Industry 4.0 An era that the pneumatic industry cannot miss"The arrival of Industry 4.0 is an opportunity for the pneumatic industry to accelerate its transformation and upgrading. For colleagues in China's pneumatic industry, missing this Industry 4.0 is equivalent to missing this era! These are the words of Wang Xiongyao, former deputy general manager of Festo (China) Co., Ltd., member of the expert committee of China Hydropneumatic Seal Industry Association, special consultant and senior expert in pneumatic technology.In order to seize the opportunity in the new round of industrial revolution, the "Industry 4.0" project was officially launched at the Hannover Messe in April 2013 with the advice and promotion of the German Academy of Engineering, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Siemens AG and other German academia and industry. In fact, this research project is one of the ten future projects identified by the German government's "High Technology Strategy 2020" in July 2010 as a topic development to support the development and innovation of the next generation of revolutionary technologies in the industrial field. In 2015, at the Consumer Electronics, Information and Communication Expo (CeBIT) in Hannover, Germany, Germany officially released the top-level framework of Industry 4.0 at the national level, building a physical architecture from strategy, standards, research and development and security .

The Industry 4.0 platform established by the German Scientific Council is jointly promoted by three associations and one institute, the German Association for Information Technology, Communications and New Media (BITKOM), the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturing Association (ZVEI), the German Joint Manufacturing Association for Machinery and Equipment (VDMA), and the Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology at the Fraunhofer Institute. It can be described as a huge production, education and research system composed of "Internet communication", "electronic control technology with intelligent logic control", "advanced equipment manufacturer" and "the most authoritative R & D institution", including IBM, BOSCH and many other leading enterprises.

As one of the initiators, organizers and implementers of Germany's "Industry 4.0", the Fraunhofer Institute is the largest applied science and technology research institution in Europe, mainly focusing on industrial application research of scientific research results, is the world's first industrial research institution, the first research institution to develop Internet-based "intelligent production" technology and equipment, and is also a long-term joint development cooperation unit of German Festo. As a physical pneumatic manufacturer with great R&D and manufacturing capabilities, Festo's role in Industry 4.0 should attract great attention from China's pneumatic industry. Since the 21st century, the pace of Festo's product reform has accelerated, pneumatic product upgrades, product transitions (electric axes, vision systems, etc.), and its biomimetic scientific experiments, from today's point of view, are closely related to the current description of Industry 4.0, which can be described as a warm-up race for Industry 4.0 intelligent products, step by step to today, basically no detours, and is a straight acceleration. This is one of the reasons why Festo was appointed to the Industry 4.0 Steering Committee.

"The active transformation and upgrading from Festo shows that the pneumatic industry is becoming the main force of the digital factory, with higher sensitivity to Industry 4.0 and easier to find the direction of Industry 4.0." The pneumatic industry should play an important role in the comprehensive solution of automated production lines and take the initiative to 'transform and upgrade'. This remark expressed Wang Xiongyao's high affirmation of the future value of pneumatic technology and his urgent expectation for the transformation and development of the pneumatic industry.

Once Germany's "Industry 4.0" was launched, the world was caught up in heated discussions. At the same time, all countries actively launched strategies and plans similar to "Industry 4.0". The discussion of Industry 4.0 in China is even more lively, and there are different understandings. What exactly is Industry 4.0? Why was Germany the first to propose it? What are its main advantages? How does the German industry promote Industry 4.0? Is the pneumatic industry unified in their understanding of Industry 4.0? Why is the pneumatic industry particularly closely related to "Industry 4.0"? What are the main gaps between the level of China's pneumatic industry and Germany? Can the pneumatic industry be smoothly transformed and upgraded during the "Made in China 2025" planning period? Let's follow Wang Xiongyao's perspective to find the answer.

