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The Vertical Farming Demonstrator – A Guidepost for the Future of Industrial Automation

Vertical Farming Demonstrator SPS 2024

October 30, 2024

At this year’s SPS – Smart Production Solutions in Nuremberg, the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance (OI4 Alliance) will showcase its Vertical Farming Demonstrator, a prime example of how modern automation technologies can seamlessly integrate. This demonstrator centers on Digital Twin Enablement and the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), highlighting the benefits of digital integration and interoperability within the process and manufacturing industries.

What is the Vertical Farming Demonstrator?

Developed under the leadership of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and companies Boehringer Ingelheim, Endress+Hauser, Beckhoff, COPA-DATA, and FLECS, the Vertical Farming Demonstrator illustrates three key use cases that show the benefits of a multi-vendor approach:

  1. Engineering to Operations – connecting the planning phase to real operations.
  2. Industrial Control as a Service (ICaaS) – an innovative approach to virtualizing and scaling industrial controls, highlighting FLECS’ contribution to the project.
  3. Automated as Built – automating the creation of “As-Built” documentation.

Benefits of the Demonstrator

Michael Riester, Head of Research & Development at Endress+Hauser, describes the demonstrator’s practical advantages:

“With the Vertical Farming Demonstrator, the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance shows how planning processes can be improved and made more efficient through interoperability. This reduces manual work and speeds up time-to-market.” – Michael Riester, Head of Research & Development at Endress+Hauser

Key benefits include:

  • Faster Time-to-Market: Digital twin technologies and the connection between IT and OT help shorten the time it takes to launch new solutions. This allows companies to respond quickly to market changes.
  • Lower Complexity and Better System Performance: The multi-vendor approach and AAS technology create a unified system, removing traditional silos and improving automation performance.
  • Less Manual Work: “As-a-Service” approaches and automation technology reduce manual tasks, lowering costs and minimizing errors.

FLECS’ Role in the Vertical Farming Demonstrator

With the Industrial Control as a Service (ICaaS) demo, FLECS helps simplify and scale OT technologies.

“This collaboration shows how OT technology can be scaled by removing physical hardware and traditional fieldbuses. The ‘as-a-Service’ approach greatly simplifies modern engineering.” – Samuel Greising, Managing Director at FLECS.

Conclusion

The Vertical Farming Demonstrator at SPS 2024 in Nuremberg shows the future of automation. The collaboration between FLECS and its partners within the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance demonstrates how interoperability and digital twin technologies are transforming the planning and setup of new automation solutions—making them more efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective.

Visit FLECS in Hall 6, 240 live at SPS Nuremberg and explore the world of digital process optimization!

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