No. 7 & 7A,
Jalan Tiara, Tiara Square,
Taman Perindustrian Sime UEP,
47600 Subang Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8023 9829
+603-8023 7089
Fictron Industrial Supplies Sdn Bhd
No. 7 & 7A,
Jalan Tiara, Tiara Square,
Taman Perindustrian Sime UEP,
47600 Subang Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
No. 7 & 7A,
Jalan Tiara, Tiara Square,
Taman Perindustrian Sime UEP,
47600 Subang Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia.
Fictron Industrial
Automation Pte Ltd
140 Paya Lebar Road, #03-01,
AZ @ Paya Lebar 409015,
Singapore.
+65 31388976
sg.sales@fictron.com
Automation Pte Ltd
140 Paya Lebar Road, #03-01,
AZ @ Paya Lebar 409015,
Singapore.
+65 31388976
sg.sales@fictron.com
Latest News
U.S. Companies' Message to Trump: Don't Expand China Tariffs
Jun 20, 2019
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How things go about if President Donald Trump carry through his warning to demand tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese goods that he hasn't already hit with 25 percent import taxes?
A New Hampshire fireworks company says it would have to elevate prices, probably lose business and force some small towns to cancel their Fourth of July fireworks displays.
A Minnesota motorcycle maker warns that it would lose business to foreign rivals that do not have to pay taxes on Chinese parts.
A Los Angeles designer and distributor of houseware goods tells it would have to extend a hiring freeze and hold-up plans to spread out into a more substantial warehouse.
The administration, in the middle of the trade war it began with Beijing, had demanded comments on its plan to extend 25 percent tariffs to everything China ships to the United States.
It's getting an earful.
A large number of businesses, trade groups and individuals have written to protest that the a great deal more import taxes would increase prices for consumers, squeeze profits and leave U.S. companies at a competitive negative aspect to foreign competitors that commonly are not susceptible to higher taxes on the vital components they buy from China.
They are appealing with the administration to reconsider the tariffs — or at least free the particular imports they and their customers rely on. Some will appear in person to air their grievances in seven days of hearings in Washington that begin Monday.
A common theme in their pleas tends to be that American businesses — not China, as Trump often asserts — must pay the import taxes the president is imposing on Chinese goods. And in conclusion, some of these companies will pass their higher costs on to their customers.
Trump has recently imposed 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports. The aim is to pressure Beijing to stop stealing American technology, forcing U.S. businesses to hand over trade secrets and unfairly subsidizing Chinese tech companies.
Eleven rounds of negotiations proved unsuccessful to manage the dispute over China's aggressive drive to surpass America's technological dominance. Businesses and investors say they hope the negotiations will gain momentum if Trump and President Xi Jinping hold a face-to-face meeting at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan in two weeks.
'Most businesses are almost praying for a solution,' said Patrik Berglund, who tracks global trade as the CEO of Xeneta, an Oslo, Norway ,firm that provides data on the shipping industry. 'These things will have enormous consequences. We're so connected in this global world.'
Trump's earlier tariffs mostly spared American consumers by emphasizing industrial goods that don't show up directly in the mall or big-box stores. But the new round will inflict financial pain on ordinary households on the grounds that it will affect many consumer goods, from cellphones and computers to shoes and silk scarves.
'We're talking about things that you and I buy and buy in a store, and that's going to be felt directly by consumers,' said Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The companies that serve the retail market, he replied, tend to have 'much, much less margin to absorb those increased tariff costs.'
A report commissioned by the National Retail Federation found out that American consumers would pay a further $4.4 billion a year for clothing, $2.5 billion more for shoes and $1.6 billion more for household appliances.
More broadly, economists say the tariffs could destroy a U.S. economy that is apparently on shakier footing. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said the bigger import taxes would leave the United States with 900,000 fewer jobs than it would have had otherwise.
'The U.S. economy will be flirting with recession later this year and early next,' Zandi said.
Indian Motorcycle Co. in Medina, Minnesota, complained that its foreign competitors will likely not have to pay a tax on Chinese parts, giving them to 'import the finished motorcycle into the United States — without increased costs.'
Excluding motorcycle parts from the tariffs, a company lawyer, Paul Vitrano, wrote, would 'avoid the unintended consequence of providing foreign-based motorcycle manufacturers with a competitive advantage.'
Carltons Men's and Women's Apparel store in the Delaware beach town of Rehoboth says the tariffs would force it to raise prices — a $500 suit could cost $625 — and lose business and cut its staff of 15. 'If revenue declines, then payroll must, too,' said owner Trey Kraus.
Protests to the tariffs commonly are not unanimous. The Bohning Co., a maker of archery instruments in Lake City, Michigan, asserted that Chinese companies are counterfeiting its products and have simpler access to the U.S. market than it has to China's.
'The 25 percent tariffs should be put in place,' wrote CEO Larry Griffith.
Nonetheless most of those who sounded off on the tariffs were implacably opposed to them — and frightened.
'We beg, plead and pray you will use common sense in these trade practices and consider the little guy!!' wrote Alan Chadwick, who imports silk scarves from China and sells them in Wyoming. 'We are just ants who get trampled under fighting buffalo.'
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
How to Implement IoT Into Your Industrial Manufacturing Operations
Jun 20, 2019
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The Internet of Things (IoT) and its commercial counterpart, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), are perennial trending tips for good reason. Internet-embedded technology touches approximately every part of our daily lives, from smart electric meters and security cameras to personal health monitors and TVs. By 2020, over 20 billion devices will be part of the IoT base, and IIoT specifically will account for 15 percent of total IoT spending.
From remote monitoring to predictive maintenance, manufacturers have a substantial opportunity to benefit from IIoT technologies—especially if they act holistically.
Systems of sensors collect data that alternatively would be slow to aggregate or have a low degree of fidelity in the real world. As these sensors cultivate in affordability or are packaged in new ways and with new algorithms, manufacturers will discern even more IIoT benefits, especially optimizing operations, preventative maintenance, creating a safer work environment and boosting the bottom line.
Key Considerations When Implementing IIoT Investments
As with a variety of new ideas, it is best to test small and then scale when applying IIoT technologies in a manufacturing environment. Apply your learnings to each element or location of your business.
Consider each step of this roadmap when implementing your own IIoT technologies:
Investment planning and success criteria:
IIoT’s return on investment oftentimes plays out over years instead of weeks. This is why leaders and management must set incremental, early-stage success conditions to indicate value early, maintain motivation and identify what success looks like not simply from a data perspective, but for individual employees.
It's a procedure one global leader in industrial equipment manufacturing put into play when it hired Nerdery to create innovative new revenue streams in precisely eight weeks.
The discovery process, which included plant visits, one-on-one conversations, and demonstrations, specialised not simply on internal outcomes but the needs of its end users. They recognized a vital pain point: A desire for fast, digitized solutions in an otherwise analog industry.
Then a use case was constructed that combined digitally-forward tools and a dual client and end-user value proposition. The client would use sensors to acquire insight into when customers needed to swap out parts and provide that service directly to customers in the future.
Security:
Connecting machines to an external network seriously opens up the surface area for an attack — something many manufacturers have never reasonably predicted. Many IIoT networks are easy targets for hackers; 84 percent of industrial companies have at least one remotely accessible device, and 57 percent are generally not running feasible antivirus protections. When making new investments, plan from the very start and understand your company’s risk profile to ensure the integrity of the machine and data, as well as the ability to push trusted updates to address discovered vulnerabilities is imperative.
In the face of those challenges, some manufacturers are hiding their IoT devices behind network firewalls and eliminating any external internet entry. This does provide some safety but incurs tradeoffs from an operational point as to be able to remotely observe, monitor and update those devices is compromised. Moreover, those tradeoffs can make it much harder to detect and mitigate a breach should a burglar penetrate the firewall. A better solution would harden the components and transmission layer so that monitoring and update protocols can be retained.
Change management and business process:
The very features that make IIoT technologies a success can also introduce a host of new employee-related issues. By way of example, machines that incorporate cameras may also violate corporate policies or employee expectations regarding privacy.
Be transparent about the “what,” “why,” and “how” behind the essentially objectionable parts of IIoT, and let your business processes evolve to complement your new reality. This also is a good time to think of health and safety regulations that may impose data retention requirements for the purposes of audit or compliance review.
Communication medium:
Your IIoT Internet connectivity can be gained by a large range of technologies including cellular, WiFi, Lora, and Sigfox. Remarkable research may be required to figure out the service that will provide the right mix of power consumption, signal reliability, adequate bandwidth, and platform viability to warrant investment — something a strong partner can help analyze. Remain flexible; the solution may be heterogeneous and scalable as the business grows.
Edge vs. cloud computing:
As IIoT systems formulate more data and the cost and power of edge computing improve, the IIoT industry will be operating data on the edges other than simply pushing it to the IIoT system. The result: Cleaner data, faster analysis and responses, and optimized bandwidth consumption. But edge computing comes with tradeoffs, including increased system complexity and the loss of the ability to analyze raw data sets. Data that is unrelated today often can be valuable tomorrow, so care needs to be given when translating raw data to higher level events. Apply insights from internal subject-matter experts or an external partner to anticipate, and plan for, change management around edge computing.
Data silos:
Most organizations suffer some kind internal data siloing, but diligent planning can help avoid new ones when adding IIoT. Standardize the formatting, processing, and storage of your new IIoT data from the beginning to sidestep siloing and ensure long-term value. Remember that your actual workforce will never be the solely one interacting with the data, and that future employees will depend on its precision in making future business decisions.
Retrofitting legacy machines:
Given the 30- to 40-year lifespan of manufacturing equipment, your business potentially will need to plan for retrofitting legacy machines to avoid dark zones where visibility disappears and work just isn't tracked. Sensors and other third-party technology can be bundled with an enormous array of existing equipment.