Reporter: Why did Germany put forward the slogan of Industry 4.0, and in what context was Industry 4.0 formed? Do other developed countries have similar strategies and plans?Wang Xiongyao: As early as 2010, US President Barack Obama signed the Manufacturing Promotion Act, which is what we call the "return of manufacturing" in the United States. The reason was the 2008 world economic crisis, the "hollowing out" of the US economy, and the proportion of manufacturing value added in GDP fell from 24.4% to 12%. The essence of "reindustrialization" in the United States is industrial upgrading, launching high-end manufacturing plans, and strengthening research in the fields of nanotechnology, high-end batteries, energy materials, biological manufacturing, a new generation of microelectronics research and development, and high-end robots.

When Germany began planning for Industry 4.0, the US government was already systematically planning and actively promoting 6S industrial systems: semiconductor, shale gas, intelligent service value-creating economy (Smart ICT Service), innovation spirit represented by Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley Sprit), aerospace (Space/Aerospace), The development of Sustainable Talent Pool attempts to maintain the leading position in R&D, technology and manufacturing in the field of high-end manufacturing. But despite this, the United States has not shouted slogans similar to Industry 4.0.To explore the roots of German Industry 4.0, as early as 2006, the German government introduced the "German High-Tech Strategy", which integrates a number of research and innovation activities in different fields. At the government level, in 2008 and 2009, Germany proposed the "High-tech Strategy 2020", which includes ten projects in the five fields of mobility, energy, security, communication and health, and was first made public in 2010, which may be the predecessor of Industry 4.0.

According to the "China Engineering Science and Technology Forum (2015 International Conference on Intelligent Manufacturing)" sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015, and jointly organized by the Department of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Association (VDMA) and Xi'an Jiaotong University, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association research, talent development, Bernhard Diegner, Director of Engineering Production (ZVEI), revealed the experience, dynamics and results of the Industry 4.0 group's faltering growth in the report. It is said that since 2009, Germany has been trying to come up with suitable concepts to express Germany's need for industrial upgrading. It can be seen that Germany's proposal of "Industry 4.0" is repeatedly demonstrated, deliberate, and developed several times, and it was not until 2013 that "Industry 4.0" was established as the core concept; In 2014, vigorously promoted and completed the standard definition and white paper; In 2015, at the CeBIT exhibition, the top-level framework of Industry 4.0 at the national level was officially released, and the physical architecture was built from strategy, standards, R&D and security.

In a practical sense, German Industry 4.0 is not achieved overnight and cannot be regarded as a preemptive one. In its "Recommendations for the Implementation of Industry 4.0" strategy, the German Industry 4.0 Group pointed out: "In the field of manufacturing engineering, global competition is intensifying, and Germany is not the only country that has recognized the need to introduce IoT and services in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, it is not only Asia that poses a competitive threat to German industry, but the United States is also taking steps to counter deindustrialization through various programs to promote the development of "first to manufacture." "In order to shift industrial production to 4.0, Germany needs to adopt a dual strategy. Germany's equipment manufacturing industry should continue to integrate information and communication technology into traditional high-tech strategies to maintain its global market leadership in order to become a major supplier of intelligent manufacturing technology. At the same time, it is necessary to establish and nurture new dominant markets for CPS (CyberPhysical Systems) technologies and products.

Today, countries are launching plans to revitalize the industrial revolution: the United States has an advanced manufacturing partnership; Japan has the "Japanese Manufacturing Competition Strategy" and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "2015 Manufacturing White Paper"; South Korea has a "new growth engine strategy"; France has the "New Industrial France" program; China has also formulated the "Made in China 2025" plan.

Reporter: What is the meaning of Industry 4.0? What are its salient features and tasks?

Wang Xiongyao: The German Industry 4.0 document describes it as follows: "The physical world and the virtual network world (Cyberspace) are integrated in the form of virtual network-physical physical system (CPS), and the resources, information, goods and people are interconnected through a large range of direct interconnection through the Internet, thereby creating the Internet of Things and services." The impact of this phenomenon will be reflected in the industrial sector. In manufacturing, this technological progressive advance can be described as the fourth stage of industrialization, Industry 4.0".

