California, U.S.A., January 2019 – Ethernet Direct Corporation, a professional and primary provider of industrial networking and communication solutions is showcasing industrial Internet of Things solutions related to Industry 4.0 and smart factories application in Smart Factory Expo.

SMART FACTORY Expo is Japan's largest exhibition gathering technologies and products related to smart factories such as IoT/M2M solutions, FA technologies, industrial robots, green energy solutions, and factory equipment, etc. The global smart factory market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.17% during from 2018 to 2023 as per industry analysis. Smart factory refers to various fully-integrated automation solutions adopted for manufacturing and this integration helps streamline the material flow during all the processes involved in the manufacturing, thus, enabling effective movement of materials across the factory floor. Combining the digital and physical worlds has revolutionized the automation industry, thereby, enabling optimum performance.

Digitization in the industrial sector varies from industry to industry, depending on whether the focus is on connected systems or automation. Manufacturing and processing industries have realized the potential of advanced technologies and deploying connected and smart systems. Smart factory technologies constantly collect data from different equipment for performance monitoring. Smart factory systems, thus, allow easy data access of production volumes and operational data. This also enables companies to deploy advance data analysis tools to analyze and identify the flaws in the operation and rectify them to improve the overall efficiency. As different manufacturing devices in the factory floor may its own protocol, a reliable industrial Ethernet network is necessary for expansion and convergence of industrial control systems.

To address smart factory applications, Ethernet Direct offers multi-protocol integration industrial switches to optimize the integration of different industrial automation applications and protocols such as EtherNet/IP, Modbus and PROFINET. An Ethernet-based control system allows centralized SCADA/HMI control and monitoring of remote networks in process and factory automation including PLCs and field bus devices. These integrated solutions enable optimized network deployment to ensure maximum performance, efficiency, and flexibility for industrial automation applications of large-scale networks. Our industrial-grade certified solutions are interoperable with protocols such as EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, and Modbus TCP/IP. Every Ethernet Direct device undergoes strict testing and quality control to ensure operations in mission-critical applications such as automation in water & wastewater, oil & gas, food & beverages, petrochemicals and chemicals, paper and pulp automation and other industries involving large-scale distributed SCADA monitoring systems. With protocol-enabled interoperability, these switches can be monitored on the SCADA system to enhance manageability of PLC networks.

Smart factories can be considered as time sensitive networks since big data analytics are integrated from OT to IT. It focuses on the latest technologies in the collection of real-time data, access and distribution of manufacturing information. Maintaining accurate time is critical for high-end applications and the evolution of IEEE 1588 PTP V2 and Synchronous Ethernet resolve timing issues when connecting industrial switches to the network. Ethernet Direct pioneers in providing reliable managed Ethernet switches to handle a high level of user control and security with features such as time synchronization, traffic monitoring, advanced security, priority/sensitivity handling, failover mechanisms, and built-in test.

Real-time Automation can be achieved using Ethernet Direct time-sensitive industrial networking switches. Precise synchronization can be deployed in Industrial 4.0 evolution and the following applications.

• Telecommunications
• Power Plants
• Industrial Automation such as in Smart factories
• Test & Measurement
• Robotic Control

To understand how Smart factories can benefit from Ethernet Direct Industrial Ethernet switches, please e-mail sales@ethernetdirect-tw.com