With the right combination of plan and partner, IIoT investments can make your manufacturing company better agile and better prepared to face competitors, avoid problems and grow for the future.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
G-20 Finance Officials Pledge to Protect Global Growth
Jun 20, 2019
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Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 huge economies bound up a meeting in Japan on Sunday with a promise to use all the policies they can to guard global growth from disruptions due to trade and other tensions.
The G-20 finance leaders said in a joint communique that challenges from trade and geopolitical tensions were 'intensifying.' They didn't refer straight to the tariffs war between the United States and China, though leaders taking part in the meetings indicated it was the No. 1 concern.
'We will continue to address these risks, and stand ready to take further action,' the report said. 'We reaffirm our commitment to use all policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, and safeguard against downside risks.'
Global growth looks to be stabilizing and is assumed to pick up later this year and next year, the statement said.
But there was an evident rift between most participants in the meeting and the U.S., which has repositioned away from support for treating issues in multilateral forums such as the World Trade Organization in favor of a country-by-country 'America First' approach.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the most recent global slowdown was linked to political issues, 'especially trade tensions.'
'So it's high time that we put an end to those tensions and we should escape trade wars which would have real deep negative impact and long-term impact on global growth,' he said.
He recommended China and the U.S. to resolve their differences through the WTO, saying it 'is only within the multilateral framework that we can find long-term solutions for present trade tensions.'
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, additionally was blunt in warning of the potential toll from the tit-for-tat tariff hikes and other retaliatory moves between Washington and Beijing with talks on handling their dispute in a stalemate, saying that the 'road ahead remains precarious.'
'The principal threat stems from continuing trade tensions,' said Lagarde, adding that the IMF forecasts the tariffs could scale down the level of global GDP by 0.5 percent in 2020, or about $455 billion.
'To reduce these risks, I highlighted that the first priority should be to resolve the current trade tensions — including eliminating existing tariffs and avoiding new ones — while we need to continue to work toward the modernization of the international trade system,' Lagarde said.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso appeared to have wearied of the issue by the end of the meetings. 'The China-U.S. issue is all you ask about. We have plenty of other issues that we need to consider,' he said.
While at the same time they urged the U.S. to stick to the international rules that it spent decades promoting before President Donald Trump took office, the officials both in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka and at parallel talks on trade and the digital economy in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, said there's certainly a consensus on the need to revamp the WTO to bring it more in keeping with the digital economy realities of the 21st century.
Trump has reported he likes deal-making on a country-to-country basis. While there is no sign Beijing and Washington are set to go back to trade talks that stalled last month after 11 rounds of negotiations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he had a good meeting Sunday with China's central bank Gov. Yi Gang on the sidelines of a financial leaders' meeting in Fukuoka.
In a Twitter posting that showed the two clasping hands, Mnuchin said he and Yi 'had a candid discussion on trade issues.' He gave no specifics.
Mnuchin told reporters that he envisioned that any major progress in resolving the impasse would likely come at a meeting of Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping during the G-20 summit in late June in Osaka, Japan.
Trump has yet to decide, Mnuchin said, on whether to enforce more 25% tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese exports. That would be along with tariffs of up to 25% on $250 billion in Chinese goods. Together they would encompass almost everything China exports to the U.S.
There was no current word from the Chinese side about the meeting between Yi and Mnuchin.
At the meeting of trade and economy ministers in Tsukuba, a government research hub, the officials supported the exact same set of recommendations, while also issuing a mild call to 'handle trade tensions and to foster mutually beneficial trade relations.'
'We strive to know a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment, to keep our markets open,' they said. 'We recognize our business community's call for the G20 to continue supporting the multilateral trading system.'
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is hosting the G-20 for the first time since it was founded in 1999.
The venue for the annual financial meeting, Fukuoka, is a blooming regional centre and base for startups. Much attention at the G-20 meetings this year has aimed at how to adapt tax systems and regulation to the increasingly digital nature of business.
While Mnuchin and other officials made it clear that they disagreed on the details of how to do that, the officials said they had agreed that the G-20 and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development would likely work together on drawing up an agreement by the end of 2020.
The G-20 group includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
voxeljet and Its Partners Present New Additive Mass Manufacturing Technology
Jun 20, 2019
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Integrated into conventional casting lines, VJET X printers are assumed to be the most powerful additive manufacturing technology for the cost-productive serial-production of complicated sand cores for the casting of metal components.
VJET X printers are 10x faster than previous models, which results in a layering speed of less than 5 seconds.
Inorganic binder system for zero emissions during core printing, storage and when using the sand cores in the casting process.
Integrated into fully automated handling systems for pre- and postprocesses like loading and unloading of the 3D printers; cleaning of the printed parts via robotic systems; transport of sand cores to casting lines.
A new procedure unit is at the heart of VJET X and makes additive mass manufacturing possible. It is a combination of numerous printing and recoating units which move with unparalleled speed (layer time below five seconds). It is considered to be the most complex piece of technology in the additive manufacturing industry. The new technology, to be first commercialized with a premium German car manufacturer and integrated into conventional casting lines, can for example be used in the additive mass manufacturing of complicated water jacket cores in metal casting applications. Water jacket cores are used for the exact temperature management in not only internal combustion engines, but also electric motors, inverters and battery systems. Efficient temperature management improves overall vehicle performance. Together with its industrial partners, voxeljet will present the new VJET X and VX1000-S printers at the GIFA show from 25 to 29 June 2019 in Duesseldorf (Germany).
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Rethinking Part Consolidation with Additive Manufacturing
Jun 20, 2019
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Mechanical assemblies are common in both consumer products and industrial items. Even relatively inexpensive products can have dozens of individual components, and in complex machinery there can easily be hundreds or thousands of components. Additive manufacturing (AM) allows for high levels of part consolidation, sometimes even removing the need for assembly.
The benefits of additive manufacturing for part consolidation
AM is uniquely capable of producing elaborate geometries that can't be manufactured using conventional methods of manufacturing. A mechanical assembly that would generally have many parts fabricated as separate components and then brought together can be additively manufactured as a single unit, even if the geometry is very complex. In addition to design simplification, there are other tangible advantages to using AM for part consolidation:
Lower overall projection costs
The best and most apparent advantage of consolidating your parts with AM is that seeking fewer parts to assemble means you're spending less money on assembly costs. Taking assembly out of the equation also means that you'll reduce potential cost-driving factors such as quality control or inventory management. By using additive manufacturing to make multiple parts as one, you're lessening the risk of hidden costs and project delays.
Less material
In conventional manufacturing, as part complexity increases, part cost also commonly improves. With AM, this is not the case - as part complexity increases, part cost does not increase. In many cases the part cost will decrease, because increased complexity often means less material is being used. When using AM, it's possible to achieve upwards of a 70 percent decrease in materials used compared to ordinary manufacturing.
Lower overall risk
Part consolidation reduces or completely eliminates a number of risks. For sample, you can circumvent the risk that your distributor can no longer supply the part in question. This supplier risk is multiplied by the number of parts in the assembly. If you're able to print multiple parts as a single unit using AM, the chances of encountering this issue greatly lower.
There are other risks that are reduced as well. The instances of part failure decrease when the part has been manufactured as a single unit rather than assembled separately. Another risk is obsolescence; when the part reaches the end of its life you will not have remaining inventory that must be disposed.
Better performance
In many cases, AM makes you to make a better performing part, because it enables geometries that are desirable but that can't be made with legacy manufacturing. Some of the applications of AM that have exciting benefits for improved product performance include light weighting, high strength to weight ratio, heat transfer and fluid flow, and energy absorption.
Matt Schroeder is a Senior Application Engineer at Fast Radius, a leading additive manufacturing company. Fast Radius is respected as one of the 16 best factories in the world by the World Economic Forum (WEF), implementing 'technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.' The companies were chosen from 1,000 manufacturers worldwide, with Fast Radius selected as the only award recipient from North America. www.fastradius.com.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
The benefits of additive manufacturing for part consolidation
AM is uniquely capable of producing elaborate geometries that can't be manufactured using conventional methods of manufacturing. A mechanical assembly that would generally have many parts fabricated as separate components and then brought together can be additively manufactured as a single unit, even if the geometry is very complex. In addition to design simplification, there are other tangible advantages to using AM for part consolidation:
Lower overall projection costs
The best and most apparent advantage of consolidating your parts with AM is that seeking fewer parts to assemble means you're spending less money on assembly costs. Taking assembly out of the equation also means that you'll reduce potential cost-driving factors such as quality control or inventory management. By using additive manufacturing to make multiple parts as one, you're lessening the risk of hidden costs and project delays.
Less material
In conventional manufacturing, as part complexity increases, part cost also commonly improves. With AM, this is not the case - as part complexity increases, part cost does not increase. In many cases the part cost will decrease, because increased complexity often means less material is being used. When using AM, it's possible to achieve upwards of a 70 percent decrease in materials used compared to ordinary manufacturing.
Lower overall risk
Part consolidation reduces or completely eliminates a number of risks. For sample, you can circumvent the risk that your distributor can no longer supply the part in question. This supplier risk is multiplied by the number of parts in the assembly. If you're able to print multiple parts as a single unit using AM, the chances of encountering this issue greatly lower.
There are other risks that are reduced as well. The instances of part failure decrease when the part has been manufactured as a single unit rather than assembled separately. Another risk is obsolescence; when the part reaches the end of its life you will not have remaining inventory that must be disposed.
Better performance
In many cases, AM makes you to make a better performing part, because it enables geometries that are desirable but that can't be made with legacy manufacturing. Some of the applications of AM that have exciting benefits for improved product performance include light weighting, high strength to weight ratio, heat transfer and fluid flow, and energy absorption.
