The Maintenance Monitoring Control Conference AKIDA with exhibition has a long tradition at RWTH Aachen University. It was organized by Prof. Andreas Seeliger for the first time in 1996. Since then, it has been providing a platform for communication between science and industry every two years.
This year, AKIDA took place from 15th to 16th November in the Technology Center Aachen/Germany with about 80 participants and was organized by Prof. Karl Nienhaus, Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies at the RWTH. The keynote “Everything 4.0 and everything is fine?” by Prof. Bruno van den Heuvel critically examined the topic of Industry 4.0 in maintenance. Which contents of the agenda Industry 4.0 are relevant and useful for maintenance? Not only in the keynote, but also in many lectures, the availability and processing of large amounts of data was discussed. A recurring question of great interest dealt with the assigned rights on these provided company data. In various lectures, examples from research and industrial practice were presented. A final answer to the legal questions is still pending. The question of whether data from different companies with the same machines are allowed to be compared by service providers, as well as which data are relevant, has been discussed controversially. Furthermore, the meaning of the term “smart maintenance” in the sessions of the same name was discussed, especially with regard to the resulting changes in maintenance.
Numerous discussions took place on the exhibition, including the exhibitors of all booths (Figure 6). Here, various companies presented their exhibition equipment using small test benches. The miniaturized measuring cards and mobile sensors, which can be used flexibly at the plants, were of special interest. This interest was countered by the critical examination of the added value of these sensors in the discussions.
The discussions showed that Industry 4.0 is to be viewed as evolution, not as revolution. However, this evolution offers innovation potential for maintenance purposes.
The next AKIDA in Aachen will be held from 4th to 5th December 2018. (RWTH, Si.)