In order to implement the following characteristics of Industry 4.0, the "Recommendations for the Implementation of Industry 4.0 Strategy" also explains in depth the three main tasks of Industry 4.0: horizontal integration through value networks (including horizontal network integration between enterprises); end-to-end digital integration of engineering throughout the value chain; and vertically integrated and networked manufacturing systems (flexible and reconfigurable within the enterprise).

◆Horizontal integration through value network (including horizontal network integration between enterprises)

From the internal information integration to the industrial chain information integration, from the supply chain management within the enterprise and the collaborative supply chain management between the enterprise, from the internal collaborative R&D system to the inter-enterprise R&D network (see Figure 2), from the internal value chain reconstruction to the value chain reconstruction between enterprises. Horizontal integration is a kind of resource integration between enterprises through the value chain and information network, in order to achieve seamless cooperation between enterprises, provide real-time products and services, promote the seamless connection and comprehensive integration of the whole process of research, production, supply and marketing, operation management and production control, business and finance between enterprises, and realize information sharing and business collaboration between different enterprises such as product development, manufacturing, and management.

Devices from a variety of manufacturers can work on a single information platform, enabling seamless collaboration between companies to provide real-time products and services.

◆End-to-end engineering digital integration throughout the entire value chain

From product development to manufacturing engineering, product production and service, IT systems are properly equipped to support the entire value chain. It should be added that this comprehensive systems engineering approach across different technical disciplines is required. End-to-end data systems engineering and value chain optimization will also mean that customers will no longer have to pick products from suppliers' pre-made product ranges; The value chain can be digitally integrated through manufacturer's end-to-engineering integration, with reset modules and data compilation for personalization.

◆ Achieve vertical integration

Vertical integration takes place at the factory. In the intelligent factory of the future, the manufacturing structure will not be fixed and will be predetermined. Instead, a set of IT structured modules customized according to individual needs, according to the needs of product production in different situations automatically build a specific structure, the structure refers to how to complete a combination of manufacturing system allocation through resource allocation (such as machines, work, logistics, etc.) and the interaction between them (such as raw material turnover), including all related requirements such as models, data communication and algorithms (see Figure 3).

In order to achieve vertical integration, it is important for end-to-end data integration to ensure that different levels of brake and sensing signals are transmitted to the ERP level. Modules and usage strategies need to be developed for special networked and recombined manufacturing systems, and functional descriptions are also important. Moreover, both workers and operators need to be trained to understand the impact of these methods on manufacturing systems.

Du Pinsheng, vice president of Phoenix (China) Co., Ltd., explained in the 2012 article "The Status of Information Control Integration Technology in the Future Manufacturing Field" that vertical information integration is characterized by unified and transparent data communication, using fieldbus (Interbus) and industrial real-time Ethernet (Profinet) to achieve seamless integration of information from the management layer, control layer to field device layer, so that the factory process control system (FCS/PCS) and enterprise management information system (ERP), Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are organically integrated. This enables real-time field data to be obtained anytime, anywhere in the enterprise for assessment, planning, coordination and optimization of operational processes, production processes and business processes, truly enabling seamless connection between automation and manufacturing management, enterprise management and supply chain management.

In summary, Industry 4.0 shows the fundamentals of future manufacturing technology, from the perspective of the entire value chain, product development, production, service site can be exchanged through software and network, so that all departments of the factory (production line, R & D department, sales department, logistics department, enterprise management department, etc.) through the Internet, with the use of sensors of each node to be exchanged, communicated, and transmitted with a standard unified communication format (which is one of the issues that Industry 4.0 needs to solve). Therefore, it is no longer necessary to rely on the planning of several months or years ago to arrange production, but to flexibly adjust the production process according to the latest situation (order requirements), so that the manufacturing process, production equipment, raw materials/semi-finished products and finished products exchange information and instructions in real time to achieve the optimal production process. In this way, products that meet all aspects of the conditions are manufactured, which is the personalized production mode brought by Industry 4.0.

The core of Industry 4.0 is to closely connect equipment, production lines, factories, suppliers, products and customers through the three integrations mentioned above (vertical integration, horizontal integration and end-to-end integration of the value chain). Specifically, it is to form an intelligent network of ubiquitous sensors, embedded terminal systems, intelligent control systems, and communication facilities through CPS, so that products and production equipment, different production equipment, and the digital world and the physical world can be interconnected, so that machines, working parts, systems and humans can continuously maintain digital information exchange through the network.

