A new approach to machine safety
Author : Paul Taylor, General Manager for Machinery Safety at TÜV SÜD Product Service
08 March 2018
Industry 4.0 is a major paradigm shift for industry, with the convergence of enterprise IT and operational technology (OT) seeing systems and devices exchanging and interpreting shared data. Industrial manufacturing will therefore face massive disruption as developments move towards fully connected, self-organising intelligent factories. One of these disruptions is finding the answer to a new machinery safety approach.
Currently, industrial automation is a consolidated reality, with approximately 90 percent of machines in factories being unconnected. These isolated systems mean that machinery safety can be comfortably assessed in a static environment, and current regulations are set-up to address this type of environment, where the variables can be easily understood and control measures applied to minimise the known hazards.
However, the smart factories of tomorrow will be based on modular architectures, with standardised interfaces and state-of-the-art information technology that permit highly flexible, automated ‘plug and produce’ manufacturing. While this will make it possible to manufacture small lot sizes cost-efficiently, meeting an increasing demand for customised products, it also sees a shift from static risk assessment to one of dynamic risk. As machine configurations change, so does the risk variables.
In the new world of Industry 4.0, manufacturing devices will autonomously self-optimise. While ongoing digital transformation will drive innovation across a wide range of industries, machinery safety experts will face significant challenges as we move towards fully connected, self-organising intelligent factories.
In the currently understood, and relatively unconnected industrial world, if a machine has a substantial change made, a full CE marking and assessment process must be completed before it can be returned to service. However, Industry 4.0 principles means that machinery and production lines are highly adaptive, and can be quickly reconfigured at a press of a button.
As the current approach relies on the original configuration to be risk assessed, such instant updates to machinery mean that the traditional static risk assement approach will not meet Industry 4.0 requirements. It is therefore vital to consider the shifting landscape of risk. While a smart factory will see reduced risk in several areas, the range and flexibility of connected interfaces introduces a new set of risk issues.
A dynamically reconfigurable Industry 4.0 system therefore requires a new and integrated approach to machine safety assessment, for example, a new, modular method of certification that delivers integrated support for machinery end users as they progress towards Industry 4.0. The key benefit of modular certification is the major cost and time savings it contributes to the operation of adaptive self-configuring Industry 4.0 production systems. TÜV SÜD is therefore developing a modular certification scheme for smart factory components, addressing issues such as interface standards, interoperability, functional safety and IT security.
While Industry 4.0 is a growing reality, much of it still remains a concept as the shift to this new method of working requires significant financial investment in new plant, as well as the assurance that the machinery safety issues have been addressed.
Directives have not yet addressed the needs of an Industry 4.0 environment, but we will see a move from a human-led static risk assessment approach to a machine-led dynamic risk assessment approach, with an ever increasing reliance on multiple layers of functional safety. As Industry 4.0 becomes ever more agile and automated, so the approach to machinery safety must reflect and support that. For many, Industry 4.0 therefore remains a concept and goal, rather than a reality, raising more questions about machinery safety than can currently be answered. The connected world of Industry 4.0’s smart factories adds a new and significant dimension of complexity in terms of machinery safety challenges.
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