Matt Schroeder is a Senior Application Engineer at Fast Radius, a leading additive manufacturing company. Fast Radius is respected as one of the 16 best factories in the world by the World Economic Forum (WEF), implementing 'technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.' The companies were chosen from 1,000 manufacturers worldwide, with Fast Radius selected as the only award recipient from North America. www.fastradius.com.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Robot Fish Powered by Synthetic Blood Just Keeps Swimming
Jun 20, 2019
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Living things are stupendously confusing, and when we make robots (even bio-inspired robots), we mainly just try and do the best we can to match the functionality of animals, rather than the details of their structure. One exception to this is hydraulic robots, which function on the same concept as spiders do, by pumping pressurized fluid around to move limbs. This is more of a side effect than actual bio-inspiration, though, as spiders still beat robots in that they use their blood as both a hydraulic fluid and to do everything else that blood does, like transporting nutrients and oxygen where it’s needed.
In a paper released in Nature this week, researchers from Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania are exhibiting a robotic fish that uses man made blood pumped through an artificial circulatory system to offer both hydraulic energy for muscles and a delivered source of electrical power. The system they came up with 'combines the functions of hydraulic force transmission, actuation and energy storage into a single integrated design that geometrically grows the strength density of the robot to enable operation for long durations,' which sounds bloody amazing, doesn’t it?
Conventional batteries may be more energy dense, but that Tesla also has to lug around motors and stuff if it wants to go anywhere. By using its blood to drive hydraulic actuators as well, this fish is far more streamlined. Inside the fish are two separate pumps, each one able to pump blood from a reservoir of sorts into (or out of) an actuator. Pumping blood from the dorsal spines into the pectoral fins pushes the fins outward from the body, and pumping blood from one end of the tail to the other and back again results in a swimming motion.
In total, the fish covers about 0.2 liter of blood, distributed throughout an artificial vascular system that was made on a pretty basic level to resemble the structure of a real heart. The rest of the fish is made of structural components that are somewhat like muscle and cartilage. It’s probably best to try not to draw too many parallels between this robot and an actual fish, though, and we may have already gone just slightly overboard on the whole “blood” thing. But the point is that combining actuation, force transmission, and energy storage has significant advantages for this particular robot. The researchers say that plenty of optimization is possible as well, which would lead to benefits in both performance and efficiency.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
In a paper released in Nature this week, researchers from Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania are exhibiting a robotic fish that uses man made blood pumped through an artificial circulatory system to offer both hydraulic energy for muscles and a delivered source of electrical power. The system they came up with 'combines the functions of hydraulic force transmission, actuation and energy storage into a single integrated design that geometrically grows the strength density of the robot to enable operation for long durations,' which sounds bloody amazing, doesn’t it?
Conventional batteries may be more energy dense, but that Tesla also has to lug around motors and stuff if it wants to go anywhere. By using its blood to drive hydraulic actuators as well, this fish is far more streamlined. Inside the fish are two separate pumps, each one able to pump blood from a reservoir of sorts into (or out of) an actuator. Pumping blood from the dorsal spines into the pectoral fins pushes the fins outward from the body, and pumping blood from one end of the tail to the other and back again results in a swimming motion.
In total, the fish covers about 0.2 liter of blood, distributed throughout an artificial vascular system that was made on a pretty basic level to resemble the structure of a real heart. The rest of the fish is made of structural components that are somewhat like muscle and cartilage. It’s probably best to try not to draw too many parallels between this robot and an actual fish, though, and we may have already gone just slightly overboard on the whole “blood” thing. But the point is that combining actuation, force transmission, and energy storage has significant advantages for this particular robot. The researchers say that plenty of optimization is possible as well, which would lead to benefits in both performance and efficiency.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Virtual and Augmented Reality in Manufacturing
Jun 19, 2019
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More than 200 years ago, German philosopher Immanuel Kant depicted virtual reality as a reality that exists in our minds and is distinct from the outside physical world. Right now we use the term in different ways, but the concept of virtual reality still retains Kant’s idea of a world that is not concrete, but that our mind can intelligibly perceive.
There are differing ways of digitally manipulating somebody’s opinion of reality. The easiest is to boost the user’s perception of the external world by adding digital elements to it, a technique often called augmented reality (AR). To illustrate, tourists could see information about historical buildings projected direct onto the buildings’ facades thanks to AR glasses, as happens a Casa Battló in Barcelona. Virtual reality (VR) takes this technology one step further by completely substituting the user’s reality with a digitally-generated one.
Recently, the manufacturing sector has figured out the potential of AR and VR in cutting costs and bettering safety and productivity. But precisely what are the applications of this revolutionary technologies in the factory?
Speeding up production
VR is generally used by forward-thinking manufacturers to improve their approach to predictive analytics. While finding flaws in a product design could take weeks of analyzing data, interacting with the product digitally allows you to pick out a design flaw in just a few minutes.
The same process is often applied to a whole production line. By studying the production process in a virtual environment, manufacturers are capable of identify bottlenecks and areas that need improvements. VR also gets rid of the need of building actual full-scale models, which is very convenient in sectors such as aerospace manufacturing, where prototyping can be remarkably expensive.
Increasing safety
Safety is an additional area where VR can be productively applied. By digitally simulating the production processes, it's possible to spot dangerous maneuvers in advance. Automotive giant Ford, for example, has already reduced employees’ injuries by 70 percent thanks to VR.
An identical process can be used to enhance consumers’ safety by simulating the real circumstances in which a product will be used. For example, automotive manufacturers can reproduce various weather and traffic conditions to maximize the safety features of their vehicles.
Maintenance and training
AR can facilitate maintenance. For example, the information that technicians need when checking or repairing a machine can be projected right on the part on which they are operating. This gets rid of any need to consult charts and instruction manuals, quickening the process. Moreover, the information projected guides the operator, so that even a reasonably inexperienced worker can perform the necessary repair.
In a similar manner, AR can be used to deliver expert support without flying specialists from one side of the globe to the other. Any employee equipped with AR glasses can, in fact, be instructed remotely by a specialist, who provides support by plainly simulating the actions that the employee should perform. This technique can also be used to teach new employees. Moreover, both AR and VR can give excellent support in preparing staff for emergency procedures.
For Kant, virtual reality was something that exclusively existed in our minds, but at present AR and VR have practical applications that forward-thinking manufacturers are already taking advantage of.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
Preparing for the EU¡¯s Power Provisions
Jun 19, 2019
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By any measure, the European Union’s ideas for a fully automated electrical power market are ambitious: a single, deregulated electricity market across 28 EU member states and 500 million energy consumers, which meets stringent environmental targets while preserving electricity users from supply issues.
It’s been a comparatively slow and steady process: Since 1996, a number of directives have chipped away at monopolistic utilities, permitting new business models and new players to challenge incumbents. As most energy suppliers, including fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable, can attest, the electricity market is now all but unrecognizable. To take just a good example, industrial and commercial tariffs are almost fully deregulated with feedstock procurement now a market-based activity.
EU initiatives to grow competition, effectual price formation and, in return, more efficient use of electricity itself have largely paid off. However, the market is not without its technical problems. Regulators divided up the EU electricity market into bidding zones that assume limitless intra-zone trading opportunities. That has not proved to be the case, and the zonal design is recognized — at least by academics — as an obstacle to more efficient use of resources.
This system is progressively problematic, as the EU’s decarbonization agenda picks up the pace. More intermittent renewables along side the expectation that transport, heating, and industry will all experience more substantial electrification, requiring substantial new infrastructure. Considering how best to direct investment toward storage, demand response, more interconnection and distributed energy resources, exposes the cracks in the current scheme.
A Proposal for Change
Market redesign has therefore moved from academia and onto the political agenda in the form of the recently approved Electricity Regulation and Directives. These new power market provisions aim to how the EU plans to make energy markets more consumer-focused and reiterate its devotion to a well-functioning, competitive and undistorted market that is certainly primed for purpose.
The latest directive includes legal principles for price formation and for trading electricity on balancing, intraday, day-ahead, and forward markets. Certain measures allow at least 70 percent of trade size to cross borders, making it much easier to trade renewable energy.
There are also measures designed to promote more “prosumers”—energy users who also produce their own supply, which has implications for huge energy users who have developed their own generation capacity. In addition , they establish the means to phase out subsidies of fossil fuel-powered power stations that are kept on standby.
In the event all these measures reach their goals, then the market will be transformed once more: not just for utilities and energy suppliers, but for their domestic, commercial and industrial customers, too.
Caps, Carbon, and Capacity
However, success is far away from guaranteed. Market players, commentators, analysts and policymakers have weighed in, generating more heat than light. Partial breakdown of price caps, treatment of renewables under “priority dispatch” mechanisms, and TSO’s role in cross-border provision are all subject of debate. Nevertheless, it is capacity markets and strategic reserves which are proving particularly contentious.
Europe’s market, in essence, is recently energy only (an EoM). Absent regulatory or political interference, an EoM allows wholesale energy prices to increase when resources are scarce — reflecting the value society places on continuous supply.
However, several EU member states do not really trust the market to keep the lights on. They choose capacity mechanisms and strategic reserves to manage their political and technical issues. The schemes differ, but the idea is similar: paying for standby supply — just in case.
For every expert that highlights that capacity markets protect wholesale energy buyers from exposure to the true marginal cost of power, another cites the distorting effect on price signals and the negative impact on cross-border trade.
In these debates, experts regularly cite Texas’s ERCOT model as evidence of an EoM that can secure trustworthy supply without exposing customers to intolerable levels of volatility and risk. In Texas, suppliers enter into bilateral contracting to manipulate market risks and create a cushion between buyers and the market. Those buyers can then choose how and whether to manage their exposure to energy price volatility — including the use of CTRM systems.
However, the two issues are not directly comparable. The EU is attempting to integrate 28 disparate systems that depend on diverse energy sources and were already at different stages of deregulation and differing societal expectations.
In other words, it’s a political problem as much as anything else. Experts on the Nordic States, like for example, propose that balancing demand and supply without capacity markets is well possible because those countries have accepted that they are dependent on each other. The rest of the EU is not quite there.
You’re in the Market Now
All this means that forecasting the final outcome of the current regulatory upheaval is closer to spinning a roulette wheel than many would love to acknowledge — especially as the European Parliament goes to the polls in May and European Commission personnel will change from November. Nor is it very clear whether “pure” energy pricing is yet politically and socially viable.