Reporter: What important changes will Industry 4.0 bring to the manufacturing industry and even society?

Wang Xiongyao: The first three industrial revolutions were all concluded after being summarized by later generations, but this time, it was clearly proposed by Germany and set off the wave of the fourth industrial revolution.

Industry 4.0 proves to be the inevitable law of technological development and the inevitability of scientific development. When a science and technology develops to a certain stage, it is possible to look forward to the future. At present, some engineers have adopted valve terminal (built-in PLC) technology, applied industrial Ethernet (Ethernet), and realized online communication, diagnosis and monitoring of production lines thousands of kilometers away through the Internet (see Figure 4). When Industry 3.0 has developed to the present, engineers have used intelligent industrial robots to complete work that cannot be done by humans. The outstanding performance of industrial technology shows that our intelligence and technology have stepped into the edge of the Internet/intelligent robots/intelligent manufacturing. At this time, Germany's proposal of Industry 4.0 development plan can be described as a natural success, the direction is clear, and the difficulties are both clear and specific. As Bernhard Diegner, an expert from the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association at the "2015 International Conference on Intelligent Manufacturing", revealed in the report: "The initial stage of progress was very slow, and only three working groups could be formed on a limited number of three topics, which felt that the coverage was too narrow; Dialogue between different industries and sectors is difficult; System complexity is greater than imagination; ......； At the same time, there is a complete lack of internationalization strategies". In addition, the unification of network standards, the confidentiality and security of business data, to ensure that it is not stolen and attacked.

The changes brought by German Industry 4.0 to the whole society are huge, from human production methods, business models and people's lives in society will gradually change, involving people and machines; People to people; Countries and countries (rich and poor). As:

●Meet the individual needs of users: that is, it is possible to make profits under the condition of one-time production and low output (1 batch);

●Flexibility: dynamic configuration of engineering processes and process data;

●Decision optimization: Industry 4.0 provides end-to-end real-time transparency, enabling early demonstration of engineering and short-term decision-making;

●Resource productivity and utilization efficiency optimization: continuous optimization of resource and energy consumption or emission reduction in the production process;

●Creating value opportunities through new services: Downstream services and large amounts of big data open up new ways to create value and new forms of employment, especially for SMEs and start-ups;Responding to changing workplace demographics: Industry 4.0 will provide flexible and diverse career paths in the face of a shortage of skilled labor and an increasingly diverse workforce;

●Work-life balance: Companies that use CPS can have a more flexible work organization model, allowing employees to achieve a better balance between work and private life, and between personal development and continuous career development;

●High wages remain competitive: The dual strategy of Industry 4.0 will enable Germany to remain a leading supplier and become the dominant market for Industry 4.0 solutions.

In 2014, Dieter Wegener, vice president of the advanced technology and standards department of Siemens Industrial Solutions Group in Germany (Industry 4.0 standard setter), said in an interview: "In order to achieve Industry 4.0, there are many things that must be done. Industry 4.0 will not happen overnight, not just a blueprint, but a way forward. For us, aiming for Industry 4.0 is itself a revolution. As for success, let's wait 30 years and let our descendants judge." Industry 4.0 is progressing well, and Germany is accelerating the development of "digital factories" operating models (e.g. the Siemens Amberg plant). We are puzzled by the fact that German companies in China do not mention or rarely mention Industry 4.0, on the contrary, Chinese companies seem to be more enthusiastic about Industry 4.0. According to the survey of Germany's "Suggestions for the Implementation of the "Industry 4.0" Strategy", 47% of German companies said that they have actively participated in the Industry 4.0 plan, 18% of the companies have participated in the study of the Industry 4.0 plan, and 12% of the companies have begun to implement the Industry 4.0 plan. Germany is a very rigorous nation, at present, is speeding up experiments and building "digital factories", with less saying more as the principle. This should be the reason why many German companies in China do not mention Industry 4.0 or rarely mention it.

