Industrial Automation Magazine India

Digitalisation is not a product that can be fitted into a machine

Published on : Wednesday 05-04-2023

Sudhanshu Kantoor, GM Product Management, Pepperl+Fuchs Factory Automation Pvt Ltd.

Pepperl+Fuchs has been present in India for over 25 years. What is the nature of Indian operations and manufacturing facilities? 
We are present in India as a 100% sales subsidiary of Pepperl+Fuchs SE, which is a German multinational. The company has two divisions – Factory Automation and Process Automation – with the Indian headquarters in Gurgaon and Bangalore respectively. Our manufacturing facilities located in different parts of the globe manufacture products for both the divisions. 
 
Our Factory Automation division, of which I am a part of, is the manufacturer of industrial sensors which are designed to address specific market needs on a global basis. We, in India, offer both pre and post sales services and solutions to our customers all across India. Our portfolio of products has a wide range of inductive, capacitive, photoelectric, and ultrasonic sensors, as well as identification systems, barcode and camera systems, rotary encoders, position measurement systems, cord-sets and other related accessories.
 
As a major vendor for factory automation, what are the solutions offered to the industry? 
We offer a wide variety of solutions for different applications in the manufacturing domain. Our solutions range from detection of presence or absence via a multitude of sensing technologies, measurement and dimensioning solutions using our Laser technology in sensors and scanners, precise positioning solutions through our optical and camera based positioning systems, object tracking and tracing via identification technology of RFIDs and barcodes, connectivity solutions with our IO Link and AS-I technology, quality checks and OCR with our vision sensor and technology products. Under the banner of Sensorik 4.0 we offer a new generation of sensors which are Industry 4.0 enabled and seamlessly connect to the cloud. 
 
Pepperl+Fuchs is associated with the Foundation for Smart Manufacturing. How are such initiatives helping in propagating the concept of digitalisation? 
It has been an honour to be associated with the Samarth Udyog program and our association to the initiative through the Foundation for Smart Manufacturing (FSM) has been a very exhilarating experience. Digitalisation is not a product that can be fitted into a machine, which will then transform it into a smart manufacturing machine. It is a solution and techniques which require handshaking of different technologies together and forming the right solution which fulfils the requirements of smart manufacturing. FSM has brought together the experts from different industry domains to work together and promote smart manufacturing in the country. The academic strength of IIT Delhi and partners like us work together and develop smart manufacturing concepts for Indian manufacturing. Being a leader in the sensing technology it is an apt platform for us to learn, educate and contribute towards building a futuristic India.
 
What are the dominant trends in the factory automation segment today, especially after the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? 
The manufacturing companies rely extensively on manual work to carry out many manufacturing operations. Such processes have been hugely impacted during the Covid 19 pandemic. So most of the manufacturing enterprises are now trying to optimise the resources by introducing automation and robotics within their manufacturing lines. Automatic pick n place systems, high speed conveyors, industrial robots, etc., are some of the commonplace equipment that are deployed for automation in the manufacturing industry. Smart manufacturing and the new age material handling sectors are seeing robotics arms, mobile systems, autonomous systems, bots and material handling assets being deployed extensively. To function effectively these industrial equipment use high precision sensors for their positioning and measurement requirements. So what we see is that there is a huge need and a plethora of opportunities in the manufacturing domain for automation.
 
How is the new generation of sensors helping in promoting sustainability and energy conservation? 
The load bearing pillar of a healthy economy is growth, and growth means increased demand for energy. The current energy crisis is providing an additional boost to the development of green hydrogen as a sustainable energy carrier. For large scale production and industrial use of hydrogen, the development of renewable energy production must be promoted first and foremost – whether it be wind power, solar power, or hydropower.As a pioneers in electrical explosion protection, we are very familiar with the hazard of transporting hydrogen as it highly explosive when combined with oxygen. So we are in the line of proving appropriate signal handling solutions for the same. Further, Pepperl+Fuchs offers suitable industrial sensors and components for electrical explosion protection for renewable energy production, and the transport and storage of hydrogen. Moving on, our absolute rotary encoders are responsible for pitch and horizontal control of wind turbines whereas our vibration and acceleration sensors monitor the condition of the rotating components inside the nacelle of the wind turbine generator (WTG).
 
Cybersecurity is a serious concern with growing digitalisation. How does the company address this issue?
In fact this remains the most pertinent question. Today nearly every international and national company has undergone a cyber assault risking their data, information, ERP hostage taking and even their core operations have been cyber attacked. We have developed proper network engineering and high end solutions on the IT side of our company operations. On the OT side, device level security against hacking for components or hardware for factory automation is still a far cry. Although the CERT for automation system is in the fray, yet the whole world today is amalgamating the proper standards and specifications on this. P+F is associated with international entities like VDE and ZVEI to support and participate in the development of the same.
 
Any plans for expanding the manufacturing operations in India in view of the various government policies and initiatives like the PLI Scheme? 
We were the first multinational company in our domain to start a manufacturing facility in India in the early nineties. We currently carry out value addition to our sensing solutions via our manufacturing unit. We are keenly looking at the very favourable offers like the PLI scheme by the government for expanding our footprint in the country.
 
Sudhanshu Kantoor has been passionately involved in the field of Industrial Automation for about two decades. He has been an avid software programmer in control automation with hands-on and supervisory experience in projects involving PLCs, Drives, Remote I/O and SCADA based systems, machines/process plants throughout India and also overseas. 
 
Leading the technical and projects foray for the Factory Automation business vertical at Pepperl+Fuchs India since 2008, Kantoor is an avid enthusiast on technology, specially in the domain of networking and data communication, working across the control platforms and leading implementation of I4.0 solutions for P+F Factory Automation business in India.
 
www.pepperl-fuchs.com