This is maybe the most helpful method to view next-generation energy trading and risk management (ETRM) systems: as navigation tools that provide position visibility, risk management, controls, regulatory compliance and clarity when buying, selling, producing, using and accounting for electricity. Putting transparency, digitalization, data and advanced analytics in the hands of energy market participants enables prompt, compliant and informed decision making when it is needed most: as the EU energy market transforms itself once more. That’s the real power of next-generation ETRM systems.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
Oil Exports on the Rise in Louisiana
Jun 19, 2019
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The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is starting to become a huge world supply of exported crude oil.
The New Orleans Advocate reviews the port, or LOOP, has even more than twofold the sheer number of oil tankers loaded for crude export in the first six months of the year.
The primary push behind the soar is the lifting of a 40-year ban on crude exports that ended in 2015. And following four decades of declines, U.S. crude production has heightened from 5 million barrels per day in 2010 to 12.4 million per day in May.
LOOP President Terry Coleman says the further commercial activity could possibly extend LOOP's workforce.
Coleman says trade upheaval with China and India may create production volume inefficiencies but he believes the market will eventually rebalance.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
Huawei Founder Says Revenue Will Be Billions Below Forecast
Jun 19, 2019
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Huawei's founder said Monday that the Chinese telecom giant's revenue will be $30 billion below forecast over the next two years, as he contrasted the company to a 'badly damaged plane' in consequence of U.S. government actions against it.
'We never thought that the U.S.'s determination to attack Huawei would be so strong, so firm,' Ren Zhengfei, who is also the CEO, stated during a panel discussion at company headquarters in Shenzhen.
Ren said Huawei will lessen capacity and expects revenues of about $100 billion annually for the next two years, compared with $105 billion in 2018. In February, he said the company was targeting $125 billion in 2019.
Huawei's overseas mobile sales will drop by 40%, Ren said, confirming a Bloomberg report released Sunday. But the Chinese market continues to grow rapidly, and Huawei will not allow restrictive measures to curb its research and development, he added.
Huawei is embroiled in an ongoing trade dispute between China and the U.S., which has accused Chinese companies such as for example Huawei of committing forced technology transfers and stealing trade secrets. Last month, the U.S. placed Huawei on its 'Entity List,' which effectually bars American companies from selling components to Huawei without government approval.
In December, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou — Ren's daughter — was imprisoned in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities. The U.S. alleges that Meng misguided American banks about the company's business dealings with Iran, and that Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. also claims Huawei, a leader in next-generation 5G cellphone networks, is a threat to global cybersecurity basically because it must obey China's ruling Communist Party. While Ren declines that Huawei would share user data with the Chinese government if ordered to do so, Washington has been trying to convince its allies to exclude Huawei from their upcoming 5G rollout.
Responding, Huawei brought a lawsuit in the U.S. this March demanding the constitutionality of a national security law which prevents the U.S. government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment. The charge, lodged in Plano, Texas, where Huawei's American operations are headquartered, states that the law singles out Huawei for punishment even while rejecting the company due process.
Ren said Monday there are no backdoors in its equipment that anyone could access, and that Huawei is willing to enter into a no backdoor agreement with any nation that wants one.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Huawei is asking Verizon to pay licensing fees for above and beyond 200 of its patents. While Huawei rejected to comment on the matter, company spokesman Joe Kelly said it will hold a briefing later this month on being more aggressive about collecting intellectual property licensing fees.
Ren said during the panel discussion that Huawei will never use its many patents as a 'weapon,' but didn't rule out seeking royalties for usage.
He highlighted that Huawei isn't going to stop collaborating with other countries and businesses.
The company's existing situation 'is not caused by American businesses, but rather by certain politicians' different perspectives,' Ren said. 'I think both sides will suffer. No one will win.'
The panel, organised by Huawei, also included Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the media lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and writer and investor George Gilder.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
Dishcraft Robotics Takes Over Dishwashing From Humans
Jun 19, 2019
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The kinds of jobs that robots are perfect for are the kinds of jobs that humans just straight up do not want to do. This is where the whole “dull, dirty, dangerous” thing will come in, but even in those types, some jobs are duller, dirtier, or more dangerous than others. These are the jobs that we should be focusing on robotizing — not just jobs that are possible to automate, but jobs that need to be computerized because you only can’t find sufficient humans to reliably do them.
One of these jobs is business dishwasher. It’s dull and dirty, and turnover is very high, with the normal human quitting after just over a month and around 30 percent of dishwashing jobs going unfilled, according to one estimate. And if your dishwater doesn’t show up for work, everyone else in the kitchen has to pitch in to make sure that there are enough clean dishes, halting everything down.
Today, a startup called Dishcraft Robotics is announcing a new robotic dish cleaning system, developed to minimize the time and effort that humans spend scrubbing dishes. Brought to you by some of the folks behind Neato Robotics and Dash Robotics, the San Carlos, Calif.-based Dishcraft uses some clever engineering and practical limitations to make sure that meals are done cleaner, faster, better, and cheaper.
First, some context: There are, of course, already robots that wash dishes, and you may have one in your house. But a home dishwasher doesn’t hold enough dishes and takes far too long to be useful in a restaurant kitchen. Solving this challenge is not just a matter of cranking up the speed of a home dishwasher—part of the reason why a home dishwasher functions at all is that it replaces human scrubbing with water, heat, and time. Nobody has time for that in a commercial kitchen, though, which means that scrubbing is necessary.
Getting a robot to scrub dishes is a really challenging difficulty if you try to do it like a human does, because it requires grasping an assortment of very slippery things and then manipulating them with a substantial amount of dexterity. Robots are not ready for this on a commercially-viable scale, so Dishcraft had to find ways of making an automated system that’s a compromise between what robots can realistically do and what a kitchen wants.
The Dishcraft system inspects each dish in a fraction of a second for remaining food residue using computer vision and machine learning to obtain a regular level of high quality. But the really intelligent bits here are how tightly Dishcraft has constrained the system. First, dishes are pre-sorted and pre-stacked into those carts, solving two big potential problems for a robot thanks to humans for whom the tasks add only a very minor amount of effort.
Once the carts are wheeled into the Dishcraft system, you’ll find that there’s a robot arm that picks up each dish one at a time and drives it over to where it gets polished. The arm isn’t using suction—the dishes are all custom, made with a bit of steel developed into the bottom so that they can be picked up magnetically. It turns out that many places don’t actually care what dishware they use, so if Dishcraft can offer them with new dishware that’s much easier to clean, then great.
Each dish is personally cleaned with that rotating scrubber head, which is fashioned exclusively to work with the range of dishes that the system is expecting. It took Dishcraft a lot of experimenting to find the scrubber head that works best.
After the dish is scrubbed, it’s rotated through 120 degrees where it’s evaluated by the vision system for cleanliness. If it fails, it just rotates back around to get cleaned again, but if it goes, it’s set into a kitchen-standard dish rack and slides out of the system. From there, the rack passes into a sanitizer (which most commercial kitchens already have) for the final cleaning step.
The overall idea is that you hardly need any human participation at all, and undoubtedly no active or repetitive work on the part of a human. There’s putting carts into the Dishcraft system, and then taking trays out of the system and putting them into a sanitizer, and that’s pretty much it. You don’t really need a committed “dishwasher” anymore, and potentially someone who’s doing something more interesting could spend a little bit of their time minding the Dishcraft system as well.
As restricted as Dishcraft has attempted to make things, there are still humans in the loop, which signifies that they’ve had to make sure that their system is adjustable. For example, it works optimal if most of the food has been scraped away already, but it’s been manufactured to be able to handle stray t-bone steaks that have been left on plates (using an updated end-effector that isn’t shown in the video) that can make multiple passes if appropriate. It can also deal with old, dried up food, or things like nested bowls that had mashed potatoes in them causing them to stick together. After working on the problem for three years, Dishcraft is confident that the system is now ready to go to market.
Many kitchens, it turns out, don’t need their own Dishcraft robot. What they do need is clean dishes, so Dishcraft offers “dishes as a service,” swapping clean dishes for dirty ones and then washing them in a centered location. This is the same model that most restaurants use for linens, like tablecloths and napkins. The company is also accomplishing custom installations for places that need more throughput.
Dishcraft was formed in 2015 by Linda Pouliot and Paul Birkmeyer, both robotics veterans: Linda co-founded Neato Robotics, and Paul co-founded Dash Robotics. So far, Dishcraft has elevated a healthy US $25 million, which is not all that surprising—they’ve handled to discover a real problem that can be resolved right now by a robotic system in a reliable and cost effective way, and what they’ve come up with seems quite guaranteeing.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
One of these jobs is business dishwasher. It’s dull and dirty, and turnover is very high, with the normal human quitting after just over a month and around 30 percent of dishwashing jobs going unfilled, according to one estimate. And if your dishwater doesn’t show up for work, everyone else in the kitchen has to pitch in to make sure that there are enough clean dishes, halting everything down.
Today, a startup called Dishcraft Robotics is announcing a new robotic dish cleaning system, developed to minimize the time and effort that humans spend scrubbing dishes. Brought to you by some of the folks behind Neato Robotics and Dash Robotics, the San Carlos, Calif.-based Dishcraft uses some clever engineering and practical limitations to make sure that meals are done cleaner, faster, better, and cheaper.
First, some context: There are, of course, already robots that wash dishes, and you may have one in your house. But a home dishwasher doesn’t hold enough dishes and takes far too long to be useful in a restaurant kitchen. Solving this challenge is not just a matter of cranking up the speed of a home dishwasher—part of the reason why a home dishwasher functions at all is that it replaces human scrubbing with water, heat, and time. Nobody has time for that in a commercial kitchen, though, which means that scrubbing is necessary.
Getting a robot to scrub dishes is a really challenging difficulty if you try to do it like a human does, because it requires grasping an assortment of very slippery things and then manipulating them with a substantial amount of dexterity. Robots are not ready for this on a commercially-viable scale, so Dishcraft had to find ways of making an automated system that’s a compromise between what robots can realistically do and what a kitchen wants.
