Henning Löser, head of Audi’s Production Lab, pulls the plug on a server in Ingolstadt’s P-Lab. Simulated manufacturing within the Böllinger Höfe retains going with out interruption. Two different servers reliably proceed controlling 36 cycles throughout the lab take a look at within the P-Lab in Gaimersheim. Audi needs to be the primary producer on the planet to show to those sorts of centralized server options in cycle-dependent manufacturing. In the Böllinger Höfe close to Neckarsulm, the Audi e-tron GT quattro and the R8 share an meeting line. The small-scale collection e produced there are notably properly fitted to testing initiatives from the P-Lab and making an attempt issues out for large-scale collection.
With the Edge Cloud 4 Production, just a few centralized and native servers will tackle the work of numerous costly industrial PCs. The server answer makes it doable to stage out spikes in demand over the whole variety of virtualized purchasers – a much more environment friendly use of assets. Production will save effort and time, notably the place software program rollouts, working system adjustments, and IT-related bills are involved. “What we’re doing here is a revolution,” says Gerd Walker, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG Production and Logistics. “We used to have to buy hardware when we wanted to introduce new functions. With Edge Cloud 4 Production, we only buy applications in the form of software. That is the crucial step toward IT-based production.” For P-Lab boss Löser, the challenge is “an operation at the heart of our automation technology and production management.” Audi is the primary producer to place a centralized server answer into take a look at operation in cycle-dependent manufacturing.
Servers Are Close to Production
The essential benefit of Edge Cloud 4 Production is that numerous industrial PCs might be changed together with their enter and output gadgets and not should be individually maintained. Process security is additionally tremendously improved. In the occasion of a disruption, the load might be shifted to different servers. In distinction, a damaged industrial PC must get replaced. That takes time. On prime of that, the answer reduces the workload for workers. In the longer term, skinny purchasers able to what is referred to as power-over-Ethernet will set the tempo. These terminal gadgets get their electrical energy through Ethernet cables and most of their computational energy via native servers. They have USB ports for output gadgets. That allows managers directing staff to take a look at a monitor and see what must be mounted onto which automobile. In the longer term, an outsized PC with processing and storage capability is not going to be crucial for these duties. “Software-based infrastructures have proven themselves in data processing centers. We’re convinced they will also work well in production,” says Löser.
Cloud Solutions Can Be Scaled At Will
Together with the specialists from the P-Lab, the IT managers round Christoph Hagmüller, the Head of IT Services at Audi in Neckarsulm and co-manager for Production IT within the Böllinger Höfe, are rolling out the brand new answer. With its comparatively low unit and cycle numbers, the Böllinger Höfe is ideally suited to functioning as an actual lab for testing the brand new idea in collection manufacturing. Edge Cloud 4 Production has a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). This software-defined system combines all the weather of a small information processing middle: storage, computing, networking, and administration. The software program defines functionalities like internet servers, databases, and managing methods. The cloud answer can be rapidly scaled at will to adapt to altering manufacturing necessities. However, a public cloud hyperlink is out of the query as a result of manufacturing’s stringent safety necessities. Additionally, native servers make the required, very quick latencies doable. “These are the reasons why we install the servers near us. That’s also why we call the solution Edge Cloud: because it’s close to our shop floor environment,” says P-Lab boss Löser.
Patches Can Also Be Rolled Out in All Phases through the Servers
The new IT idea additionally improves ease of upkeep and IT safety. With industrial PCs, the patch cycles (the intervals between crucial updates) are often longer. On prime of that, updates can solely be put in throughout pauses in manufacturing. With the cloud-based infrastructure, IT specialists can roll out patches in all phases inside a couple of minutes through the central servers. Moreover, IT colleagues set up performance updates in all digital purchasers on the similar time, comparable to a brand new working system. Hagmüller explains that “the need for additional functionality will get increasingly elaborate and expensive in the future.” He estimates that the price of an replace – for example, from Windows 10 to Windows 11 – might be decreased by about one-third. “Additionally, with the server solution, we aren’t dependent on loose timeframes in Production anymore. It gives ustremendous flexibility to ensure our software and operating systems are always completely up to date.”
P-Lab Tries Out Guidance through a 5G Radio Network
Both information processing facilities within the Neckarsulm plant are slated for subsequent mass manufacturing. A fiber optic cable connects them with the Böllinger Höfe. According to Henning Löser, 5G might be related within the second stage. Thus far, a separate laptop has been put in in each automated guided automobile (AGV). Here too, specialists should set up expensive safety updates and new working methods. It is conceivable that they might purchase new functionalities, however they’re seldom transferable to their computer systems. “We need a fast, high-availability network for that,” says Löser. “In our testing environment in the P-Lab, we have taken another step forward concerning 5G.”
