PNEUMATIC SYSTEMS AND

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS

The State of Play
 In a recent study of manufacturers, we looked at the level of adoption of the
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with regard to pneumatic systems, the
obstacles around and plans/timelines for future implementations, and
the experiences of the early technology adopters.

Research Findings
In our recent research project, “Fluid Control Systems: Trends in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and
Industry 4.0 (I4.0)”, 50% of respondents were directly involved with design engineering and another 17% were
product development specialists, for a total of 67%. Out of this group 37% were individual contributors, while
another 39% were either managers or directors. These are the right people to make the decision of how and
when to implement new technologies, such as IIoT and I4.0. Their understanding of the needs and values of
such a move are informed and valuable to others in the industry.

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 What’s Stopping You
Like any advancement in technology, our research shows that those not presently implementing digital structures
(see “Sidebar: A Short Explanation of Digitization for Pneumatic Systems”) such as IIoT and I4.0 find that they and
their team are not as confident as they would like to be. Seventeen percent of respondents said that they were not
confident at all and another 64% are either not very confident or only somewhat confident that they are able to
implement the technology with any certainty that they would be satisfied with the results.

Tied tightly to this lack of confidence are the obstacles that are actually present in the organization, with lack of
existing infrastructure accounting for a mere 32%. All other concerns are ones that are normal when it comes to
upgrading: design time, integration software needs, and perceived cost of components. All of these factors can
easily be calculated and expensed out so that the organization can begin their work in phases if necessary.
Providing a team to explore these concerns can only benefit the project.

What appears to be a major concern, at 30%, is that engineers and managers are not sure where to start. This
confusion can quickly become a major obstacle, but implementers can learn from others in the field. But first,
it’s important to know why pushing forward with the latest technologies is important to your business.

Obstacles to the Pursuit of Upgrading Automation Systems

Lack of existing infrastructure 32%

Not sure where to start 30%

Cost of components 25%

Integration software needs 18%

Design time 17%

Other 13%

Other Responses
• No need (19 mentions) • Has not been considered • Not actively looking
• Don’t know (18 mentions) • Internal resources • Not an issue
• N/A (8 mentions) • It’s a very small part of our business • Not in plans
• Security (4 mentions) • Justification • Outweighing the pros and cons
• All automation systems are integral • Lack of interest and if a fully automated system is
to the machines on the floor • Lack of knowledge the right step for our industry
• Building a case for the need • Man hours to implement • Product release schedule
• Company mentality • Military secrecy rules • Regulatory
• Cost and infrastructure are my • Negative ROI • Safety issues
biggest issues as a consultant • No data on this • Stupid system
• Current systems are not automated • No desire to do so • Various automation systems are
• Customer investment program being rolled out over time
• No identified requirements
• Depends on customer • Very many components involved
• No implementation plan at my facility
• Growth of the company would demand • No plans
a more aggressive time line

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 Why Move Forward
Regardless of the impediments to moving forward with IIoT and I4.0, our research shows that 67% of respondents
understand that it’s important that they do so. Some companies, in fact, have a sense of urgency that is very
aggressive, even though most (53%) believe that their sense of urgency is appropriate to the situation ahead of
them. Of these engineers and managers, they see a need for beginning the upgrade process of an estimated
mean of 27% of their equipment within the next two years. That can be seen as a short or long timeline depending
on how prepared a manufacturer is at the moment. Depending on the size of the company, it can take a lot of
time to evaluate and migrate, which, if started late, could put them behind in implementation.

Operation Areas Providing Greatest Incentive to Adopt IIoT or I4.0

Predictive and preventive maintenance 44%

Equipment performance data 39%

Production and maintenance history 32%

Management of our manufacturing process 28%

More-flexible control 28%

Management of individual equipment 24%

Other 7%

The top incentives engineers and managers recognize for adopting IIoT or I4.0 strategies are predictive and
preventive maintenance and equipment performance data. As manufacturers are well aware, these two
advantages will make a huge impression in the company’s ability to provide product without emergency
shutdowns for maintenance or repair. Add to these two important items the fact that implementers would gain
more flexibility in the control of their manufacturing operation and migrating to IIoT or I4.0 becomes even more
significant. The other three incentives respondents recognized were to acquire valuable production and
maintenance history, a greater potential to manage the manufacturing process, and the capacity to manage
individual equipment when necessary.

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 How to Start
The 49% of companies that are currently engaged in the IIoT and I4.0 journey, as well as those just getting started,
are doing so by identifying critical components and upgrading them over time. Another 22% of adopters are
waiting for components to either break down or to enter the maintenance cycle for replacement and are making
sure the new components are suitable for IIoT or I4.0. Every operation is different, and each has to approach the
migration in a way that works for them. For example, 21% of respondents said that their plan was to upgrade one
machine or plant area at a time. Still, 8% of those who responded are planning to treat the migration as a capital
expense, implementing the technology as a plant- or site-wide project. This information shows why every IIoT
solution needs an individual touch, which also indicates that the supplier must be able to deliver a highly
flexible solution.

