space in which the manufacturer's products can be discovered. In the future, engineering projects will also be carried out there. Marco Thull. Copyright: igus GmbH In an interview with K-MAG, Marco Thull talks about the advantages of the iguversum for companies, customers and the environment, as well as what is possible there – and what should continue to be experienced in the real world. A digital parallel universe and the industry – to what extent does that fit together? How did you come up with the idea of the iguversum? Marco Thull: At igus we are always on the lookout for innovative ideas to help customers improve their technology and reduce costs with motion plastics. One example is the igus motion plastics show (IMPS). This is a 400 sqm virtual-real exhibition stand that we set up during the Corona pandemic in Cologne and brought online. With success: In the first year alone, 55,000 interested people visited the stand. Our customer advisors held 16,000 conversations there. This showed us that much more is possible in the digital space. We therefore wanted to take the next step and saw the concept of a metaverse as such an opportunity. Added to that was the technical curiosity: "What is this VR and what will this Metaverse be?". We approached the medium in small steps and quickly realised what enormous potential it had. How can you imagine the iguversum? What is possible there? Thull: The igus Metaverse is currently designed as a two-part world. In the digital twin of the igus factory, the centre of the iguversum, the tribopolymer products and various igus theme worlds can be discovered playfully. In addition, there are special rooms in which our motion plastics can be discovered, touched and explained on a virtual machine or application. Both worlds are set up in such a way that several participants can go on a journey of discovery at the same time. Or an individual appointment can be arranged with an igus contact person – similar to what we already do with the IMPS. The rooms are based on a platform that we have rented for the time being. Here we exhibit models of applications that are equipped with our motion plastics. Currently, these include a modern vehicle, the igus bicycle and a drilling platform. With the iguversum, igus has created, among other things, a digital twin of its factory, where sales staff and customers can meet as avatars. Copyright: igus GmbH What are the advantages for your customers? Thull: A major advantage is the location-independent collaborative work. The iguversum shows its strengths especially in prototype development. An example: When developing special components, communication ping-pong is often on the agenda. E-mails with design drawings go back and forth. The phone rings numerous times. In future, things will go faster in the iguversum. There, sales staff from igus and customers meet as avatars in digital space to jointly develop a 3D model of the component. Visible at all times, like in a computer game: Indicators such as tool costs, delivery time and robustness, which adapt to the development in real time. In the end, development is faster – and at lower cost, since the "hardware" is not needed for the time being and can be realistically adjusted and optimised in the virtual world. A positive side effect, especially for teams working internationally, is that travel costs and time are reduced and emissions are avoided. The Metaverse can also be used for presentations or training: Employees can train to operate machines without risk of injury and can look over the shoulders of service technicians during repairs in virtual reality. In the iguversum, igus products can be discovered and engineering projects can be carried out in the future. Copyright: igus GmbH Where are the limits? What is not (yet) possible in virtual space? Thull: We are still at the very beginning of this exciting project and are trying out many things. The question that keeps coming up is: "Is this tech or can it go away?" In other words, what is technically possible, what is gimmicky, what has a concrete use? At the same time, we are firmly convinced that in the coming years we will implement things that we are not even thinking about today or that are not yet feasible. One example is the haptic experience of the products. But that is exactly what is very important. This is shown by the free samples that are requested from us or our trade fair stands, where we always have a lot to touch. Will this replace haptic gloves at some point? Probably not. Experiencing our products in the real world will always remain a decisive factor in cooperation. What are your further plans for the iguversum? Thull: One goal is to now quickly push ahead with this development and expansion of the iguversum into a virtual machine platform with industry worlds in which collaborative work is the focus. In the future, customers, engineers and material experts will come together as avatars in digital space and carry out entire engineering projects there. In a further stage, we are considering expanding the iguversum to include a B2B platform for other manufacturers. They can then also present machines and systems in the virtual space, provided they use components from igus. The iguversum has the potential to revolutionise cooperation between companies and customers. Elena Blume (Editorial team K-MAG) More around Software & Apps

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Topic areas in K-Mag

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Sustainability

Digitalisation

Digitalisation

Machinery & Production

Machinery & Production

Raw materials

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Science

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People

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Plastics in Practice

Plastics in Practice

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