Flying the flag for Maintenance 4.0

23 June, 2022

Coughlan explained that Turck Banner’s colleagues in Banner Engineering have identified the ongoing use of legacy machinery by many firms in the UK. With this in mind, he pointed out that Turck Banner recently brought to market a series of IoT (Internet of Things) enablers. These enablers can help to create a parallel network which Coughlan refers to as a process of digital shadowing. He said this could be as simple as ‘piggybacking’ on an existing system that has legacy machines and old PLCs that the company in question might not want to remove possibly due to memory issues etc.

So, while the continued use of legacy equipment and other evidence of a more anachronistic operational mindset doggedly remains in some quarters, there is certainly the technology and the support available to guide UK companies into the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In some cases, it just needs the willingness to make the first incremental moves. All the resultant benefits around greater efficiency, cost savings and competitive advantage can then follow.

Ed Holden

Editor