TPT January 2016

Test With The Best

To avoid falling behind, Volker Treier, deputy head of the German Chambers of Commerce & Industry, told Mr Webb, the “Mittelstand must maintain contact with the customer and not lose out” to software companies that might end up with valuable market data. Hence Mr Prokop’s worries about Google and Apple. ‘W heRe SoFtWaRe iS KinG ’ In Mr Webb’s view the Germans will enjoy certain advantages as “the next wave” – machines talking to one another – gathers strength. He notes that, as distinguished from computing with its standardised suite of keyboards and USB connectors, there are no dominant standards in industrial equipment. That in fact gives the hardware makers – even small ones like Trumpf – an edge over giants like Google or Apple. To seize that opportunity, Trumpf last year quadrupled its coding staff, to some 25 people. “We recognised that we needed far greater IT expertise,” Mr Prokop told Businessweek . “We needed to be able to analyse data.” Mr Webb observed that, for all of Germany’s concern about its position in the new industrial economy, Industrie 4.0 “acts primarily as a cheerleader,” offering little financial help. Politicians and labour representatives have a strong say in setting the group’s agenda, focused mainly on sponsoring research at top universities. “The US-dominated IIC, by contrast, coordinates trials of new technologies,” wrote Mr Webb. Two examples are a system to track handheld tools to ensure their effective use and a 100-gigabit-per-second network to connect machinery. The results of IIC experiments are shared among the membership, which has grown to 200 and includes Japan’s Hitachi and even Germany’s SAP and Siemens. “The big difference is that Industrie 4.0 is driven by the government and is unmistakably part of industrial policy,” said Krzysztof Bledowski, director of economic studies at the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity & Innovation in Arlington, Virginia. “[The IIC] is already getting together to do joint experiments.” › While the IIC appears to be out in front, Rainer Glatz, who leads Industrie 4.0 projects at the German machine makers association VDMA, pointed out that the adoption of greater connectivity in manufacturing could take decades. Thus Germany’s approach could lead to greater progress down the line. “In the US they want to take lots of small steps as quickly as possible,” Mr Glatz told Businessweek . “In Germany, the effort is far more theoretical: Find the model first and then move toward implementation.” › For his part, Mr Webb recalled the joke that, for a job to be taken seriously in Germany it must start with an “e” and end in “ngineering.” Yet, he wrote, “German officials fret that, for all their country’s hardware know-how, the economy is at risk in a world where software is king and factories are increasingly linked by the Internet.”

Instruments, systems and solutions for nondestructive testing. Backed by a team of experts who will put them to work for you.

Visit us in Hall 11, Stand 11 J-14. Log on to: www.mac-ndt.com/dusseldorf for details about our latest NDT systems for wire, tube and bar.

www.mac-ndt.com/intras

73

www.read-tpt.com

J anuary 2016