The chemical industry is well acquainted with networks. Many locations operate in close raw material and energy networks. This is now to be extended to the data level – or at least the measured value level. For it is apparent that analog measured value transmission in chemical plants is often no longer adequate for future tasks. For this reason, the process industry is now openly discussing the topic of IIoT, Industrie 4.0, and using Ethernet technologies.

Australia is at the back end of a 20 year resources boom and transitioning away from a mining investment-based economy. Efficiency and productivity are essential to keep Australia competitive and the event contrasted global developments with our local needs. Our technologies are at the innovative forefront of IIoT and Industrie 4.0 and it was our ambition to start the dialogue between the major stakeholders to work towards an innovative mindset in our industry.

Attendees of the 2016 PROFIBUS and PROFINET Global Forum and the Automation Innovation Summit were inspired by an international roster of experts, learned about the role of Industrial Networks and innovation in their organizations, and gained new insight into the urgency of using automation to improve productivity.

Regional PI Associations (RPAs) from around the world gathered for their annual meeting in Sydney Australia and stayed to support PI Australia’s PROFIBUS & PROFINET Global Forum and Automation Innovation Summit.

The only path to functioning networks in the context of Industrie 4.0 is by way of standards. They ensure a smooth information flow within the production process. That is why PI works closely with other organizations to advance usable and reliable solutions. This is illustrated by Peter Wenzel, Executive Director of PI Germany, with three examples from the past year.

The Hannover Fair is the largest industrial trade show. Each year a partner country is featured with this year’s partner being the USA. Not surprisingly, attendance from the USA reached an all-time high at 5,000 out of the 190,000 attendees. PI had its own booth on the red carpet tour route.