The Dishcraft system inspects each dish in a fraction of a second for remaining food residue using computer vision and machine learning to obtain a regular level of high quality. But the really intelligent bits here are how tightly Dishcraft has constrained the system. First, dishes are pre-sorted and pre-stacked into those carts, solving two big potential problems for a robot thanks to humans for whom the tasks add only a very minor amount of effort.
Once the carts are wheeled into the Dishcraft system, you’ll find that there’s a robot arm that picks up each dish one at a time and drives it over to where it gets polished. The arm isn’t using suction—the dishes are all custom, made with a bit of steel developed into the bottom so that they can be picked up magnetically. It turns out that many places don’t actually care what dishware they use, so if Dishcraft can offer them with new dishware that’s much easier to clean, then great.
Each dish is personally cleaned with that rotating scrubber head, which is fashioned exclusively to work with the range of dishes that the system is expecting. It took Dishcraft a lot of experimenting to find the scrubber head that works best.
After the dish is scrubbed, it’s rotated through 120 degrees where it’s evaluated by the vision system for cleanliness. If it fails, it just rotates back around to get cleaned again, but if it goes, it’s set into a kitchen-standard dish rack and slides out of the system. From there, the rack passes into a sanitizer (which most commercial kitchens already have) for the final cleaning step.
The overall idea is that you hardly need any human participation at all, and undoubtedly no active or repetitive work on the part of a human. There’s putting carts into the Dishcraft system, and then taking trays out of the system and putting them into a sanitizer, and that’s pretty much it. You don’t really need a committed “dishwasher” anymore, and potentially someone who’s doing something more interesting could spend a little bit of their time minding the Dishcraft system as well.
As restricted as Dishcraft has attempted to make things, there are still humans in the loop, which signifies that they’ve had to make sure that their system is adjustable. For example, it works optimal if most of the food has been scraped away already, but it’s been manufactured to be able to handle stray t-bone steaks that have been left on plates (using an updated end-effector that isn’t shown in the video) that can make multiple passes if appropriate. It can also deal with old, dried up food, or things like nested bowls that had mashed potatoes in them causing them to stick together. After working on the problem for three years, Dishcraft is confident that the system is now ready to go to market.
Many kitchens, it turns out, don’t need their own Dishcraft robot. What they do need is clean dishes, so Dishcraft offers “dishes as a service,” swapping clean dishes for dirty ones and then washing them in a centered location. This is the same model that most restaurants use for linens, like tablecloths and napkins. The company is also accomplishing custom installations for places that need more throughput.
Dishcraft was formed in 2015 by Linda Pouliot and Paul Birkmeyer, both robotics veterans: Linda co-founded Neato Robotics, and Paul co-founded Dash Robotics. So far, Dishcraft has elevated a healthy US $25 million, which is not all that surprising—they’ve handled to discover a real problem that can be resolved right now by a robotic system in a reliable and cost effective way, and what they’ve come up with seems quite guaranteeing.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Rockwell Automation Opens New Electric Vehicle Innovation Center in Silicon Valley
Jun 19, 2019
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Rockwell Automation, a leading solutions and services provider to the automotive industry, today opened a new 8,000 square-foot Electric Vehicle (EV) Innovation Center at 111 North Market Street in San Jose, California, within its Information Solutions development facility. The center will supply live manufacturing demonstrations, hands-on trials utilizing new technology and events presenting collaboration with industry experts and Rockwell Automation partners.
Utilizing augmented and virtual reality modeling, the EV Innovation Center offers automotive start-ups and established manufacturers an environment to learn new technologies and standards, enabling them to deliver electric vehicles to market faster, with less risk and at lower cost.
The combination of Rockwell Automation technology with partner technology is what makes the center exclusive. Specifically, Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC, is an unmatched integrated solution that brings together software from PTC and Rockwell Automation. Similarly, Eagle Technologies offers the battery pack assembly machine, and FANUC furnishes robot technologies, both integrated with Rockwell Automation technology.
Hirata, a turnkey assembly line builder, supplies an assembly cell that demonstrates electric drive unit assembly and testing. Emulate 3D, Rockwell Automation's simulation software, helps to prototype and test machines before they're made. Teamtechnik performs functional testing to establish performance before developing the drive into the electric vehicle.
'With growing global consumer demand, electric vehicle companies are challenged to meet aggressive production timelines,' said John Kacsur, vice president, Automotive and Tire Industries, Rockwell Automation. 'We established the Electric Vehicle Innovation Center to increase their possibilities and get their products to customers quickly and at the lowest possible cost, while working more effectively.
'It's an immersive experience that helps customers build and realize The Connected Enterprise — our vision for smart manufacturing that enables customers to influence data and attain positive business results,' said Kacsur. 'With over 4,000 successfully designed, installed and commissioned automotive manufacturing projects, Rockwell Automation knows how to help EV manufacturers get to market faster and better manage enterprise risks.'
Kacsur noted that the EV Center supports digitalization efforts not only for auto and tire customers but for customers in all industries. Customers are welcome to visit the EV Center and contact with industry experts.
By 2040, it's expected that 54% of new vehicle sales will be electric vehicles, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Batteries currently represent a third of the cost of an EV. As battery costs continue to fall, demand for EVs will rise, with up to 40 million new EV batteries needed annually to power new vehicles.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Utilizing augmented and virtual reality modeling, the EV Innovation Center offers automotive start-ups and established manufacturers an environment to learn new technologies and standards, enabling them to deliver electric vehicles to market faster, with less risk and at lower cost.
The combination of Rockwell Automation technology with partner technology is what makes the center exclusive. Specifically, Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC, is an unmatched integrated solution that brings together software from PTC and Rockwell Automation. Similarly, Eagle Technologies offers the battery pack assembly machine, and FANUC furnishes robot technologies, both integrated with Rockwell Automation technology.
Hirata, a turnkey assembly line builder, supplies an assembly cell that demonstrates electric drive unit assembly and testing. Emulate 3D, Rockwell Automation's simulation software, helps to prototype and test machines before they're made. Teamtechnik performs functional testing to establish performance before developing the drive into the electric vehicle.
'With growing global consumer demand, electric vehicle companies are challenged to meet aggressive production timelines,' said John Kacsur, vice president, Automotive and Tire Industries, Rockwell Automation. 'We established the Electric Vehicle Innovation Center to increase their possibilities and get their products to customers quickly and at the lowest possible cost, while working more effectively.
'It's an immersive experience that helps customers build and realize The Connected Enterprise — our vision for smart manufacturing that enables customers to influence data and attain positive business results,' said Kacsur. 'With over 4,000 successfully designed, installed and commissioned automotive manufacturing projects, Rockwell Automation knows how to help EV manufacturers get to market faster and better manage enterprise risks.'
Kacsur noted that the EV Center supports digitalization efforts not only for auto and tire customers but for customers in all industries. Customers are welcome to visit the EV Center and contact with industry experts.
By 2040, it's expected that 54% of new vehicle sales will be electric vehicles, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Batteries currently represent a third of the cost of an EV. As battery costs continue to fall, demand for EVs will rise, with up to 40 million new EV batteries needed annually to power new vehicles.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Augmented MES Becomes Reality with Critical Manufacturing V7
Jun 19, 2019
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PORTO, PORTUGAL, June 18, 2019 - Critical Manufacturing is pleased to mention that it has basically released version 7 (V7) of its modern Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for Industry 4.0. This Augmented MES release offers four new modules: Augmented Reality, Experiments Management, Weigh and Dispense, and BI Cards. This current version takes the already feature rich, modular solution to new levels; enhancing users' experiences; speeding new product introduction (NPI); improving safety, reliability and visibility of processes and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Critical Manufacturing (CM) MES V7 is the most comprehensive and advanced MES solution usually available in the marketplace. It is created to provide a pathway to smart manufacturing with Industry 4.0 technologies for innovative, high-tech discrete manufacturers and now offers endless choices for efficiency, productivity, mobility and data visualization through an Augmented MES experience.
The new Augmented Reality (AR) module is at the center of the new release, and advances the Industry 4.0 roadmap further beyond the Factory Digital Twin and Connect IoT equipment and automation modules. AR breaks new ground by providing manufacturing employees with a new and engaging immersive experience, using data from throughout the MES. It can offer operators with everything they need, including process information, production steps, materials and work instructions.
Users can easily access and view full traceability records, product specifications and order details as well as equipment information such as in-process lots, overall equipment efficiency (OEE), mean time to repair (MTTR), cycle times, maintenance schedules, repair instructions, and much more. It can even help restrict counterfeit components. The user basically points the AR device, such as a tablet, smartphone or AR glasses at the product or machine, and the module will offer needed real-time information superimposed on a live camera image of the production operation, equipment or product.
Francisco Almada Lobo, Critical Manufacturing CEO commented: 'Until now, Augmented Reality has been involved with very limited manufacturing scenarios, such as gear maintenance. Our new AR module goes way beyond that, providing manufacturers with unlimited possibilities to seize productivity and efficiency gains, and for the first time utilize comprehensive data from across the entire MES. Also, with CM's new AR module, there is a relatively low investment, as readily available tablets and smartphones can be used as an alternative to more expensive AR headsets and glasses.'
Another major focus of the V7 release is the Experiments Management module, which yields engineers with a way to identify and implement strategy and product improvements through a controlled, closed-loop process. They can perform Design of Experiments (DoE) with numerous input variables, reducing time spent on this activity, and then seamlessly and transparently execute and monitor experiments side-by-side on the shop floor. This augments companies' approach to continuous improvement, which will be needed as their journey to smart manufacturing progresses. The potential this module offers to increase understanding and knowledge of the effect of process variables translates into improved quality and reliability of processes and products. Experiments Management has the potential to lower both development and production costs as well as help speed new product introductions (NPI).
