Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
Leveraging existing data to optimize production
Leveraging existing data to optimize production
To help create operationally efficient factories, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on automating the data exchanges between their equipment and control systems, as well as adopting modern technologies such as edge AI and computer vision.
IOTech’s open edge data platform provides the software foundation for users to build autonomous decision-making processes, monitor assets and processes in real-time, and create unified networks and systems through simple vertical and horizontal integration.
Manufacturing Solutions and Industry 4.0
Operational Benefits
Key manufacturing uses cases addressed by the next generation of Industrial IoT and edge computing solutions include:
- Equipment protection
- Predictive maintenance
- Production flow monitoring
- Production optimization
- Supply chain optimization
Technical Challenges
An operationally efficient manufacturing system, however, must be able to address the following key technical challenges:
- Acquire edge data from a wide variety of industrial sensors, machinery and PLCs
- Support both greenfield (new) and brownfield (existing) factories
- Integrate to Cloud systems for remote management and access
- Be able to deploy to and manage multiple machines at scale
- Address security concerns
Professional Services
Key Benefits of the IOTech Manufacturing Solution:
Our edge software platform provides the following key functions:
- Interoperability - provides the necessary protocol translation for communication to be established between devices that are otherwise not able to communicate
- Local processing - enables the offloading of computing tasks from devices by caching/storing information and acting as a private subsystem that can be accessed remotely
- Quality of service - can maximize the effectiveness of available network bandwidth while minimizing endpoint bottlenecks
- Security - can be used to support more sophisticated security solutions than those implemented on each individual endpoint, creating a good defensive, in-depth strategy for the whole factory network
- Local storage - helps save transmission costs by only sending relevant data to the cloud. In many cases, it is more efficient to have the edge platform capture the data and make analytical decisions locally
Customer Example: King Steel Use Case - IOTech delivers connectivity solutions to King Steel’s Award-Winning Injection Moulding Machines NexCell®
Challenge: King Steel requires integration with Modbus and Siemens S7 components within their manufacturing equipment. The data should be normalized and available for local decision-making and control and delivered to other SCADA systems within the factory.
Solution: IOTech’s Edge Connect OT connectivity solutions provide simplified integration with a broad range of industrial devices and enable the acquisition of real-time machine data at very low latencies. The required multi-device normalization is provided by an Industry 4.0 data layer based on the OPC UA standard with support for both client/server and publish/subscribe communication models.
Benefits:
- Creates new revenue opportunities through a new generation of software-defined control solutions with flexible connectivity even with competitors’ devices
Use Case: Edge Manager in Factory Environments
Challenge: Manage a new generation of edge applications in factory environments.
Solution: IOTech’s Edge Manager enhances manufacturing and industrial automation by enabling the efficient deployment, configuration, and management of edge applications in factory environments. Edge Manager's multi-tenancy capability and platform independence offer scalability and flexibility.
Benefits:
- Predictive maintenance
- Quality control
- Process optimization
- Supply chain management
- Increased efficiency
- Real-time monitoring
- Application lifecycle automation
