JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016 - 19

interaction capabilities. The
term "Industry 4.0" contains
similar aspects but differs due
to its reference to industrial
production. However, the
"Industrial Internet of Things"
driven by the Industrial
Internet Consortium (IIC),
an international non-profit
consortium, is a rather equivalent concept referring to the
industrial sector.

framework conditions, are to
be handled concurrently [1; 8].

gulation. The implementation
of Industry 4.0 will help open
this potential and strengthen
Opportunities and challenges the sector.
in composite manufacturing However, this transformation
The fields of technology are
of the production landsdirectly or indirectly conneccape will result in specific
ted to the composite manufac- challenges. State-of-the-art
turing sector. Therefore, the
composite manufacturing
transformation to a Composite processes are often characteIndustry 4.0 holds enormous
rized by manual work, limited
potential for players within the reproducibility and high reject
composite value chain. Due to rates, with a high contribution
Economic impact
the complexity of composite
of material costs to product
and fields of technology
technologies and value chains, costs, a lack of data acquisition
Industry 4.0 is expected to have there are extensive possibilisensors and a lack of closed
a globally significant economic ties for productivity increases loop control for quality assuimpact. The Boston Consulting and cost savings by achierance. The implementation of
Group claims that, in Germany, ving a networked composite
automation as part of the third
the industrial transformation
production as well as potential industrial revolution has not
can drive productivity gains of for the production of indivibeen completed thoroughly
5 to 8% on total manufacturing dualized composite parts [9].
yet. However, automation
costs over ten years. This will
Combining the wide variety
is a basic requirement for
contribute about 1% per year
of different fibre types, resin
Industry 4.0, it is means to an
to GDP over ten years and thus systems, multiple subsequent
end and not vice versa. This
create up to 390,000 jobs [7].
production processes and
comprehension is obviously
The main fields of technology
available processes requires
not valid for all composite
are communication, sensors,
broad expertise and a high
processes, but must not be
actuators, embedded systems,
planning effort to achieve a
neglected.
human machine interfaces
cost- and performance-optiand software technology.
mized solution. On the other
In fact, highly automated comFramework topics, such as refe- hand, this is predestined for
posite process chains are well
rence architectures, standarthe application of correction
suited to smart factories. In
dization, IT security and legal
methods in terms of self-rethe past decade, the increasing

Fig. 2: Typical integration within both the company and the value chain (Source: AZL, RWTH)

No104 April - May 2016 /

demand for composites in key
markets, such as automotive,
energy and aerospace, and
the related quality assurance
efforts have driven the use
of sensor systems. These
systems provide data, the most
important resource of Industry
4.0. Furthermore, focusing on
automated large-scale production systems, present research
and development work in
specific fields of composite
technology - such as sensor
systems for quality metrology
for all relevant parameters and
actuators for flexible handling
systems - are an integral part
of Industry 4.0.
Composite component manufacturers play a role in this
transformation, but material,
machine and peripheral suppliers, software developers and
other participants in the value
chain are also involved. The
necessary real-time process
optimization and process
and product simulations are
challenging due to compositespecific boundary conditions,
complex processes and a
difficult modelling of cause/
effect relationships. Furthermore, quality data processing
software needs to be adjusted,
machine-to-machine communication infrastructure
has to be standardized and
embedded systems, such as
identification devices for
product traceability within the
production flow and during
product lifetime, have to be
customized for composite
manufacturing.
As a result, the production
system itself has to make
individual decisions for
self-adaption, and thus, a

jec composites magazine 19

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016