Reporter: Chinese industry people have different attitudes towards Industry 4.0, does Industry 4.0 have practical help for the development of China's pneumatic technology, and what enlightenment can it provide?

Wang Xiongyao: There are various views on Industry 4.0 in China, one is that the Chinese manufacturing industry and the investment community seem to be more enthusiastic about Industry 4.0 than the Germans; there are also views that "Industry 4.0 looks beautiful, but it does seem to be a little far away from us"; "The development of the Internet industry in Germany and China is completely different, learning from Germany's Industry 4.0 experience, China will not be satisfied", "After Industry 4.0 will enterprises lay off employees significantly, is workers' jobs robbed by robots", "Industry 4.0 is just intelligent manufacturing, no fuss, we will also catch up", "Industry 4.0 personalized production, we have not yet reached this level of consumption" and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the misunderstanding of Industry 4.0. I think that German Industry 4.0 has at least brought a template to China's pneumatic technology and pneumatic industry, and how should pneumatic and automation develop next? What types of automation components and components are needed to meet the basic requirements unveils the specific policies and strategies for the future development of the industry.

Pneumatic technology is an automation technology and one of the foundations of intelligent equipment and automated production lines. In the industrial production line, more than 80% of the components come from pneumatic components. When Germany announces "Industry 4.0", there is a sudden sense of excitement for professionals working in pneumatics and automation. Just like the "Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet", because they were originally engaged in manufacturing automation intelligent devices, and Industry 4.0 allows them to understand where the current gap is, what to do next, and what is the direction.

Nowadays, engineers have been partially engaged in vertically integrated networked manufacturing systems and end-to-end integrated functions of the whole value chain by using fieldbuses provided by different manufacturers (which will be gradually unified under the requirements of Industry 4.0), industrial Ethernet (through the Internet of Things), wireless networks, GPS positioning technology, vision systems, barcode scanning information technology, etc.

Industry 4.0 brings us a new concept: the Internet of Things, mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and other new generation of information technology widely popularized and promoted the transformation of production methods, is "Internet + intelligent manufacturing". Industry 4.0 offers us a template for the factory of the future, such as the "model for the digital factory" – the Siemens Amberg factory.

But the most important thing it brings to the pneumatic industry is the concept reform, the transformation and upgrading of the pneumatic industry. Although we also mentioned "product upgrade" and "enterprise transformation" before, how to transform and how to upgrade, the concept is vague (how to change), the direction is unclear (what to change), and there is no template (can be based on the digital factory).

In the past, when we formulated the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" and "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", we aimed at the "upgrading" of pneumatic industry products, such as miniaturization, miniaturization, low power consumption, integration, scale, mechatronics of products, and low-temperature resistant (-40°C) valves for trains; proportional valves; valve terminal; Rodless cylinders, etc. At the time of development, the level of international product standards referred to is different, and the east and west cannot form a truly modular series of products. For the basic dismantling of automation products that do not use compressed air (only a very small number of units develop electric cylinders), the reason is that it is not clear that today's international pneumatic manufacturers have long been committed to providing full automation solutions and mechatronics products. This requires Chinese pneumatic enterprises to reflect.

Reporter: Festo is an important member of the German Industry 4.0 entity architecture, but also a leader in pneumatic technology, analyzing Festo's products and technology development history, what directions and experiences are worth learning from Chinese pneumatic enterprises?

Wang Xiongyao: Festo has a seat on both the "Management Board" and the "Steering Committee" of the "German Industry 4.0 Platform". Festo joined the manufacturer-independent SmartFactory program in 2013. The goal is to integrate new technologies and concepts into the factory automation environment. Festo has experienced the step-by-step progress of German industry towards Industry 4.0 and knows what more steps are needed to achieve Industry 4.0 thoroughly. By analyzing the development process and route of Festo's pneumatic products and technologies, it can be reasoned and proved that the basis of Industry 4.0 is pneumatic and automation technology. Therefore, the pneumatic industry has a higher sensitivity to Industry 4.0 and is easier to find the direction of Industry 4.0. The pneumatic industry should play the leading role in the comprehensive solution of automated production lines and take the initiative to "transform and upgrade".