What Early Adopters Say

As the industry changes, more companies see a future where they need to participate in upgrading their
automation system to interface with pneumatic components. Although only 6% see an immediate need
or already have the conversion in process, 78% of respondents plan to begin within the next two years. Only five
percent of the engineers and managers who responded say they have no plans to get started in the near future.
The questions to ask include “Where is your company on this trajectory?” and “What is holding you back?”

From the research we’ve conducted, we know that 51% of the people who responded already have experience
in implementing pneumatic components with IIoT and I4.0 capabilities. Out of those people, 65% are mostly or
completely satisfied with the results. Those who have implemented the new technology rate reliability as excellent
or very good. Additional benefits they are seeing include ease of using the interface, ease of integration, and ease
of software organization. Costs appear to be the biggest drawback, which indicate that perhaps engineering time
and budget restraints may be the biggest issues.

When it comes to implementing the latest technology, we all start out a little unsure. As early adopters pave the
way, methods of approach begin to show themselves, cost and time needs begin to be explored, and overall value
of the project grows with experience. Knowing that advancement is always the best way to provide value to
customers, manufacturers are getting on board to upgrade their factories with IIoT and I4.0 to gain knowledge
and capabilities that were unavailable only a decade ago.

Leaning Toward Solutions

Although a lot of companies believe they don’t know where to start in their transition to IIoT, the three
approaches that emerged from the research include a complete migration treated as a capital expense to
upgrading slowly as machines either enter a maintenance cycle or a repair is needed. Between these two
extremes is the option of upgrading one machine or plant area at a time as budgets permit.

These approaches are all well and good, except that a lack of confidence can halt progress or, in the least,
slow it down considerably. To get past this concern, it’s best to learn as much as possible so that the subject of
migration becomes familiar, that IIoT is fully understood. This can be done through reading, of course, and
seminars and webinars, but also through consultation with company experts. Once your comfort level increases,
you can tackle key items such as infrastructure, design time allocations, integration of software, and the overall
cost of components and systems.

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 IIoT Accelerator

Customers

Support each customer to Gain experience from IIoT

become an IIoT customer Provide Supplier experienced customers
Network

Products
Deliver IIoT
IIoT-Path

Systems
IIoT Consulting consulting
Solutions
IIoT Portfolio
and support
Services

Create IIoT
Business Access
Provide consolidated IIoT Grow network with IIoT
know-how, experience and customers that become
technology to customers Suppliers IIoT partners

Ecosystem Path

At this point, it is understood that digitalization has reached into our lives deeply, from our work to pleasure—our
time on-the-job to our free time. It’s all around us. The same technology that is leading us toward the acceptance
of autonomous automobiles is leading the way into our automated factories. Because of this, and the nature of
people in general, there are those who wish to jump in completely hoping to be ahead of the curve and those who
stand back and wait to see what shakes out. Migrating pneumatic systems to IIoT is no different in this sense.

We’ve already seen the general consensus that IIoT is inevitable. This understanding is most important for small-
and medium-sized companies because they’ll have to keep up with other larger companies that have greater
funding capabilities and other resources for change. Managers are tasked with focusing on current business
processes to assess what possibilities migrating to IIoT operations opens up for them. This knowledge will help
to drive them forward in a way that makes sense.

For example, one area of their production may be headed toward IIoT use faster than another, providing them
with a verifiable path toward a profitable future. In many ways, it is not necessarily a technical challenge only as
much as an individualized combination of hardware and sensors, their connectivity, the interaction via data,
and the added value from information that is created with that data by using the proper algorithms and machine
learning strategies.

According to Dr. Jurgen Jasperneite of the OWL University of Applied Sciences and Fraunhofer Application Center
in Lemgo, Germany, it is neither the machine manufacturers nor IT who will most likely drive the technology
migration forward. “It’s the users of machines and IT that exploit opportunities they consider most beneficial to
them,” Jasperneite explains. “The next innovative push will probably come from the areas of IT and

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 telecommunications. Machines will mostly retain their outer appearance, with new features more and more
often hidden in their software.”

Overall, smart pneumatics will improve your way of working and create added value on many levels. By
interlocking production with the latest information and communications technology—while integrating
customers and business partners into the process—you create a value-added chain able to exchange important
information to all parties. Emerson’s strategy for the technology includes a hand-shake interaction between what
they consider the three pillars of communication: people, products, and processes. For the people, the collection
and analysis results of relevant data must be easily viewed and passed along, while errors are reported directly to
the appropriate person and available anywhere at any time.

Products must become an integral part of the information chain. When data are processed within smart
components or through local smart edge gateways, product data can be accessed and analyzed locally providing
true edge computing and/or sent, via standardized and secure data transfer, to a cloud environment for further
analysis. Through proper implementation, this entire flow of information can be analyzed, allowing systems to
autonomously exchange important data automatically.

