On the way to Industry 5.0?

BAG Analytics GmbH was founded in spring 2022 with the vision of collecting all the data generated in a company from production, Collect and evaluate administration, laboratory and warehouse in one place. The goals are not just to improve the Process efficiency and process reliability, but also the saving of resources.

The analysis after two years shows: The need for such a solution is there and is even growing increasingly because of the new dimension “Sustainability” and technical possibilities such as AI are drivers of profound change – in all industries.

In the following, however, the focus will be on surface technology.

The European Green Deal stipulates that the European Union will be the first continent to become climate neutral in 2050. The digital product passport should be a key instrument for promoting the circular economy. In some sectors such as batteries, Electronics or plastics, this should be implemented from 2027, in other areas only from 2030.

The internationally recognized standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the ESRS E1 Climate Change of the CSRD reporting divides the climate-damaging greenhouse gases into 3 categories: Scope 1, 2 and 3. These quantify the direct and indirect emissions in the value chain of a product and ensure that the emissions of the Companies involved in production are not recorded twice.

The annual obligation to provide evidence of sustainable corporate management in the form ofESG reporting (environmental, social and governance) will soon catch up with all companies: Large companies with more than 250 employees from 2025, SMEs from 2026. Small companies are not subject to this obligation, but are asked to follow ESG reporting.

In order to achieve these climate goals, the EU Taxonomy Regulation provides for the steering of investments in sustainable projects and activities: The procurement of capital is supported for companies that operate sustainably and in an environmentally friendly manner.

In addition to other constraints such as a shortage of raw materials and inflationary rising prices for resources, the above-mentioned regulations lead in the near future to quantify their emissions and resources. Companies have recognized that there is no longer any way to digitize passes by and are on our way. Today, a lot of data is already recorded and stored in a company. But will these also evaluated and used for decisions?

A survey conducted by the BAG in June 2023 among 127 electroplating companies of different sizes on the status of digitalization at that time the following resulted:

Some operational areas are already digitized, but others are not yet. The degree of digitalization often depends on the size of the company. All companies surveyed control their order planning via an ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning System). have largely digitized their administration, whereas wastewater pretreatment is hardly digitized. The laboratory and warehouse areas are digitized for SMEs, but not for small and large companies. The areas of production and logistics can be the big ones Capture corporations digitally.

Overall, large and medium-sized companies appear to be better positioned than small companies. It is estimated that these have better access to the resource “know-how in the field of digitalization” than small companies.

The hurdles on the way to digitalization are generally the complexity of the technology, resistance to change and the Integration of existing systems seen.

Aware that digitalization is an important tool in order and product tracking for process security However, it is also perceived that it can counteract the shortage of skilled workers in many areas of the company. In fact, the sustainability and climate goals are far down on the list of expectations for digitalization – as of now Mid-2023.

Most companies plan to implement digitalization for a maximum period of 1-2 years. Want within 5 years all companies have largely completed the process. Similar periods will apply for the use of digital tools specified. What is interesting and striking, however, is that there is a discrepancy between the planned use and the implementation period Digitalization: The estimated period of its use within 1-2 years is 15% higher than that of its implementation. Also with the Over longer periods of time there is a deviation from desired use to implementation.

The discrepancy between the assessment of the use and implementation of digitalization shows that large companies There are planning uncertainties in this area. They also lack a roadmap or a concept for implementing digitalization.

The market currently does not provide a general solution for all companies, as ready-made software is not the individual solution Requirements of the respective companies are taken into account.

The basic idea of BAG Analytics is to collect all existing digital data from the various operational areas to network with each other in an intelligent data platform. There will be interfaces for the digital capture of analog data provided so that data from all relevant operational areas can be linked and contextualized.

This accumulated data provides information for decisions from various perspectives: quality management, laboratory analysis, Dosing technology, resource and environmental management. They provide the KPIs for senior management and concrete work instructions for them Workers at the system or can control processes fully automatically, for example pumps for re-dosing.

A core part of this will be the evaluation of the data using logic defined by specialists and stored in the system. The Humans currently still have the decision-making power when assessing the data situation.

The implementation of this global idea has been completed within the last two years with the programming of the data platform ASAP “Analyzing System for Automated Processes” is well advanced and is currently being tested in practice in two electroplating shops. It is constantly being refined. ASAP has a modular structure and is tailored to the individual needs of the company.

Since the company was founded, there have been many discussions in the industry and workshops on the topic of digitalization. As The result has been that many companies are waiting for such a solution that ASAP offers with data networking. The data backup in Germany is also very important.

According to the definition, Industry 4.0 refers to projects for the comprehensive digitalization of industrial production and includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, information and communication networks.

Of course there are only a small, manageable number of companies that have already reached this point according to the above definition, but all of them are on the way there. In the meantime, legal requirements are becoming more urgent and AI is also finding its way into everyday life of industrial production. The first voices are already talking about the next industrial revolution and Industry 5.0.

Despite all the digitalization and automation of processes, the most important factor must not be forgotten: people.

Authors: Dr. Elke Spahn, Johannes Spahn, Frank Benner and Sigrid Frey

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