Improving manufacturing competitiveness with modern communication technology

It often seems that the cards are stacked against Australian manufacturers and the industry in general. If we’re not facing a global financial crisis (followed by GFC 2.0), it’s a high Aussie dollar attacking export opportunities and expected increases in energy prices.

Although manufacturing in this country is doing it tough, we believe Australia can and should be one of the world’s industrial powerhouses. For instance, in Germany where the euro is high and labour rates are similar to those here, manufacturing remains very strong. The right mix of innovation, technology and collaboration has ensured the country’s global competitiveness.

We know that, in order to remain competitive from our corner of the world, Australian companies need to adopt these principles to increase their productivity. In other words, we all need to produce more for less, and reduce waste.

At Siemens, we see technology as playing a major part in helping businesses achieve their increased productivity goals. We’ve witnessed companies implementing technologies to better manage their energy and water usage. Yet we still encounter manufacturers who have identified where savings can be made but haven’t set up any monitoring methods to ensure they are adhering to their strategies or getting the most out of their initiatives. Sometimes they tell us that the communications platform they have in their plant doesn’t allow them to easily add measurement or monitoring equipment, or that the infrastructure they have is proprietary and their supplier doesn’t have the equipment they need (or can provide it at a competitive price).

We feel that a lot of money (and angst) could be saved by using a common protocol - just the one bus cable to run an operation, such as either Profibus or Profinet.

The advantage we see with using an open ethernet standard like Profinet are the savings that companies can achieve by hanging all their instrumentation off the one cable - Profinet can support IT, SCADA, PLC level, distributed I/O, field instruments and even real-time motion control.

Profinet is independent of manufacturers so that means no lock-in contracts with suppliers and their proprietary systems that can add thousands of dollars, if not more, to the cost of equipment, upgrades and servicing.

To me it makes sense to reduce infrastructure costs in the short term with a one-cable system. However, greater savings can be made in the longer term through access to a wider range of technologies that allow owners/operators to add, upgrade or replace devices that can outperform proprietary products and systems. It’s just good business sense.

Having a choice of an ever-increasing number of suppliers supporting Profinet will only sharpen competition and help keep prices in check - exactly what Australian companies need. Another advantage of communication systems like Profibus/Profinet is that they have their own local support in Australia. Training is run by Profibus International throughout Australia, so practically any company can access it.

And with an updated standard (v2.3 - Profinet for process automation) recently released, now is a good time to jump on board if you haven’t already done so.

*Falk Hohmann is Product Manager, PLC and Networks for Siemens Australia, and has worked in the automation sector for over 17 years. In that time he has been actively involved in the development of industrial communication standards, and has worked on several automation projects in Germany, USA, Malaysia and the Philippines for companies such as VW, Mercedes, BMW and Audi.