Companies such as Emerson provide consultation to help teams implement the right IIoT technology for their
application. Emerson not only brings a wide range of products to the table, it offers professional user experiences,
application specific expertise, and advanced technological know-how. Its focus on IIoT includes concepts such as
predictive maintenance through integrated diagnostics, energy efficiency through the optimized use of
compressed air, and operation optimization based on their simple, smart product configurations and analytical
algorithms. The aim of the company is to offer complete IIoT solutions for its many devices, including its
pneumatics systems, or to accommodate the user’s development through a flexible understanding of how to adapt
Emerson technology solutions to their needs.

A Valuable Example
In the end, it’s all about compatibility and durability.
Therefore, Emerson believes that smart components
should integrate in a user-friendly manner using a
digital environment using on-board intelligence and
compliance with all relevant communication standards.
Flexibility is essential when focusing on specific
applications. It is essential to provide all options,
including local evaluation and storage in the
component, in the local smart edge gateway, and
in a private or public cloud. Since every situation is
different, and installers rely on components from
various suppliers, cooperation is critical.

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 This thought process is what brought Emerson to create a smart edge gateway called Smart Pneumatics Monitor
(SPM), which is a core product for digital process networking within pneumatic systems. Designed to minimize the
risk of machine downtime as well as lower operating costs, the SPM provides status messages to defined employees
and parent IT systems directly—covering state of wear, energy efficiency, and other valuable information.

MES/ERP Level Cloud Services

Process planning, Data minimg, long term
surveillance, maintenance. trends, third party access

Field Level
Realtime process control

Cylinder position SPM

Air consumption

Pressure Valve actuation and diagnosis

Fieldbus IP network IO connection

Together with the company’s AES fieldbus solution, the SPM analyzes existing sensor signals in an effort to
generate status information. For example, when monitoring wear of a pneumatic cylinder shock absorber, the
SPM reads the standard end-stroke sensor signals in order to evaluate the cushioning sequence and variability.
Algorithms based on Emerson’s experience are used to analyze the data internally before sending the
information to the right person or to a parent MES or ERP system via its OPC UA interface. All components to
be monitored are combined and linked for analysis in the SPM using drag-and-drop technology.

8 Pneumatic Systems and Industrial Internet of Things

 A Short Explanation The SPM focuses on monitoring four key areas of each
application solution. The first, determining wear, helps users to
of Digitization for enter components into a maintenance schedule that precludes

Pneumatic Systems failure and a subsequent shutdown. During the monitoring

operation, as soon as a predetermined critical value is reached,
As in other industries and other an error message can be output to alert that a component
technologies, there is a trend toward using exchange is necessary before the component fails and affects
digitally integrated mechanical components the machine’s process.
for monitoring and control. This evolution
connects pneumatic devices and systems, Data management is another key area: This allows the SPM to
such as valves, compressors, cylinders, and use present and historical data to provide information on the
controllers to electronics such as those used expected service life of components, such as valves, without
in IIoT and I4.0. This allows for integrated
incurring additional costs. For example, by measuring a
digital sensing, networking, analysis, and
valve’s exact switching cycles, it is possible to extrapolate
control capabilities not seen before.
the end of its typical service life, initiating a preventative
Hardware and software advancements have maintenance program.
given birth to these capabilities, which are
changing the face of industry in a positive Another key factor for many applications is energy efficiency,
way. Such networked devices combine which is often a function of leak detection in a pneumatic
physical elements with electronics and system. In this case, the SPM provides a clear indication of
software and have been referred to as the where and how compressed air consumption changes and
fourth Industrial Revolution. In today’s allows users to pinpoint possible leakage locations easily.
industrial setting, such connected systems This leads to providing optimal compressed air balance.
will increase productivity, reduce the costs of
An optimum compressed air level saves money and prevents
operation, and increase efficiency all through
wear on the components.
the valuable accumulation of data and the
digitalization necessary to provide flexible
This leads us to the ability for an SPM to also analyze collected
and autonomous control.
data in a way that provides valuable help in determining the
forth key, which is to find the optimal operating point for a
The most prominent feature of the perfect balance between the work to be carried out and the
supplied energy. Incorporating analysis features along with
INDUSTRIAL INTERNET
historical records allows a user to hone their systems
OF THINGS: component by component if they wish to. With the SPM,
Interlocking production with the latest all of this capability is achieved outside the existing control
information and communications system and network infrastructure, which makes implementing
technology while simultaneously even a retrofit situation fast, safe, and painless.
integrating customers and business
partners into business processes.
This white paper had two distinct focuses. The first was to reflect
on the research finding that indicate the areas of concern about
the increased digitization of industry through IIoT and I4.0.
The second was to help understand that solutions to a digital
pneumatic system are available, easy to apply, and substantially
valuable for future production. Understanding the mechanical
as well as the electronic capabilities of all devices in your
pneumatic system will allow you to better compete in today’s
industrial world.

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