The new Weigh and Dispense module has been made to help manufacturers, particularly in the MedTech industry, achieve complete and strict adherence to safety regulations and recipes. It offers tight control of both manual and automated weighing, dispensing and filling operations with automated label printing. All measurements are recorded in the automated electronic Batch Record (eBR) for total traceability and straightforward production of regulatory compliance documentation to GxP / FDA requirements.
Weigh and Dispense integrates with electronic scales and dispensing machinery and is fully incorporated within the Critical Manufacturing MES for full end-to-end process and history. Its use ensures exact data collection, with the removal of manual methods and paper records, as many digital transformation programs envision. Alongside ensuring valid data and batch formulation, the module also offers details to the operator of product handling requirements such as glasses, gloves or masks. Overall, this module offers MedTech manufacturers ways to increase product safety, quality and consistency while boosting productivity.
Last but not least, the BI Cards module gives strong performance visibility with quick and easy creation and sharing of customized KPI views and production dashboards. System users can speedily create appealing displays with easy-to-use widgets and, because the module is fully integrated with the MES, information is updated in real-time. The module erases the need for advanced IT skills or expensive, customised software, instead giving appointed users who best understand the steps the power to create the displays they need.
Summary
Critical Manufacturing MES V7 adds exciting, futuristic and valuable features to a software application that is becoming increasingly recognized, selected and preferred worldwide for its Industry 4.0-ready, highly adaptable and user-friendly design.
Francisco Almada Lobo concludes 'CM V7 is a very important release that completes our already broad and fully inter-operable footprint. The bottom line is that more complex operations can be greatly simplified with ultimate control, flexibility and speed. The use cases for our Augmented Reality technology are only limited by the imagination, we call it Augmented MES.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Critical Manufacturing (CM) MES V7 is the most comprehensive and advanced MES solution usually available in the marketplace. It is created to provide a pathway to smart manufacturing with Industry 4.0 technologies for innovative, high-tech discrete manufacturers and now offers endless choices for efficiency, productivity, mobility and data visualization through an Augmented MES experience.
The new Augmented Reality (AR) module is at the center of the new release, and advances the Industry 4.0 roadmap further beyond the Factory Digital Twin and Connect IoT equipment and automation modules. AR breaks new ground by providing manufacturing employees with a new and engaging immersive experience, using data from throughout the MES. It can offer operators with everything they need, including process information, production steps, materials and work instructions.
Users can easily access and view full traceability records, product specifications and order details as well as equipment information such as in-process lots, overall equipment efficiency (OEE), mean time to repair (MTTR), cycle times, maintenance schedules, repair instructions, and much more. It can even help restrict counterfeit components. The user basically points the AR device, such as a tablet, smartphone or AR glasses at the product or machine, and the module will offer needed real-time information superimposed on a live camera image of the production operation, equipment or product.
Francisco Almada Lobo, Critical Manufacturing CEO commented: 'Until now, Augmented Reality has been involved with very limited manufacturing scenarios, such as gear maintenance. Our new AR module goes way beyond that, providing manufacturers with unlimited possibilities to seize productivity and efficiency gains, and for the first time utilize comprehensive data from across the entire MES. Also, with CM's new AR module, there is a relatively low investment, as readily available tablets and smartphones can be used as an alternative to more expensive AR headsets and glasses.'
Another major focus of the V7 release is the Experiments Management module, which yields engineers with a way to identify and implement strategy and product improvements through a controlled, closed-loop process. They can perform Design of Experiments (DoE) with numerous input variables, reducing time spent on this activity, and then seamlessly and transparently execute and monitor experiments side-by-side on the shop floor. This augments companies' approach to continuous improvement, which will be needed as their journey to smart manufacturing progresses. The potential this module offers to increase understanding and knowledge of the effect of process variables translates into improved quality and reliability of processes and products. Experiments Management has the potential to lower both development and production costs as well as help speed new product introductions (NPI).
The new Weigh and Dispense module has been made to help manufacturers, particularly in the MedTech industry, achieve complete and strict adherence to safety regulations and recipes. It offers tight control of both manual and automated weighing, dispensing and filling operations with automated label printing. All measurements are recorded in the automated electronic Batch Record (eBR) for total traceability and straightforward production of regulatory compliance documentation to GxP / FDA requirements.
Weigh and Dispense integrates with electronic scales and dispensing machinery and is fully incorporated within the Critical Manufacturing MES for full end-to-end process and history. Its use ensures exact data collection, with the removal of manual methods and paper records, as many digital transformation programs envision. Alongside ensuring valid data and batch formulation, the module also offers details to the operator of product handling requirements such as glasses, gloves or masks. Overall, this module offers MedTech manufacturers ways to increase product safety, quality and consistency while boosting productivity.
Last but not least, the BI Cards module gives strong performance visibility with quick and easy creation and sharing of customized KPI views and production dashboards. System users can speedily create appealing displays with easy-to-use widgets and, because the module is fully integrated with the MES, information is updated in real-time. The module erases the need for advanced IT skills or expensive, customised software, instead giving appointed users who best understand the steps the power to create the displays they need.
Summary
Critical Manufacturing MES V7 adds exciting, futuristic and valuable features to a software application that is becoming increasingly recognized, selected and preferred worldwide for its Industry 4.0-ready, highly adaptable and user-friendly design.
Francisco Almada Lobo concludes 'CM V7 is a very important release that completes our already broad and fully inter-operable footprint. The bottom line is that more complex operations can be greatly simplified with ultimate control, flexibility and speed. The use cases for our Augmented Reality technology are only limited by the imagination, we call it Augmented MES.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
XJet brings latest in additive manufacturing developments to Rapid.Tech & FabCon 3.D
Jun 19, 2019
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Rehovot, Israel, June 18th 2019 - XJet Ltd. invites visitors to stand 2-209 at Rapid.Tech + FabCon 3.D, 25 - 27 June in Erfurt, Germany, to witness the impressive and exclusive applications made possible by its NanoParticle Jetting™ (NPJ) technology in metal and ceramic AM. Applications being featured include a 5G antenna application and a medical device targeted at treating breast cancer. XJet will showcase what this unparalleled technology brings to the additive manufacturing industry while also displaying its unique soluble support material removal live.
'Visitors are invited onto the XJet stand to experience removing XJet's soluble support material with their own hands - to truly witness the ease of this plan,' comments XJet CEO Dror Danai. 'Rapid.Tech offers us with the platform for Europeans to get ‘hands-on' with the process and hear how NPJ enables applications that were simply not possible earlier. XJet is eliminating the barriers previously associated with ceramic and metal AM, giving designers a new realm of freedom.'
XJet is creating new applications possible thanks to the technology's ability to correctly make ultra-fine features, smooth surfaces and complex geometries. North American start-up, Marvel Medtech, is one company planning to capitalize on those benefits. Medtech will install an XJet Carmel 1400 AM System later this summer to produce a ceramic cryotherapy probe - a key component within a new robotic intervention guidance setup for MRIs, fashioned to freeze and destroy the most damaging tiny breast cancer tumors and prevent them from growing.
University of Delaware (UDEL) has mounted an XJet AM System for a very different application; to develop cutting-edge antenna technology called ‘Passive Beam Steering' for, amongst other applications, the 5G network. Like Medtech, UDEL's application needs to be prepared in ceramic, however traditional ceramic manufacturing ways could not build the small internal channels and complex geometry without damaging the part. Using nano particles and soluble support material, XJet provides the only ceramic AM technology capable of providing the fine details and smooth surfaces expected.
Visitors to Rapid.Tech + FabCon can hear more about these applications at the show. See XJet on stand 2-209 at Messe Erfurt GmbH, from June 25 - 27. Members of the XJet executive teams are around at the show and meetings can be pre-booked via the XJet website.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
'Visitors are invited onto the XJet stand to experience removing XJet's soluble support material with their own hands - to truly witness the ease of this plan,' comments XJet CEO Dror Danai. 'Rapid.Tech offers us with the platform for Europeans to get ‘hands-on' with the process and hear how NPJ enables applications that were simply not possible earlier. XJet is eliminating the barriers previously associated with ceramic and metal AM, giving designers a new realm of freedom.'
XJet is creating new applications possible thanks to the technology's ability to correctly make ultra-fine features, smooth surfaces and complex geometries. North American start-up, Marvel Medtech, is one company planning to capitalize on those benefits. Medtech will install an XJet Carmel 1400 AM System later this summer to produce a ceramic cryotherapy probe - a key component within a new robotic intervention guidance setup for MRIs, fashioned to freeze and destroy the most damaging tiny breast cancer tumors and prevent them from growing.
University of Delaware (UDEL) has mounted an XJet AM System for a very different application; to develop cutting-edge antenna technology called ‘Passive Beam Steering' for, amongst other applications, the 5G network. Like Medtech, UDEL's application needs to be prepared in ceramic, however traditional ceramic manufacturing ways could not build the small internal channels and complex geometry without damaging the part. Using nano particles and soluble support material, XJet provides the only ceramic AM technology capable of providing the fine details and smooth surfaces expected.
Visitors to Rapid.Tech + FabCon can hear more about these applications at the show. See XJet on stand 2-209 at Messe Erfurt GmbH, from June 25 - 27. Members of the XJet executive teams are around at the show and meetings can be pre-booked via the XJet website.
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
The Biggest Takeaways for Hiring Millennials Sellers
Jun 18, 2019
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Your salesforce is enduring some growing — and shrinking — pains. In 2020, millennials will represent the most significant generation in the workplace at 35 percent. In the meantime, the percentage of baby boomers, the generation that comprises the majority of manufacturing sellers, will sink to 9 percent.
So here's the good news: There couldn’t be a great time to attract millennial sellers. Eighty-five percent of current employees assert they would recommend a career in sales to a young person. In the meantime, the worldwide salesforce is expected to stay relatively solid through 2020, with a 46 percent compound annual growth rate — a positive sign for millennials, who are expected to prioritize job security over other considerations.
So what do manufacturing sales teams have to be mindful to attract, hire and retain potential millennial sellers?
