Industrial controls - I4.0
Use cases

Industrial controls I4.0: Use cases

Explore the use cases below for ideas on how the industrial controller can help you improve product quality and machine performance with an enhanced human-machine interface, cloud connectivity and savings on installation labor and software cost.

Hydraulic power unit
What if you could automate the fine tuning of your machine process, increase efficiency and enhance your user interface?

What are the critical saving points?
	Traditional controls	ifm industrial controller
Overall cost savings and benefits	Old cabinet, IP20 protection Expensive labor costs associated with wiring terminations Labor intensive troubleshooting Manual control of flow and pressure cause unpredictable outcomes	Relatively smaller control cabinet Plug-and-play field I/O Easy and fast troubleshooting PID loops fine tune processes and increase machine efficiency
Interactive machine interface	Mechanical switches No visual display Zero component feedback	Modern touch screen control and visual dashboard Reduced learning curve for operators
Connected machines		New machine functions with remote update possible

Brewing
What if we have the ability to get rid of the old industrial control panel hardware and replace it with a 12” touch controller that allows you to monitor your entire process and produce a golden recipe batch every time?

What are the critical savings?
	Traditional controls	ifm industrial controller
Overall cost savings and benefits	Old cabinet, IP20 protection Expensive labor costs associated with wiring terminations Additional cost to maintain and manage recipe programs	Relatively smaller control cabinet Plug-and-play field I/O with IP69K washdown rating Precise management allows precise control -- brews the same beer every time
Interactive machine interface	Mechanical switches No visual display Zero component feedback	Modern touch screen control and visual dashboard Ability to display recipes, trending and data logging
Connected machines		Compare production yield to best result

Bottle filler
What if your bottle filler had a simple user interface that allowed operators easy access to all necessary functions? What if the filler was always available when you needed it and did not shut down unexpectedly at critical times?

What are the critical saving points?
	Traditional controls	ifm industrial controller
Overall cost savings and benefits	Digital and analog I/O are difficult to troubleshoot and time-consuming to replace Large control cabinet for PLC required Expensive licensing fees for programming software	IP69K field mountable IO-Link blocks have automatic device replacement to minimize downtime, withstand daily washdown, and allows real-time quality check 100% digital signal is immune to electrical interference and yields reliable consistent results Eliminating analog PLC input cards and reducing the size of the control cabinet reduces hardware cost.
Interactive machine interface	Mechanical switches No visual display Zero component feedback	Modern touch screen control and visual dashboard Ability to display recipes, trending and data logging
Connected machines		Compare production yield to best result

Dock door
What if your operators had an easy-to-use system to verify shipments go out the door with 100% accuracy every time? What if you could decrease the time to load your truck without loss of accuracy?

What are the critical saving points?
	Traditional controls	ifm industrial controller
Overall cost savings and benefits	Internal triggering with remote I/O are difficult to troubleshoot and time-consuming to replace No local backup, no directionality of scanned unit, limited connectivity, and no supplemental Ethernet devices	Provide local diagnostics with ability to run a full TTQ program with counting processes and inspections on the controller Compatible with ifm 3D sensor, IO-Link technology and UHF RFID system to increase dimensioning accuracy, eliminate human error and provide the ability to track and trace products in real time
Interactive machine interface		Eliminate complex control hardware Display machine alarms and history
Connected machines	Direct network connection which offers no local backup or sync if the system is disconnected from the central server / cloud	Support local backup and sync of data, connectivity to higher level systems / cloud services, complex pre-filtering of data, and supplemental Ethernet devices

Depalletizing robot
What if you could increase the throughput of your depalletizing system? What if your robot never dropped a box or damaged the product it was moving?

What are the critical saving points?
	Traditional controls	ifm industrial controller
Overall cost savings and benefits	Digital and analog I/O are difficult to troubleshoot and time consuming to replace Non-uniform loads cannot be detected leading to crashes, excessive downtime and increased overall cost	Compatible with ifm 3D sensor to provide information to depalletize single cases and full layers while protecting the tool from damage Decrease overall cycle time by determining the next box to pick while the robot is placing the previous case Reduce the number of input devices and wiring on end-of-arm tooling to minimize cycle time using field IO-Link
Interactive machine interface		Provide visual notification such as faults and alarms Reduce learning curve for operators
Connected machines		Remote service improves machine availability