Have you heard of Industry 4.0 yet? What do you associate with Industry 4.0? How intensively have you been involved with Industry 4.0? Do you see Industry 4.0 as an opportunity or more as a risk? Those responsible for such matters in the field of plastics processing tend to answer these questions rather cautiously and with what appears to be scepticism.

The term "Industry 4.0" is only a few years old, yet the roots of some of the developments in plastics technology that fall under this label date back several decades. Smart products, smart machines, smart production, smart services, horizontal integration, vertical integration – most aspects are part of the continuous longer-term developments, acquiring fresh dynamism through networking and digitisation. In this respect, Industry 4.0 is a constant evolution and not a sudden revolution.

People often quote the potential risks of digitisation and data exchange including IT security and industrial espionage. The head of Germany's Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV), Christian Hopmann, recently sounded a note of caution: "We should not wait for problems like data security to solve themselves. There are enough players on the market for whom data security is of secondary importance." Gerhard Dimmler, head of Research and Development Products at injection moulding machine manufacturer Engel, took the same line at the recent VDI congress on "Plastics in Automotive Engineering" in Mannheim / Germany: "Europe is discussing data security. China started doing some things a long time ago while we are still here discussing the risks."

With all due caution as regards the data, it is also a matter of competitiveness – an issue primarily affecting users and their suppliers, the plastics converters. Rudolf Stauber, who chaired the conference in Mannheim, sees the benefits of Industry 4.0 in the shortening of development times, the reduction of development costs and the related rise in the competiveness of OEMs and their suppliers. He says the automotive value chain must also systematically utilise the findings of Industry 4.0: "We would be ill-advised not to take advantage of the opportunities."

A paper by Thomas Schuh, senior manager Polymer Technology at Daimler AG, provided some concrete evidence of this. He reported on coupé trunk lids made of SMC, which, for several model generations, have been designed and produced together with raw material producers and processors in automated series processes. Consistent data recording and the fact that all the data is made available to all partners has led to what he described as a "new quality of cooperation in the form of a trusting partnership", from which everyone benefited. Formerly, reactions to problems and changes were calculated in "days and weeks", but now in only “seconds and hours”. Thanks to the new possibilities, designers have the courage to tackle larger parts and can now, by working together, successfully cope with much higher complexity.

It is becoming increasingly evident that digitisation of plastics processing is an opportunity – an opportunity for simulating and understanding processes, for flexibilising production, for individualising products, for documenting quality, for creating personalised service offers, for adapting machines and moulds to actual loads, for optimising services, for enhancing resource efficiency and, finally, for improving competitiveness.

The fact that digitisation and Industry 4.0 also means extra work for data security as well as recruiting and qualifying staff is clear, but the possibility of digitally accompanying and optimising development and production processes makes it worthwhile for all players involved in the plastics value chain to engage intensively with the topic.