Taking Festo as an example, from the end of the 20th century, in addition to the supply of air source treatment units (modular air source combination units for diagnosing air source faults); Cylinder; Piping system (various characteristics and functions, gas pipes, joints); Solenoid valves (pneumatic control, electronically controlled solenoid valves, high-speed valves, pressure/flow proportional valves and vacuum valves with various functions), and also produce valve terminals (with programmable controllers, with fieldbus/Ethernet interface, fault diagnosis functions such as valve air source pressure, I/O electrical signal short circuit, open circuit, node controller and so on); Electric cylinder (various precisions, such as toothed belt type screw type, roller screw type); Stepper motor, servo motor and motor controller: tripod manipulator; Image processing systems (2D/3D vision systems; barcode scanning); Sensors (pressure sensors, flow sensors, photoelectric sensors); Various cable interfaces, adapters and automation selection software.

The transformation of this product is not the exclusive practice of a pneumatic manufacturer, but the inevitable law of automation development. In particular, it is at the end of the 20th century that the active development of mechatronics products laid the foundation concept of Industry 4.0. Today, Germany is actively using the digital factory as a pilot experiment to accelerate the pace of Industry 4.0.

Pneumatic manufacturers will become the masters of industrial automation production rather than other industry manufacturers, because pneumatic manufacturers can provide more than 80% of automation components. The first step of automatic assembly line design is to start from pneumatics, the drive (cylinder, etc.) can build a motion trajectory platform in any spatial position, and the speed regulating valve installed on both sides of the cylinder can achieve stepless speed regulation of speed, easy to get on, convenient maintenance, the lowest cost, can form a modular structure, very suitable for the intelligent equipment components of the digital factory, so pneumatic products account for more than 80% of the total amount of automation components on the intelligent automatic assembly line. At the same time, in terms of the convenience of debugging of automatic lines, it is easier to debug pneumatic products that occupy the main body of the entire production line, which is also an important factor for enterprises to measure which technology to adopt. It can be shown that pneumatic technology and pneumatic products will continue to develop and grow, and integrate with other disciplines and technologies to form new products.

Since pneumatic products are one of the most important roles in factory automation, if there are electric components such as electric axes on the production line, why does the pneumatic industry not "change careers"? Strictly speaking, this is "expansion", and many foreign pneumatic manufacturers are expanding. If a small number of products such as electric axes are required on the industrial automatic assembly line, pneumatic manufacturers can jointly develop with some other control component manufacturers through one-stop service (including solving debugging).

In summary, the pneumatic industry should play the protagonist of comprehensive solutions and take the initiative to "transform and upgrade". In this way, the overall development of products and the unified consideration of mechanical interfaces and communication interfaces are in line with the scientific outlook on development.

◆ "Deepening" of pneumatic technology

With the development of pneumatic technology (see Figure 5), pneumatic technology is constantly "deepening", resulting in the "transformation and upgrading" of the pneumatic industry.

At present, the internationally advanced industrial countries have integrated pneumatic technology into mechatronics technology. For example, Festo pneumatic control and transmission (cylinder, electromagnetic directional valve, etc.), mechanical, electrical control and transmission (electric cylinder, stepping motor, servo motor, motor controller), vacuum technology, communication technology, bionic technology, vision system, diagnosis or online diagnostic monitoring, unlimited network control, energy saving and environmental protection, to form a complete automation solution model (system).

Component development follows the direction of microelectronics, microtechnology, online detection and self-healing function, mechatronics, and the requirements of German Industry 4.0 meet the requirements of intelligent production and intelligent control mode (at least the field-level automated production line and the production equipment of each station have tended to be unified in communication and control). For example, uniform bus interfaces are taken into account for all components that require control or diagnostics (cylinders, valve terminals, vacuum generators, vision systems, etc.).

