May 2022 Volume 4

AUTOMATION

Chances are that Industry 4.0 and the more focused Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are already at a forge near you. The forging industry is making itself “smarter” and more efficient by investing in Digital Twin research, digital analytics, and automation to modernize operations and improve manufacturing efficiency. The generation of data from “smart” machinery and increasing automation are improving forge operations. The Evolution of the “Smart” Forge By Dean M. Peters

As manufacturing evolves during the modern age and becomes smarter, it stands on the shoulders of giants. When it comes to “smartness” and the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) the biggest shoulders are arguably those of Alan Turing, the English mathematician and computer scientist. Influential in the development of theoretical computer science, Turing is generally considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and AI. In addition to breaking theGerman Enigma ciphers at Bletchley Park during WWII, Turing developed a test that determined whether a computer had intelligence or could actually “think.” The Turing Test postulated that a computer could be said to "think" if a human could not tell it apart,

through conversation, from a human being. Of relevance to modern internet users, for example, is a reversed form of the Turing test intended to determine whether the user is a human or a computer. Perched on the shoulders of many subsequent tech giants since Turing, the present is a time in which “smart” consumer products are being touted to us daily by car, appliance, electronics, and other manufacturers. Finished consumer products, such as TVs and other household appliances are touted as being “smart” to sometimes redefine product performance and, ultimately, attract buyers. It stands to reason, then, that “smart” products are themselves being produced by smarter and more efficient products and

processes. Although every smart factory innovation may not pass the Turing Test of machine intelligence, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, called Industry 4.0, is not only changing the way that machines and humans interact, but howmachines interact with each other, sometimes bypassing the human element completely. The dividends from these manufacturing trends are potentially enormous. In recent times, there has been much discussion about how manufacturers are investing in assets and technologies that improve the productivity of and return on their capital, their labor, and their overall operations. Adjectives such as “smart”, “advanced”, “automated”, “digital”, Wi-Fi”, andmany others are tossed about by product marketers and the media. This leads to a consideration of how the forging industry is doing in its evolution toward smartness in how it manufactures its products. This article will examine some of the ways in which the metal forging community and those who supply it are getting smarter and more efficient. Industry 4.0 A thorough examination of smart manufacturing and factories cannot be had without a discussion of Industry 4.0, a platform of smart technologies that dovetails advanced manufacturing and the data generated therefromwith supply chain, materials handling, resource planning, operations management, service operations and financial management. Apropos to this discussion is the fact that the Smart Factory is not something of the future and can no longer be viewed that way. It is happening and evolving even as you read these lines, and the quicker the metal

Deep neural networks, which mimic brain neuron connections, identify relationships between process inputs and outputs. Courtesy of Scientific Forming Technologies Corp.

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