5th GE Digital End Users Conference
5th GE Digital End Users Conference: ON THE WAY TO INDUSTRY 4.0
with a reference visit at the Archduke Brewery in Zywiec
On October 26-27, 2017, in the picturesque Zimnik Valley (Silesian Beskids), the 5th Jubilee GE Digital End Users Conference took place. The annual meeting organized by VIX Automation has gathered nearly 300 participants in five editions. The program of this year’s conference focused on the issues identified by the participants of the previous edition as the most important to implement the concept of Industry 4.0 in life (including mobility, production reporting, cybersecurity, modern MES system).
The president of VIX Automation, Mariusz Benna, officially started our meeting with a presentation in which he argued that despite the doubts that may arise, it is worth moving forward in the direction of Industry 4.0. In subsequent lectures, the representatives of VIX Automation encouraged participants to continuous self-development and training, as the most important “element” of Industry 4.0 is a human. The benefits of conducting technology audits and modernization of SCADA systems in the water and sewage industry were also presented.
What distinguishes our conference from other similar events is the fact that the GE Digital software users themselves presents real stories and effects of software implementations. Among the guest speakers were representatives of companies:
- Guardian Częstochowa – we saw how the production of coated glass is controlled using SCADA iFIX,
- Avon Operations Poland – we’ve heard how the system based on iFIX, Webspace, Historian and Plant Applications, supports an effective media management in the cosmetics production process,
- Spomlek Dairy Cooperative – we got to know the history of the evolution of the MES system, supporting the cheese production,
- GE Power Controls – we saw how the digitization of production processes was carried out using, among others, the MES system, based on the Cimplicity and Webspace software and the OEE monitoring system ( Historian, Plant Applications),
- Perla Brewery – we heard how GE Digital systems support the brewery on the way to Smart Factory,
- Archduchess Brewery in Zywiec – presentation, being the introduction to the reference visit, brought us closer to the system supporting production, using, among others SCADA iFIX , Historian, Plant Applelcations or Historian Analysis.
During the conference, the latest version of visualization and production control software was presented – HMI / SCADA iFIX 5.9 and the first effects of our team’s work on the Predix platform.
An integral part of the conference was the reference visit organized in Archduke Brewery in Zywiec (Grupa Zywiec) – one of the most modern breweries in Poland and Europe. We visitied an amazing museum and the brewery’s production departments: a brewhouse, filtration and bottling plants. The brewery’s production capacity is 5 million hectoliters of beer per year. Its flagship beer – Zywiec Jasne Pełne has been produced continuously in the same place since the brewery’s establishment in 1856. It is also the most well-known Polish beer abroad, present in over 30 countries.
The great interest in the Conference, its subject matter and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, prove that Polish enterprises and production plants are aware that changes are inevitable and those who do not develop are left behind. At the same time, let us not forget that the revolution is for people, not people for revolution!
