Digitization and the Impact on Our Daily Lives
Digitization impacts our daily lives and is accelerating at a rapid pace. The evolution of smartphones, for example, has been remarkable. And it’s changed everything; how we connect, pay, navigate to unfamiliar places, and more. Since its first significant broad-scale use in 2010, the smartphone has been widely adopted around the globe. In fact, it’s become an indispensable tool in our daily lives. In Germany alone, more than 95 percent of people between 14 and 49 own a smartphone. Without a doubt, the smartphone is the most disruptive technology of the last several decades, revolutionizing how consumers interact with the world. Also, smartphones quickly launched us in a new ‘digital’ era. Their fast and successful adoption in daily life shows that digitization will offer unique opportunities for industrial companies too.
Industry 4.0, digitization, and the Internet of Things
The world of manufacturing is forever evolving and in the past few decades, Industry 4.0, the fourth revolution, has emerged. Industry 4.0 connects physical with digital. It takes digital technology to a whole new level with the help of interconnectivity through the Internet of Things (IoT), access to real-time data, and the introduction of robotics and artificial intelligence. IoT and Industry 4.0 are already established in most production environments because it is the only way to monitor, control and continuously optimize processes and workflows. All this communication between data requires smarter systems, right up to the component level. On the digital side, a high-powered IT infrastructure with sophisticated software, on the physical side, sensors, and actuators that link, couple, clutch, hold and brake mechanical elements safely and reliably.
Electromagnetic brakes offer an optimal basis, since the detection and evaluation of the operating or wear condition for the control system can often be realized without additional effort.
Decentralized Network Systems
Some people believe that, in the factory of the future, a product will be able to navigate is way independently through the production process. A decentralized network system will make this possible – a collection of interconnected but distinct elements that interact with one another without the need for a centralized system, or human intervention; monitoring and control activities will in turn increase.
However, when human beings are less directly involved in the production process, it is crucial that machine elements and products are safely placed and held in position to ensure hassle-free operation. Also, in the event of a power failure, each moving element must be held securely, and, after the power failure, restored to its previous position. Just imagine what will happen when, in a fully automated factory, numerous drive and positioning systems, hoists and self-propelled devices ‘run wild’ because of a power cut.
Keeping Operations Running Safely
Already today, it is impossible to imagine industry and everyday life without a high level of automation. Mechatronics support the further automation of processes and systems and increase the variety of applications. Electromagnetic brakes help to meet the necessary safety requirements so that loads can be held in position and safely braked in an emergency.
Kendrion offers a broad portfolio of electromagnetic brakes, spring-applied brakes and clutches for industrial applications, and custom brakes to meet individual needs. Find out more on our Kendrion Industrial Brakes website!