In the field of application, it has begun to consider the use of unified bus, Ethernet, wireless real-time communication control mode, intelligent and online diagnosis and control. High emphasis on environmental protection, energy saving, safety (gas saving circuit, energy recovery, shortening gas pipe, reducing pressure level, optimizing selection, using energy-saving products), in line with explosion-proof, food hygiene, safety level and other pneumatic products, and through the feedback of the application field, promote the change of components. Complete end-to-end digital integration for engineering across the entire value chain.

◆The "evolution" of pneumatic technology

Pneumatic technology is also constantly "evolving", such as CPX (electrical terminal) + valve terminal。

Is the CPX+ valve terminal related to Industry 4.0? Industry 4.0 requires machines, devices and other components to exchange information and data in real time, including the transition from rigid centralized factory control systems to decentralized intelligent factory control systems, evaluation of different sensor signals, detection of complex events, independent local decision-making and control. The components are intelligently networked with each other, can be self-configurable, have a simple process, and meet the various requirements of the production order independently.

The CPX+ valve terminal is an automation platform that includes: functional integration, communication, electrical operation, servo pneumatic components, measurement and control, decentralized installation, safety, pneumatic components. The valve terminal is one of the most important industrial communication and installation systems, which connects pneumatic and electrical components for diagnostics at the machine level. The valve terminal CPX not only connects the field and the main control level, it already has diagnostic facilities and provides condition monitoring. Its various modules combine cylinder control and electric axis control: cylinder control via modular valve terminals MPA and VTSA, and electric axes via motion controllers. And with integrated safety functions, users can access diagnostic information, quickly identify faults and replace modules.

It has been suggested that the introduction of the CPX+ valve terminal has hinted at Germany's desire for Industry 4.0. Now many international pneumatic companies have also developed CPX+ valve islands in order to seize the opportunity of Industry 4.0.

Reporter: The proposal of the "Made in China 2025" strategic plan will promote the transformation and upgrading of China's pneumatic industry, please give some suggestions on this?

Wang Xiongyao: "Made in China 2025" puts forward an innovation-driven, green development, structural optimization and talent-oriented development strategy. China needs to transform from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. China's pneumatic industry can fully combine the model requirements of German Industry 4.0 and learn from Germany's "digital factory" to carry out targeted reform of certain pneumatic components and the development of sensors.

The core of "Made in China 2025" is the application of Internet + intelligent equipment, which should closely connect equipment, production lines, factories, suppliers, products and customers. The ubiquitous sensors, embedded terminal systems, intelligent control systems, and communication facilities form an intelligent network through the Internet. China's pneumatic industry should take the initiative to cooperate with electronic control, IT and other professions, actively invite professionals in these industries to communicate with pneumatic R & D personnel, or give training (including Internet, Ethernet, wireless network, big data, communication interface, etc.), can jointly develop products, grasp the development trend of integration of information and communication technology and equipment manufacturing industry. Relevant associations may consider establishing "Industry 4.0 Thematic Project Group", "Product Improvement Group", "Thematic Development Group" and "System Development and Application Group".

From the current industry 4.0 requirements equipment intelligence, modularity, integration point of view, digital factory requires each endpoint on the automatic line to have communication functions, some will also be designed as embedded, with sensing functions or communication interfaces, integrated into the technology of various disciplines of products, pneumatic manufacturers to have the courage to break through the confinement of pure pneumatic products, as long as the development of components that meet the vertical integration, horizontal integration and end-to-end network communication requirements of the value chain, there will be a new cornucopia.

"The arrival of Industry 4.0 is an opportunity for the pneumatic industry to accelerate its transformation and upgrading. For colleagues in China's pneumatic industry, missing this Industry 4.0 is equivalent to missing this era! ”。 If we can't seize this opportunity, we will talk about the gap between China's pneumatic technology and its counterparts in the world 10 years later, and I believe that it will be 15 years behind.

The development direction of China's pneumatic industry has been very clear, under the "Made in China 2025" plan, the pneumatic industry "not only needs to have the power to rush forward", but also must vigorously coordinate and seize the time to "speed up and run"!