The topic of autonomy was the theme of this year's NAMUR General Assembly, which takes place annually in November. Krohne was the sponsor and, together with NAMUR, chose the topic “Future-proofing our Industry: Milestones towards Autonomous Plants.” 650 interested participants gathered to exchange ideas on current topics in automation in the process engineering industry and future trends. The automation engineering chairs were again invited to report on their work in the NAMUR committees and to discuss future topics with their colleagues.
Prof. Christian Diedrich from ifak also took part in the presentations and workshops together with a student. The topic of Advanced Physical Layer (APL) played a dominant role. ifak operates the first test laboratory in Europe dedicated to this topic. Direct access to sensor and actuator data for data analysis and AI applications, a topic that supports the autonomy of plants, was demonstrated using many examples. The role of AAS (Asset Administration Shell – the digital twin of automation devices and plant components) was demonstrated in several productive applications. Thirty-five workshops reported on the wide range of topics covered by NAMUR, ranging from security and preventive maintenance to AI-controlled plants.