Tell your company story the right way
While compensation is the No. 1 factor that affects millennials’ assessment of a potential job, they also desire to work at a place that recognizes and fosters their passions. Manufacturing sales careers offer the opportunity to develop expertise in cutting-edge technology. Play up the exciting features behind your company’s robotics program or the new software driving your automated sensors.
In addition, millennials are fascinated with a forward-thinking company culture which makes them think that a person rather than a faceless asset. They want companies with a strong work-life balance, adjustable and remote work environments and transparent parental leave and vacation policies.
Be clear about the personality and skill set you’re seeking
As it is with any role, your sales and human resources departments should develop a good definition of the characteristics, skills and personality traits that can certainly make a millennial applicant a good fit. Talent and skills assessments during the interview process can help you ensure a cultural fit and identify where their strengths can best serve your company — and how you can develop their expertise once they are on board.
Do not discount a millennial candidate simply because he or she doesn't have a unique background in selling. As the traditional definition of sales swings more toward a proof-based practice, graduates with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education are going in sales. In 2017, sales were the most popular non-computer-related job for STEM graduates.
Develop training programs that go beyond the technical
Millennials matured as a digital-first generation and generally possess intuitive knowledge of the technical aspects of manufacturing sales. However with the increase in the number of stakeholders in the manufacturing sales process, it's really important to train and coach them on connecting with customers — exclusively for STEM graduates who carry a reason-based approach. Young sellers really need to diagnose and speak to the value of solutions based on valid business needs.
Something different STEM-grad millennial sellers will appreciate: There's evidence to back up the success of this training. Companies that blend sales education with technical and product training achieve greater success; organizations with reps that exceed client expectations in serving insights and perspectives have win rates 12.4 percent higher than those who simply meet expectations.
Invest in millennial sellers to cement a long-term relationship
When millennials see a process to advancement that sets them up for success at your manufacturing company, they're going to feel connected to your mission and future. Be specific about how they can accelerate their careers through benchmark goals and provide them with the appropriate resources. Millennials definitely want to become great in their careers; 87 percent say professional development represents a critical part of their jobs.
Tech-savvy millennials have the actual possibility to contribute to your manufacturing sales team from day one. Ask about their career priorities, like for example participating in the launch of new technology, and give them opportunities to showcase their capacity to help and lead others in these initiatives from the beginning. Millennials who believe their companies exhibit a high-trust culture are 22 times rather more likely to want to work there for a long time.
With a vibrant, energized perspective, millennial sellers have the potential to make a difference in your manufacturing sales team. Train them with the job benefits, technology, data, and training to succeed, and they will certainly reward you in spades.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
New M&R Software Innovations Keep Fleet Managers in Check
Jun 18, 2019
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During the last 12 to 24 months, it seems as though topics like autonomous driving and ELD mandates have loaded the news headlines for the fleet transportation industry. And deservedly so, they're no doubt topical, pressing issues. Even so, in running your fleet day-to-day, understanding the evolution of maintenance and repair (M&R) issues goes on to be right up there in level of importance.
M&R is very important due to the fact that it greatly impacts every type of operation and having improper management of M&R can tremendously erode profits from the bottom line, and the older the truck, the costlier it gets.
Based on a current report on lifecycle strategy, M&R costs on a 2012 sleeper model-year total $23,100, compared with $2,070 on a new, 2019 model-year truck, giving a savings of $21,030.
A shorter lifecycle creates long-term savings beyond the first-year. When fleets adopt a three-year lifecycle for their trucks, switching with new technology in year four, they realize a savings of $42,830 in M&R calculated in years four through seven in comparison to a fleet driving the same truck for the full seven years.
More Trucks Equals More M&R Challenges
More fleet managers are knowing these numbers, and they are now posting a greater emphasis on M&R strategies. As stated by the latest analyze, 40 percent of respondents listed M&R as their top motivating factor for acquiring new trucks. However, the research demonstrates costs are not the only concern fleets have regarding maintenance; 26.7 percent also believe a safe, well-maintained truck is most beneficial in driver recruitment and retention – essential since the driver shortage remains a tough issue for many fleet and transportation companies.
This problem will only expand in the coming years, as fleets look to either replace trucks or add to their mix to undertake more demand for the economy. FTR reports North American Class-8 orders for October continued to surge, registering at 43,000 that month. ACT Research’s numbers show 43,600 Class 8 trucks in October.
With the demand for shipping and transporting goods remaining healthy, and much more trucks coming online in the coming months, how can innovative software and data analytics serve fleets and transportation companies better manage M&R activities?
Innovative M&R Software Resources
Today’s leading M&R software now facilitates private fleets and for-hire carriers to leverage intuitive dashboards contrary to complicated spreadsheets and allows users to create their own custom view with the information that interests them most: vehicle performance for fleet managers, M&R data for repair personnel, and even personalized financial models for the C-level.
Innovations in M&R software now enable fleets to handle their full operations, with views on everything from operational costs, M&R data, substitute vehicle savings, vehicle servicing and histories; and these software platforms are now mobile-responsive for on-the-go fleet management.
Today’s new M&R software can monitor bills for a fleet in every aspect of the truck’s requirements, such as expenditures that include tires, tubes, liners and valves; preventative maintenance measures; brakes; expendable items; exhaust systems; fuel systems; plus much more.
Heavy-duty trucks must be well-maintained all around the year and be ready for all weather patterns. It is important to take every preventative measure essential, especially with M&R to safeguard the safety of drivers operating the trucks as well as other motorists on the roads. As such, it would be recommended for fleets and for-hire carriers to pay particularly close attention to the latest software innovations that leverage fleet utilization data and analytics to track all M&R activity to help ensure each truck is operating at a premium level. This will not only ensure safety for all on the road, it will tremendously help the bottom line as well.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
How to Use Real-Time Information to Manage Packaging Lines
Jun 18, 2019
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Line managers are frequently ordered to use real-time information to better organize their packaging lines, without being told what real-time information is. At Videojet, we think of it simply: Real-time information is a signal (such as a data point) that will let you see the good and the bad on the line conveniently.
With real-time information, it is now possible to repair broken machines fast and many troubles can be prevented. Without it, lines can go down without a moment’s notice. To better use real-time information, you will initially need to know about two kinds signals: Status and flow. Let’s talk about each, how they are used and then showcase three key results to using real-time information on your packaging line.
Status Signals
Contemplate status signals as your packaging line’s “check engine” light. If you're having status signal problems, it’s time for quick action. As an example, when your Andon light flashes red, you are sure that that something is inaccurate with your machine — that’s a status signal. A status signal tells you that you need quick corrective action to fix your machines before your line has serious downtime.
Flow Signals
Flow signals include real-time information for example speed, throughput and reject rates. Flow signals allow you to foresee what may happen by seeing what exactly is currently going on on your line. Is your packaging line running behind schedule? Maybe it is running ahead of schedule? Both would be good to know, as you’ll likely have to make operational changes to modify.
How Line Managers Can Use Status and Flow Signals
When you see an alteration in your status signal, you need to give it immediate attention. This sort of real-time information makes it easy to find and interact with challenges in order to help refrain being hampered by hours of costly downtime.
For example, here are three reasons why a section of a line can go down:
(1) It’s starved
(2) It’s held
(3) It’s broken
If the line is starved, the problem is upstream. When it is held, the problem is downstream. If it’s broken, you know what the problem is, right? It's time to fix your machine.
More often than not, line managers struggle to determine irrespective of whether a machine is broken, or where the line is underperforming. But if they attach photosensors to their printer, connect it to the IIoT and utilize data management solutions, they can discover line status promptly to see where the line is struggling. The bottom line is that real-time data can render crucial and actionable insights.
With the help of flow signals, line managers can cut down on, and help eradicate, waste. From what I’ve seen, and in my experience, packaging lines are most frequently behind 90 percent of the time and ahead 10 percent of the time. Flow signals let you to address both to help keep your line running more efficiently and on target.
If you’re running behind, flow signals let you see what areas are held up. If you’re running ahead, you're likely overcompensating for something and it’s altered the timing on your line. If you never have told your scheduling employees to make changes when the line is running ahead, you are potentially going to have downtime or a lot of waste.
Another way line managers can utilize flow signals and real-time information is to handle the problem of high reject rates. You're stabilizing how fast your line is running with your reject rate, meaning that if you have to crank up the speed of the line to what management says — in these cases, the reject rate will be too big. Knowing what your reject rate and throughput are will help you to create a reliable line, but this can be quite hard to fnd out without a flow signal. Without real-time information, you oftentimes will not figure out about changes to your reject rate from the third shift being too high until midway through the first shift.
The reject rate sends a very strong flow signal: if it rises, line managers need to fix their line rapidly. The reject rate virtually tells line managers, “Something has changed. You’d better go and take a look at it.”
Three Advantages of Real-Time Information
When you measure both status and flow signals in real-time and feed them to your line, you’ll have three big advantages as a manager:
1. Your line operators will be empowered to be aware of when things are going well and when they aren’t going well. They’ll have a standard work process in place to boost your business and help save your line from unplanned downtime.
2. You’ll have information to let you acknowledge how well you’re doing, and whether or not you need to work on scheduling changes upstream or downstream. This may help you run your whole plant better and more holistically.
3. You’ll have real-time, data-driven input for problem-solving at the point of impact.
Thus, in the place of looking into the status report thinking to yourself, “What happened at 3 p.m. on Tuesday?” you can adopt real-time information to better discover what’s happening and enable the appropriate changes to your packaging line. A better understanding of signals such as status and flow, and how they can be applied using real-time information, help you better identify the root cause of problems, and how to countermeasure them.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
China's Trade Rep Says 'External Pressures' Can Help Economy
Jun 18, 2019
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Chinese media informed Thursday that the country's top trade negotiator said 'external pressures' could actually help the country's economy.
Vice Premier Liu He, speaking at a forum in Shanghai, labeled the pressures that China is presently facing as an 'inevitable test,' reported by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and mainland Chinese media outlets.
