With the immense amount of automation and data collection in Industry 4.0, prioritizing personnel safety is easier than ever before. But there are also new safety risks that need assessment and procedures, so design principles and best practices will continue to evolve.
Overview
Thanks to the technological advancements of the IIoT, the traditional risks factory personnel face will shrink immensely.
Automation will remove employees from many front-line hazardous tasks. Sensors will alert engineers of malfunctioning equipment status, decreasing the chance a worker gets hurt from a broken machine. The added layer of security and permission controls means workers should feel comfortable and safe in the workplace. Employee locations and actions can be closely monitored, decreasing response time for accidents.
However, the digitalization of the industrial workplace will also create new risks. Workers will be more likely to experience mental rather than physical fatigue due to all of the screen time and data crunching. The increased need for power supplies and conversion equipment increases the need for worker protection from electrical hazards – especially in hazardous locations.
The need for fewer highly skilled and experienced employees, coupled with a growing skills gap, means worker safety training will be more important than ever. And let’s not forget perhaps the biggest risk: black hats who can hold machinery, factories and entire networks hostage, potentially risking worker health and organizational stability.
This roundtable session will help attendees identify how IIoT networks can improve worker safety overall and mitigate new threats that were not previously an issue.
Speakers
Edgar Sotter is a Senior Director of New Product Technology in the CSA Group. His team looks to the technology horizon for new developments and applications that could present opportunities for CSA's Test, Inspection and Certification business. Prior to joining CSA, Edgar worked as Senior Director, Product Strategies & Client Solutions at Systems with Intelligence Inc. (SWI), a manufacturer of monitoring products for the electrical sector. Edgar has 20 years of combined academic, technical and business experience. He has a PhD in electronic engineering from Universidad Rovira I Virgili (Spain), an Executive MBA from the University of Toronto (Canada) and a Bachelor's of Science in electronic engineering from Universidad del Norte (Colombia).
Mohsen M. Sepehr is the Manager for New Product Technology at CSA Group. Mohsen holds a Ph.D degree in electrical and computer engineering - nanotechnology, with an MBA and master's in finance. He has more than 15 years of experience in smart and renewable energy, electronics/optoelectronics manufacturing, energy and energy storage, and advanced materials. His professional experience spans across technical management, budget and resource planning, innovative strategic partner and supplier development, design implementation, and optimization of manufacturing processes for new products. He is currently managing the new product technology sector at CSA Group and is responsible to develop new programs for CSA Testing, Inspection and Certification services in electrification of transportation, energy and energy storage, next generation industry services (e.g. smart manufacturing, IIOT) and the healthcare sector.
Mario G. Ishikawa is the CTO at PackIOT, a software company with customers all over the globe, focused on Digital Transformation for manufacturing. Ishikawa leads the technical decisions on the product that helps companies increase their efficiency and architects custom IIoT solutions for large corporations. Ishikawa has been working with Industrial Software such as SCADA, Historians, MES and SPC for the past 24 years and leads the Smart Manufacturing and IIoT Division of ISA on AR/VR, which is focused on bringing awareness to manufacturing on the benefits of these technologies, aiming to accelerate the adoption to improve efficiency and work environment.
Tim Shinbara is the Chief Technology Officer for AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, a U.S.-based trade association, where he is responsible for industrial research and development, standards, and technology discovery. Shinbara has served in multiple roles and levels to advance the state of U.S. manufacturing technology, including supporting local and national legislation and policy development, and collaborating globally to better enable the manufacturing industry for the next generation. Shinbara is a board officer for the MTConnect Institute, an advisory commissioner (on manufacturing and supply chain) for Loudoun County in northern Virginia, and is also a past ASME Congressional Fellow for Senator Marco Rubio. He previously led manufacturing technology development projects at Northrop Grumman Corporation, supporting aerospace and space sector programs.
Over the past 34 years, Dean Phillips has been a leader in the technology sectors and the world of smart manufacturing. His is a continuous advisor to the smart manufacturing advisory committees with Society of Manufacturing Engineers and PMA Precision Metalforming Association. Phillips has been a speaker on IoT, AI, robotics, VR and AR. He is the creator of reality safe, a VR / AR safety training solution for manufacturing, working with Purdue. Phillips has spent the majority of his time advancing IoT, maintenance and safety to be more predictive and develop outcome based solutions. He has been on the board of directors for SME and an advisor for TTU, MTSU and TCAT. He has been a contributing lecturer on big data and it’s value and need for artificial intelligence to filter the information into actionable items. Phillips provides safety and development to cobot users and assists universities to outline expectations from manufacturers.
Paul currently manages a Technology Strategy group within Rockwell Automation's CTO organization, leading a number of teams across US, Europe and Asia Pacific. Having previously held multiple leadership positions within ODVA's marketing and technical communities, he currently sits on OPC Foundation's Marketing Control Board and is a member of the US Technical Advisory Committee for IEC SC65C. He has been based in Brussels, Belgium for more than 20 years. He is a Chartered Engineer (UK Institute of Engineering & Technology) and holds a B.Eng degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leeds.