Security of Industry 4.0 products and networked production systems

TÜV SÜD will once again attend the Hannover Messe in 2017, presenting services related to the development and evaluation of Industry 4.0 components and systems, and to security in networked production operations. At the stand shared with technology initiative SmartFactoryKL (Hall 8, Stand D20), TÜV SÜD will provide visitors with information about its collaboration over the world’s first cross-vendor Industry 4.0 production system, and about its development of a modular certification method for smart factory components.

The smart factories of tomorrow will be based on modular architectures, with standardised interfaces and state-of-the-art information technology that permit highly flexible, automated “Plug&Produce” manufacturing. As a member of technology initiative SmartFactoryKL, TÜV SÜD is providing support in the development and advancement of the initiative’s Industry 4.0 production system, which is based on a collaborative project between various companies. The experts in SmartFactoryKL work with the partner companies in their network on system-wide topics including interoperability, functional safety and IT security.

“Our work with SmartFactoryKL includes designing methods and rules that will govern the development and evaluation of components, machine modules and systems under Industry 4.0”, explains Dr Detlev Richter (l.), Global Head of Industry and Energy Products at TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH. “The flexible system architectures and self-configuring systems of Industry 4.0 call for a new, modular method of certification that delivers integrated support for our customers as they progress towards Industry 4.0.” In Dr Richter’s view, the key benefit of modular certification is the major cost and time savings it contributes to the operation of adaptive self-configuring Industry 4.0 production systems. “An area of concern is that safety-related and legal issues surrounding modular system architectures have not been adequately addressed to date”, warns Pascal Staub-Lang (r.) from TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH. “Yet these factors represent a potential risk to the commissioning and operation of such systems, which should not be underestimated.”

“In concrete terms, the new certification method will involve a procedure that caters in depth to the requirements facing adaptive configurable systems”, adds Werner Varro from TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH. The TÜV SÜD experts take the requirements imposed under today’s technical standards and map them onto administration shell requirements under Industry 4.0, working with their industry partners in SmartFactoryKL to develop the concrete implementation.

TÜV SÜD’s Digital Service unit brings together the company’s full scope of consulting, testing, inspection and certification services in the areas of functional safety, reliability and interoperability of technical systems as well as IT security, status monitoring and real-time analysis for industrial plants and systems. For more information, visit http://www.tuv-sud.com/industry/digital-it-services.

Note for Editors: The high-resolution photos of Dr Detlev Richter, Pascal Staub-Lang und Werner Varro can be downloaded from the "Media Photos" category at www.tuv-sud.com/pressphotos.

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