“Before the pandemic, we saw the need for connectivity and moved into Industry 4.0,” Peter Unwin, AMETEK Land and AMETEK Surface Vision’s Global Industry Manager – Metals

Peter is a chartered mechanical engineer and long serving member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). He has worked in the metals industry for over 30 years during which time he has gained a broad knowledge of the production of steel and aluminium from smelting through to finished products. He has spent the majority of his time leading technical sales teams and developing close customer relationships globally in the flat metals sector specialising in equipment for casting and rolling steel and aluminium strip products.

Here, we have Mr Unwin with us sharing some of his views on the importance on Industry 4.0 during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. In his view, Industry 4.0 facilitates you to access accurate data at any point in time and from anywhere, which is exactly a need of the hour now to make quick and remote decision. To know more, read his brief interview below.

AlCircle: Please brief us your views on the importance of Industry 4.0 during this on-going COVID-19 pandemic

Mr Unwin: In my view, during this on-going pandemic, industry as a whole depends on getting accurate data from systems and providing this to management within companies to enable them to make data-driven decisions.

Industry 4.0 facilitates this by allowing for decisions to be made quickly and remotely.

This has been emphasised by the pandemic in industries such as textiles and aluminium which are particularly in demand at the moment – they are operating in a very fast turnaround situation e.g. producing PPE.   Systems need to be in place to solve problems fast and allow them to transform their processes to respond quickly to changes in demand.

It has been a proving ground for Industry 4.0 during this period for a lot of companies, with many businesses having seen the benefits. However, for AMETEK Land and Surface Vision, being in the instrumentation industry, it has simply been a continuation on a theme that we have been working on for many years. 

We have found that many companies have the data but do not know how to manage and use to their advantage; this is where we come in. 

Our technology is capable of generating masses of data, for example video files, but this is useless unless you know what to do with it and simply uses up computer space. Our experts and engineers can understand the processes and systems of a company, and use our expertise to refine, tailor and fine tune the technology to deliver the most useful information.

At LAND and Surface Vision, we spend a lot of time working out problems and providing solutions. For example, we are working with a steel manufacturer to provide a solution to look into furnaces and provide temperature displays in video format. Our systems tailor this information and provide customers with specific information that is important to them. 

LAND is focusing on reheat furnace applications in the steel industry where we can transfer our experience gained in the glass industry using our range of thermal imaging borescopes to provide live thermal images of conditions inside the furnace. By measuring product temperature within the furnace accurately, we can produce increased efficiencies by ensuring the furnace is not operating too hot and expending too much energy, and also to reduce emissions. This is backed up by monitoring flue gases to ensure greenhouse gas emissions are minimised.

Some reheat furnaces have been running for over 40 years with the original operating system, with only a couple of people who are able to manage it. In addition to displaying accurate product temperature, thermal imager borescopes can provide details on individual burner combustion performance and allow remote live refractory inspection. AMETEK Land and Surface Vision have both been challenged during this period. Historically, our services such as servicing, support and maintenance take place on site. The pandemic has meant we have fast-forwarded our plans to expand our service provision to offer more remote services. 

Continuous remote monitoring using live information is more appealing to people in this pandemic as it means no contact needed, especially important when sites and locations are on complete lockdown. It is also faster (no travel or waiting time) as data can be checked almost immediately.

Because of this, there appears to be more of an acceptance for OEMs to move to remote monitoring as a solution both now, during the pandemic, and beyond.

AlCircle: Do you think wide adoption of Industry 4.0 in business operations would be a good solution to fight against the catastrophe of COVID-19?

Mr Unwin: It is fairly simple for a lot of people. The pandemic has changed the way that people work, with a significant move to home-working unless it is business critical. It has been proved that many companies can operate just as efficiently working from home or remotely from the office or site.

Some manufacturers, including ourselves, have looked at what technologies we have and how we can adapt them for immediate demands. So, for us, it has been VIRALERT 3. We are experts in the field of industrial non-contact temperature measurement systems and have been able to develop our existing systems for human body temperature screening (VIRALERT 3) because we already had the systems, processes, technologies and expertise in place.

AlCircle: How are you integrating Industry 4.0 into technology solutions that you provide to your clients during the COVID-19?

Mr Unwin: New product development and improvement has always been a priority for us. Before the pandemic, we saw the need for connectivity and moved into Industry 4.0. The pandemic has pushed this along and we are now integrating Industry 4.0 into all of our products and ensuring they are compatible with all systems.

It is not a case of one single solution; there are all kinds of ways that people want to connect to devices. So, we are ensuring all our products are connectable to any form of digital communication (and analogue).

This means we do not have to get up close to devices – as long as there is an internet connection, we can access performance information and data.  

AlCircle: How do you think Industry 4.0 will change business models and the future of the metals industry post COVID-19?

Mr Unwin: Businesses appear to be slowly getting back to normal operation levels where possible. Processes will have to be more resilient and be able to cope with demand (both up and down), which will likely change while we go through the transition of back to work.

As an example, metal process working in a high-volume sector will have seen a change in demand. With people uncertain of the future, the demand for new cars has reduced significantly. Automotive steel manufacturers run high-volume production continuously producing thousands of tonnes of high strength steel.

These processes tend to be quite stable and just change-monitored. As we go through this pandemic phase, we will likely see the automotive demand slow to pick up, but other sectors might emerge quicker. 

Cold mills and galvanizing lines that were set up for automotive markets will probably become more versatile and respond to where the demand comes, e.g. appliances. The appliance market is typically small batch/volume so the automotive lines will need to change and adapt to this demand quickly. This changing landscape will require more control, faster feedback to enable quicker production changes, utilising existing lines, equipment, and resources, and is done through digitalisation.

Artificial Intelligence is another factor in changing business models and Industry 4.0. It allows for faster response through digitalisation. We are now in a situation where we can develop and let machines learn from feedback from the data, so this will be evermore important as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.