CC-Link Utilizes Communication Network to Increase Sustainability
The industrial communications networks of the future incorporate enabling technologies that are designed to support digital manufacturing strategies, helping companies optimize and intensify their processes. In addition to driving up profitability, they can also greatly contribute to reducing the environmental impact of shop floor operations. A key example of one such technology is CC-Link IE TSN, which uses Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) to transition towards convergent architectures for data sharing.
Network simplification reduces BoM
Perhaps the most obvious result of leveraging a convergent architecture for industrial communications is simplification, as all nodes are part of a single network rather than multiple dedicated systems. In effect, CC-Link IE TSN merges data sharing for operational technology (OT), such as control and safety communications, with higher enterprise-level information technology (IT) structures.
By creating automation solutions that utilize this simplified setup, machine builders can decrease the number of components required to create a factory where all application levels are interconnected. Consequently, a facility’s Bill of Materials (BoM) is reduced, which ultimately leads to decreased material usage. Fewer parts and less materials, in turn, lower the infrastructure-related environmental impact of the factory and its products.
Convergence advances process control
A convergence enabling network technology, such as CC-Link IE TSN, also plays a key role in helping manufacturers gain a unique understanding of shop floor operations. Automation specialists should therefore create setups that can generate large volumes of highly visible and accessible data while also making it available for processing by IT- and OT-based systems. By doing so, they can deliver solutions that help users obtain holistic overviews and accurate predictions, e.g., end product quality forecasts.
