Hannover Messe Digital Edition: Digital transformation, international collaboration, award winner

The 2021 Hannover Messe Digital Edition is the 74^th Hannover Fair, picking up online where the cancelled 2020 exhibition left off. Online, 1250 exhibitors from 250 countries are joining 500 speakers covering topics relevant to the industry of the future, explained Stephan Weil, prime minister of Lower Saxony, the German region where the fair is located.

Weil also welcomed Indonesia as the 2021 partner nation and thanked Dr. Angela Merkel, German chancellor, for 15 years of attendance and support. This is Merkel’s last year in office.

Industry 4.0 for industrial transformation

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Russwurm, president and chair member of Plattform Industrie 4.0, noted this year’s focus on designing the future of industry, using digital technologies to add value to the future.

The pressure for change and innovation accelerated by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Industry has to become a power user of digitalization, an important part of the solution. Risk minimization, clinging to what was, creates a standstill. Improvised solutions for digitalization bring us closer to the goal, but political willingness is needed. Industry 4.0 is key to this future.

A team spirit between industry and political leaders needed to master structural changes, focus on sustainable innovative technologies and use subject-matter experts as part of the international value-add. Russwurm warned that debate on artificial intelligence shouldn’t parallelize innovation. Technology leadership makes countries and companies competitive. Partners and alliances are method of choice to create change with international partners. Isolation would end German leadership as industrial manufacturing location. Free trade has to be revitalized, Weil said.

Partner country Indonesia embraces Industry 4.0

Indonesia, partner country for the 2021 Hannover Messe, was described as the largest maritime country in the world, with vast cultural diversity and many hardworking, adept and creative young people. The country has embraced Industry 4.0 initiatives to connect and accelerate growth.

H. E. Joko Widodo, president of the Republic of Indonesia, said the pandemic serves as incentive for green development, part of an effort to encourage investments and create 395 million new jobs. Projects include diesel production from palm oi, nickel production for lithium batteries for cellphones and electric vehicles. Widodo thanked Germany for investing 2.5 billion Euros there.

Merkel’s last Hannover Messe as chancellor

Dr. Angela Merkel, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, praised Hannover Messe organizers for educating more than 60,000 participants in the 2021 digital platform.

She praised 70 years of diplomatic relationships with Indonesia, and expressed concern for recent heavy rains and floods there on top of the pandemic.

Merkel encouraged the need to get a handle on COVID-19 infections, expressing the importance of precautions, vaccinations and testing, warning of possibility that more virulent strain might spread before the virus is contains. She said Germany is the largest international donor of vaccines at more than 2 billion, adding that the pandemic has shown a need for improvements in crisis prevention, resilience, supply chains, and diversification of trade. Eliminating monopolies helps, Merkel said; Germany has invested $1 billion Euro in micro electronics manufacturing.

Balancing budgetary deficits in Germany and the European Union can be helped with better use of data and digital strategies, she added.

Hermes Award for technology innovation

Dr. Michael Meister, German parliamentary state secretary, said digital ecosystems create new business models and new use cases for technologies. He announced three finalists for the Hannover Messe Hermes Award as Bosch Rexroth for a new subsea valve actuator SVA R2 is the world’s first electric actuator, Phoenix Contact for NearFi technology that enables contactless transmission of energy and data, and Pilz for myPnoz, a new type of modular safety switching device with batch size of one.

Dr. Jochen Köckler, chairman of the managing board, Deutsche Messe AG, announced the winner as the electric subsea valve actuator. More follows on the winner and two finalists.

Electric subsea valve actuator; wireless communication, power; modular safety switching device

Bosch Rexroth presented a disruptive innovation for the electric operation of valves in the subsea process industry at Hannover Fair. The new subsea valve actuator SVA R2 is the world’s first electric actuator to replace conventional hydraulic cylinders in the same installation space with field-proven safety technology. The integrated electric control provides precise motion control. With condition monitoring and safety spring, SVA R2 achieves up to Safety Integrity Level SIL 3 according to IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. The consistent use of internationally standardized interfaces enables further standardization in the subsea process industry.

The module minimizes energy consumption and environmental risks. When SVA R2 is applied in subsea factories up to a depth of 4,000 meters, hydraulic hoses or power units are no longer required and the already installed electrical supply lines for sensors are sufficient to reliably operate the actuators. As a result, SVA R2 reduces installation and operating costs and increases at the same time the sustainability of subsea process industry.

Phoenix Contact NearFi technology enables contact-free transmission of energy and data and can replace previous plug connections. Thanks to protocol-independent and latency-free Ethernet communication, it offers flexible application options for all Ethernet protocols up to 100 Mbit/s. Transmission takes place in real time in both directions. The technology enables high reliability with low wear and tear at the same time.

Pilz myPnoz is a new type of modular safety switching device that is manufactured in batch size 1. Using an online tool, users can put together their product without any programming knowledge, as the logic of the safety functions is defined by the module selection and the sequence in which they are connected. The product myPnoz is a ready-to-install and completely individualized system that represents an efficient and safe solution for mechanical and plant engineering and other industries.

Mark T. Hoske is content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

KEYWORDS: Hannover Messe, digital transformation, Hermes Award 2021

Industrial digital transformation

Collaboration and trade

Hermes Award 2021.

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