Industy 4.0 is an important step into the connected future

When trends become evident, we need to characterise them, rather than chasing after them. Visitors to the international leading trade fair Tube were once again able to impressively experience that this year. Particularly automation systems for tube processing have repeatedly been a subject in the many discussions at transfluid’s trade fair stall.

We talked to Benedikt Hümmler, managing director, engineering/production at transfluid Maschinenbau GmbH:

What do you understand by “Industry 4.0”?

For our business, Industy 4.0 is an important step into the connected future. For many of our clients it is still not clear how it will benefit them. Many look at this topic in isolation and not as a supplementary and performance-improving opportunity. That is not quite happening yet.

Is your company already planning to or already integrating digital technologies? And if you do, how so?

We are gradually making our products capable of 4.0-communications for our various customers and, if the customer wants it, we offer the corresponding software to install, which can collect and process the operational parameters. With this and the corresponding hardware we can achieve the current idea of 4.0.

What do you see as future trends for your business sector?

At present it is fair to expect that the mechanical engineering sector will have to consolidate again, after this period of strong demand. Just as before, the trend towards adopting automation techniques will continue and more strongly so. This will make it easier to even out geographical differences and the associated costs. The higher the technical level of our clients’ equipment, the more relevant it becomes to ask whether the production can be done independently of the employee. This would make it possible to establish production anywhere in the word that meets the same quality requirements.

Mr Hümmler, thank you for your time!