January 2020

YASKAWA ELECTRIC is making a “significant” investment to build a centre for testing large drives at its Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch business in Finland. The centre will be one of the largest of its kind and will be capable of testing entire drivetrains, including motors, generators, frequency converters, transformers and auxiliary equipment. Initially, it will be able to test systems rated up to 15MW, but there are plans for a second phase that will be able to handle even larger drives as well as MV systems. Yaskawa’s manufacturing and testing operation in Lappeenranta, Finland, dates back to 2014 when it acquired The Switch, which specialised in large permanent magnet machines and power conversion systems, and had originally been set up as a spin-off from Vacon and other local companies. In 2016, Yaskawa added Wärtsilä’s marine drives business to the operation, and the site now produces systems mainly for renewable energy, high-speed and marine applications. “The test centre is very important for us,” says Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, president and CEO of Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch. “It will allow us to test 15MW and higher converter and machine powers. This is the way the market is evolving, with ever-increasing powers in offshore wind and the propulsion of marine vessels.” “The centre supports the key industries that we’ve chosen to work with, as their demand for larger and larger drivetrains keeps growing,” adds Matti Nikkinen, general manager of the business. As well as the testing facility, the new building will expand Yaskawa’s production capacity. It is due to be completed by the end of February. January 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com 10 Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2020 11–13 February, 2020 Farnborough, UK Around 800 exhibitors and 9,000 visitors are expected to attend the annual event which now takes place in the new 20,000m 2 Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre, which offers easy access and free onsite parking. www.industrysouth.co.uk Hannover Fair 2020 20-24 April 2020 Hannover, Germany The industrial mega-showwill host around 6,000 exhibitors fromaround the world, presenting a wide array of industrial technologies. Among themany themes and topics being highlighted at the 2020 Fair are robotics, artificial intelligence, logistics and data security. www.hannovermesse.de Drives & Controls 2020 21–23 April, 2020 NEC, Birmingham The UK’s leading event for drives, power transmission and motion control returns to the NEC. As well as a comprehensive exhibition, the event will include a full conference programme and a live robotic demonstration area. It will run alongside the Mach, Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, Smart Industry Expo, and Plant & Asset Management exhibitions. www.drives-expo.com UKIVA Machine Vision Conference and Exhibition 14 May, 2020 Milton Keynes The annual event which has grown year- on-year since its inception in 2017 will, for the first time, include a panel discussion session where a group of experts will answer questions on aspects of machine vision. The event will otherwise follow a similar format to previous years, with a programme of technical seminars supported by an exhibition. www.machinevisionconference.co.uk Automatica 2020 and Sensor Show 16–19 June 2020 Munich, Germany For the first time, an application-oriented sensor technology exhibition and congress will be integrated into the Automatica automation and robotics event. The aim is to increase the focus on sensor, test and measurement technologies, and to cover areas that will attract new visitors. www.automatica-munich.com Hillhead 2020 23-25 June 2020 Buxton, Derbyshire On the back of a record-breaking event in 2018, which was attended by 546 exhibitors and 19,753 visitors, the organisers of the quarrying event have decided to extend it again for 2020. An extra 2,200m 2 of stand space has been created in the quarry floor by extending the showground into the demonstration area. High-speed fibre-optic broadband will also be installed across the site. www.hillhead.com n NEWS Yaskawa’s new Finnish facility will be able test drives up to 15MW Yaskawa’s new centre for testing large drive systems will be one of the world’s largest TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS in the industrial and manufacturing sector are set to soar from $59bn in 2019 to $375bn by 2030. If hardware revenues are included, that figure could climb to more than $1 trillion, according ABI Research. Manufacturing is undergoing a digital revolution and is investing heavily in IIoT technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), robotics (including AGVs and mobile robots) and cloud-based simulation and modelling, says ABI in a new report. “The transformative shift toward Industry 4.0 technologies and the broader field of software- defined manufacturing (SDM) presents a massive opportunity for a wide range of technology providers and implementers,” suggests Ryan Martin, a principal analyst at ABI. Intelligently connected hardware represents the lion’s share of the revenues, expanding from $200bn in 2019 to $800bn by 2030, however its proportion of the market will shrink as software and services expand. After hardware, data and analytic services is the fastest-growing segment in terms of generating revenues, and is projected to reach more than $185bn by 2030, up from just $11bn in 2019. “As the amount of custom code required to deploy new solutions on the factory floor drops, data and analytic service revenue growth in smart manufacturing will accelerate,”Martin explains. Machine tools, asset tracking, and connected PLCs will experience the biggest growth in terms of connected service revenues over the next 10 years. ABI predicts that by 2030, revenues from machine tools – including 3D printers as well as CNC machines, lathes, mills and drills – will reach $134bn, asset tracking will reach $78bn, and PLCs will hit $40bn. “Industry 4.0 is creating millions of new end- points that need to be interconnected,” says Martin. “However, the existing infrastructure can’t support it, which is creating an opportunity for connectivity experts and providers to step in.” ABI estimates that there are currently 260 million digital factory connections worldwide, with 230 million of them being via fixed lines. But, by 2023, many of the 5.5 billion expected digital factory connections will be wireless. “This is being driven by the rise in newly-connected endpoints, including sensors, mobile robots, advanced asset tracking, condition-based monitoring, predictive maintenance applications, and so on,” says Martin. Although Industry 4.0 is a global phenomenon, roughly half of the global revenue growth will be come from China and the US, followed by Germany and Japan. www.abiresearch.com D igital factory reve nues could exceed $1 trillion by 2030