December/January 2019

| 44 | December/January 2020 www.smartmachinesandfactories.com | TECHNOLOGIES | Smart Machines & Factories caught up with Brendan O’Dowd*, general manager (Industrial Automation), Analog Devices, Inc (ADI), to take a look at how real-time control, safety, and security are driving technological innovation in the factory of tomorrow. W idening prosperity is combining with the proliferation of sensors and extensive cloud connectivity to accelerate the pace of change in factory systems and equipment. The way in which factories operate is changing fast in the face of powerful economic and technological forces. The most agile factory equipment manufacturers will thrive in this fast- changing environment, as they develop increasingly connected and intelligent systems which help factories become more flexible and safer, while maintaining security as they extend connectivity. Increased use of automated and autonomous systems will reduce factories’ dependence on labor for repetitive or intricate manual operations. Semiconductors will be at the heart of this new generation of industrial automation equipment, providing the processing, control, and sensing functions required to operate effectively in connected environments. Brendan O’Dowd, general manager (Industrial Automation), Analog Devices, Inc (ADI), explained that his company has always thrived at the intersection of the analog and digital worlds, and has a close-up view of the technological changes that new factory automation equipment calls for. Its expertise in the fields of sensing, signal conditioning, digital signal processing, wired and wireless connectivity, and software bring it close to the challenges that its industrial customers face, enabling it to develop application- oriented solutions that accelerate OEMs’ time to market. O’Dowd says ADI’s goal is to help customers innovate through technology and be prepared for whatever the future brings, while continuing to support legacy systems by providing guaranteed long-term availability of industrial parts. What the future brings is profound disruption, which has its roots in a welcome trend: the global spread of prosperity. Widening prosperity This century has seen a notable rise in disposable incomes in parts of the world that have traditionally been regarded as developing countries. As a result, demand for manufactured goods is growing globally, putting pressure on manufacturers to expand production while supplying an increasingly diverse set of product configurations, in order to satisfy regional and national variations in demand. At the same time, the global growth in prosperity is shrinking the availability of cheap, unskilled manual labour. The one-time boost that manufacturers have gained in the past 30 years from offshoring production to low cost locations such as China is evaporating, as wages in these locations rise, and the workforce, now increasingly well- educated, loses its appetite for performing repetitive manual operations for low pay. In the future, manufacturers will be seeking to increase competitiveness by deploying automation technology rather than moving to a new low cost location. The smart and connected factory New technological capabilities are also helping manufacturers gain additional value from expenditure on factory automation equipment. A proliferation of miniature, high performance semiconductor sensors alongside pervasive connectedness are creating a deluge of data on machine and process performance. There is now more potential than ever for rich, new applications of data analytics, such as machine health monitoring and preventive maintenance. At the same time, the increasing use of programmable hardware and software-defined electronics functions enables rapid reconfigurations of factory processes and tools. The factory of tomorrow, then, according to O’Dowd, will be more agile and responsive to demand, more automated, and more reliable. It will require fewer human operators and will face less disruption due to unplanned maintenance. So which technologies in the analog Driving technological innovation in the factory of tomorrow