Unpredictable territory for Industrie 4.0
In an current interview by the german magazine Wirtschaftswoche with Henning Kagermann, former CEO of SAP and President of the Academy of Economics Acatech explains the chances of ‘Industrie 4.0‘, (high-tech strategy of Germany) and warns of the unpredictable territory and the disruptive character of some service providers could have on traditional industries.
Advanced Manufacturing and IoE add complexity
Advanced Manufacturing and the increasing networking by the Internet of Everything (IoE) inevitably go hand in hand with more complexity. This cannot be stopped! We can only learn to deal with it. In a world of greater complexity new safety awareness and a holistic approach are needed. IT-Security and safety are thereby brought together. It refers to the protection of the system against targeted attacks and on safety in terms of process and failure reliability.
Security breaches can happen
‘Resilience’ a word that was first used in behavioral research is now used in security research. Resilience in psychology is the capability of a system to find back to its ideal state after it has been hit by an external shock. Resilience in IT is based on the assumption, that security breaches can happen and you know how to react to it. It is all about developing plans, tactics, routines and training courses, to lead back to a steady state.
Three layers for more security
There are three layers in the Industry 4.0. A core area with single, intelligent machines that can be controlled very well, a so-called partially controlled area, the smart factory, which is equipped with internal IP addresses and controlled by MES systems (Manufacturing Execution System). The open area, where data and services from the Internet are received or sent out comes on top of it all. This can lead to uncontrolled behavior.
The three areas do not actcompletely detachedfrom each other. They are linked by transaction points and to othersegments, e.g. smart energynetworks.
It is expected that therefore two different worlds and industry segments will develop separate from each other. One which provides the systems for open IT solutions and in which the traditional IT providers play a role. Another one in which the manufacturing companies and their providersenhance the machines with IT.