'The external pressure will help us improve innovation and self-development, speed up reform and opening up, and push forward with high-quality growth,' Liu reported.
He didn't particularly reference the U.S.-China trade dispute, according to the South China Morning Post. The U.S. has implicated China of stealing trade secrets and forcing American companies to transfer technology. China declares the U.S. is attempting to stifle its economic development.
Each country has required higher import duties on billions of dollars of supplies from the other side.
Since last month, the U.S. Commerce Department positioned Huawei on a list that effectively bans U.S. firms from selling technology to the Chinese tech giant without government consent. China said this month that it will soon release its own list of 'unreliable entities' comprised of foreign businesses, organizations and individuals.
Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng informed reporters Thursday that any foreign company that complies with Chinese laws, market rules and the spirit of contracts will not have to worry about the list.
Gao said the U.S. was fraudulent in trade negotiations and went back on its word — something which the U.S. has also accused China of doing.
'If the U.S. wants to force China to yield through applying greatest unilateral power, it will probably completely not succeed,' he said.
Chinese state media hinted last month that the country's supply of rare earths — exotic minerals used in electric cars, mobile phones and other technology — can be used as a trade weapon. According to data from China's customs administration, rare earths exports were down 16% in May when compared with the previous month.
Gao said fluctuations in rare earth exports were the result of changes in the market, and that China has not adopted new measures for managing its rare earths.
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com
Cutting-Edge IIoT Solutions to Advanced Manufacturers in Japan
Jun 18, 2019
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Marubeni Aerospace - a subsidiary company and the aerospace division of Marubeni, a leading diversified Japanese company - and Plataine, a leading provider of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and AI-based software for Manufacturing Optimization, today established they have signed an MoU to collectively offer Plataine's IIoT solutions to advanced manufacturers across Japan. Under the Marubeni Aerospace-Plataine collaboration, Marubeni Aerospace will offer Plataine's full suite of items to a range of complex manufacturing sectors, such as aerospace and automotive. Plataine's technology brings radical productivity improvements to factories around the world, delivering the assurance of Industry 4.0. The company's expansion into Japan follows a strong recent growth worldwide.
The collaboration combines Plataine's state of the art solutions with Marubeni Aerospace's full range of services, including consultation, project management, marketing, financing and after-sales support. Marubeni Aerospace seeks to serve the advance Japanese manufacturing market and build solid long-term relationships between Plataine, Marubeni Aerospace and the customers.
Plataine's Digital Manufacturing solutions revolutionize production facilities by integrating with local systems and obtaining real-time data from factory sensors that is analyzed by AI-based Digital Assistants, to provide predictive alerts and recommendations. Actionable insights and optimized real-time recommendations to factory floor staff, helps them to meet the continuous ‘rate up cost down' demands. Plataine's technology also automates and improves plan control while refining production throughput as well as material yield in a variety of demanding industrial sectors. The result is a Digital Thread of information which lists every step of the manufacturing process, from raw material to end product, improving quality control and guaranteeing customers are always audit-ready.
'Japan's sophisticated manufacturing sector is continuously on the lookout for exciting ways to improve processes and efficiency. Plataine's AI-enabled IIoT offering is the most cutting-edge plan we've seen on the market, and I am sure it will deliver major productivity and efficiency pros to customers of ours across Japan. We were looking for a technological collaboration that could deliver the highest levels of quality and expertise in IIoT, AI and cloud computing. Plataine's solutions are market-proven and are currently deployed at the most difficult manufacturing environments.' says Takashi Kawai, SVP and GM, at Marubeni Aerospace.
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine adds: 'Entering the Japanese market is an significant milestone for Plataine. Teaming-up with a leading player with proven capabilities and market presence is critical to our success, and we wish for the Plataine-Marubeni Aerospace collaboration to be an enduring one. We, together with Marubeni Aerospace, are proud to deliver the pledge of Industry 4.0 and Digital Manufacturing to Japanese manufacturers.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
The collaboration combines Plataine's state of the art solutions with Marubeni Aerospace's full range of services, including consultation, project management, marketing, financing and after-sales support. Marubeni Aerospace seeks to serve the advance Japanese manufacturing market and build solid long-term relationships between Plataine, Marubeni Aerospace and the customers.
Plataine's Digital Manufacturing solutions revolutionize production facilities by integrating with local systems and obtaining real-time data from factory sensors that is analyzed by AI-based Digital Assistants, to provide predictive alerts and recommendations. Actionable insights and optimized real-time recommendations to factory floor staff, helps them to meet the continuous ‘rate up cost down' demands. Plataine's technology also automates and improves plan control while refining production throughput as well as material yield in a variety of demanding industrial sectors. The result is a Digital Thread of information which lists every step of the manufacturing process, from raw material to end product, improving quality control and guaranteeing customers are always audit-ready.
'Japan's sophisticated manufacturing sector is continuously on the lookout for exciting ways to improve processes and efficiency. Plataine's AI-enabled IIoT offering is the most cutting-edge plan we've seen on the market, and I am sure it will deliver major productivity and efficiency pros to customers of ours across Japan. We were looking for a technological collaboration that could deliver the highest levels of quality and expertise in IIoT, AI and cloud computing. Plataine's solutions are market-proven and are currently deployed at the most difficult manufacturing environments.' says Takashi Kawai, SVP and GM, at Marubeni Aerospace.
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine adds: 'Entering the Japanese market is an significant milestone for Plataine. Teaming-up with a leading player with proven capabilities and market presence is critical to our success, and we wish for the Plataine-Marubeni Aerospace collaboration to be an enduring one. We, together with Marubeni Aerospace, are proud to deliver the pledge of Industry 4.0 and Digital Manufacturing to Japanese manufacturers.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
Cutting-Edge IIoT Solutions to Advanced Manufacturers in Japan
Jun 18, 2019
View Full Size
Marubeni Aerospace - a subsidiary company and the aerospace division of Marubeni, a leading diversified Japanese company - and Plataine, a leading provider of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and AI-based software for Manufacturing Optimization, today established they have signed an MoU to collectively offer Plataine's IIoT solutions to advanced manufacturers across Japan. Under the Marubeni Aerospace-Plataine collaboration, Marubeni Aerospace will offer Plataine's full suite of items to a range of complex manufacturing sectors, such as aerospace and automotive. Plataine's technology brings radical productivity improvements to factories around the world, delivering the assurance of Industry 4.0. The company's expansion into Japan follows a strong recent growth worldwide.
The collaboration combines Plataine's state of the art solutions with Marubeni Aerospace's full range of services, including consultation, project management, marketing, financing and after-sales support. Marubeni Aerospace seeks to serve the advance Japanese manufacturing market and build solid long-term relationships between Plataine, Marubeni Aerospace and the customers.
Plataine's Digital Manufacturing solutions revolutionize production facilities by integrating with local systems and obtaining real-time data from factory sensors that is analyzed by AI-based Digital Assistants, to provide predictive alerts and recommendations. Actionable insights and optimized real-time recommendations to factory floor staff, helps them to meet the continuous ‘rate up cost down' demands. Plataine's technology also automates and improves plan control while refining production throughput as well as material yield in a variety of demanding industrial sectors. The result is a Digital Thread of information which lists every step of the manufacturing process, from raw material to end product, improving quality control and guaranteeing customers are always audit-ready.
'Japan's sophisticated manufacturing sector is continuously on the lookout for exciting ways to improve processes and efficiency. Plataine's AI-enabled IIoT offering is the most cutting-edge plan we've seen on the market, and I am sure it will deliver major productivity and efficiency pros to customers of ours across Japan. We were looking for a technological collaboration that could deliver the highest levels of quality and expertise in IIoT, AI and cloud computing. Plataine's solutions are market-proven and are currently deployed at the most difficult manufacturing environments.' says Takashi Kawai, SVP and GM, at Marubeni Aerospace.
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine adds: 'Entering the Japanese market is an significant milestone for Plataine. Teaming-up with a leading player with proven capabilities and market presence is critical to our success, and we wish for the Plataine-Marubeni Aerospace collaboration to be an enduring one. We, together with Marubeni Aerospace, are proud to deliver the pledge of Industry 4.0 and Digital Manufacturing to Japanese manufacturers.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com
The collaboration combines Plataine's state of the art solutions with Marubeni Aerospace's full range of services, including consultation, project management, marketing, financing and after-sales support. Marubeni Aerospace seeks to serve the advance Japanese manufacturing market and build solid long-term relationships between Plataine, Marubeni Aerospace and the customers.
Plataine's Digital Manufacturing solutions revolutionize production facilities by integrating with local systems and obtaining real-time data from factory sensors that is analyzed by AI-based Digital Assistants, to provide predictive alerts and recommendations. Actionable insights and optimized real-time recommendations to factory floor staff, helps them to meet the continuous ‘rate up cost down' demands. Plataine's technology also automates and improves plan control while refining production throughput as well as material yield in a variety of demanding industrial sectors. The result is a Digital Thread of information which lists every step of the manufacturing process, from raw material to end product, improving quality control and guaranteeing customers are always audit-ready.
'Japan's sophisticated manufacturing sector is continuously on the lookout for exciting ways to improve processes and efficiency. Plataine's AI-enabled IIoT offering is the most cutting-edge plan we've seen on the market, and I am sure it will deliver major productivity and efficiency pros to customers of ours across Japan. We were looking for a technological collaboration that could deliver the highest levels of quality and expertise in IIoT, AI and cloud computing. Plataine's solutions are market-proven and are currently deployed at the most difficult manufacturing environments.' says Takashi Kawai, SVP and GM, at Marubeni Aerospace.
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine adds: 'Entering the Japanese market is an significant milestone for Plataine. Teaming-up with a leading player with proven capabilities and market presence is critical to our success, and we wish for the Plataine-Marubeni Aerospace collaboration to be an enduring one. We, together with Marubeni Aerospace, are proud to deliver the pledge of Industry 4.0 and Digital Manufacturing to Japanese manufacturers.'
This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com