These courses are aimed to introduce participants to gain knowledge and insight on repairing industrial electronic circuits and components. Participants will learn the repair methods and skills through hands-on testing and experiments. They will be exposed to the theories of industrial electronic repairs and Fictron’s 10 years experience in repairing techniques. Our courses are designed to cater from the novice all the way to the most experienced. Those who pass this course will get an insight on electronic design through the experiments as well. Our satisfactory rate has been over 95% so far.
All courses are HRDF claimable and the training was made in collaboration with IRS Training. Join Us Today!
Thanks to the hardwork and dedication of our team as well as our loyal customers, Fictron has managed to grow substantially year after year. This year, We have been recognized and awarded the prestigious and truly international BIZZ AWARD for Business Excellence by the World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB).
We'd like to thank Worldcob for this recognition and our customers for their kind support.
Mitsubishi Contactors NEW Supply by FICTRON Malaysia Singapore Thailand Indonesia
Repairs and Services by Fictron Professional Team Fictron also sells Original and Quality products from the ranges and brands below and more Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com
Perbaikan dan Layanan oleh Fictron Fictron Juga menjual Produk Original yang Berkualitas Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com Baikan Perbaiki Baiki
บริการรับซ่อม ติดตั้ง Inverter ซ่อม inverter (อินเวอร์เตอร์) ทุกรุ่นทุกยี่ห้อ เช่น Fictron บริการรับซ่อม Inverter ทุกรุ่น ทุกยี่ห้อ ทุกอาการเสีย เช่น เปิดเครื่องไม่ติด ไฟไม่เข้า Runไม่ได้ Outputไม่ออก ซ็อต Boardไหม้ โชว์Alarmต่างๆ ปรับค่าไม่ได้ ฯลฯ ยินดีให้คำปรึกษาเเละบริการ สามารถคลิกดูรายละเอียดรุ่นที่ซ่อมได้ที่ Link ยี่ห้อ หรือติดต่อโดยตรงที่ Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com
Afghanistan, Kabul
Albania, Tirane
Algeria, Algiers
Andorra, Andorra la Vella
Angola, Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua St. John's,Barbuda Codrington
Argentina, Buenos Aires
Armenia, Yerevan
Australia, Canberra
Austria, Vienna
Azerbaijan, Baku
Bahamas, Nassau
Bahrain, Manama
Bangladesh, Dhaka
Barbados, Bridgetown
Belarus, Minsk
Belgium, Brussels
Belize, Belmopan
Benin, Porto-Noveo
Bhutan, Thimphu
Bolivia, Sucre
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
Botswana, Gaborone
Brazil, Brasilia
Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan
Bulgaria, Sofia
Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou
Burundi, Bujumbura
Cambodia, Phnom Penh
Cameroon, Yaounde
Canada, Ottawa
Cape Verde, Praia
Central African Republic, Bangui
Chad, N'Djamena
Chile, Santiago
Colombia, Bogota
Comoros, Moroni
Congo, Brazzaville
Costa Rica, San Jose
Cote d'Ivoire, Yamoussoukro
Croatia, Zagreb
Cuba, Havana
Cyprus, Nicosia
Czech Republic, Prague
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa
Denmark, Copenhagen
Djibouti, Djibouti
Dominica, Roseau
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
East Timor, Dili
Ecuador, Quito
Egypt, Cairo
El Salvador, San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea, Malabo
Eritrea, Asmara,
Estonia, Tallinn
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Fiji, Suva
Finland, Helsinki
France, Paris
Gabon, Libreville
Gambia, Banjul
Georgia, Tbilisi,
Germany, Berlin
Ghana, Accra
Greece, Athens
Grenada, St. George's
Guatemala, Guatemala City
Guinea, Conakry
Guinea-Bissau, Bissau
Guyana, Georgetown
Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Honduras, Tegucigalpa
Hungary, Budapest
Iceland, Reykjavik
India, New Delhi
Indonesia, Jakarta
Iran, Tehran
Iraq, Baghdad
Ireland, Dublin
Israel, Jerusalem
Italy, Rome
Jamaica, Kingston
Japan, Tokyo
Jordon, Amman
Kazakhstan, Astana
Kenya, Nairobi
Kiribati, South Tarawa
Korea (North), Pyongyang
Korea (South), Seoul
Kuwait, Kuwait City
Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek
Laos, Vientiane
Latvia, Riga
Lebanon, Beirut
Lesotho, Maseru
Liberia, Monrovia
Libya, Tripoli
Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Lithuania, Vilnius
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Macedonia, Skopje
Madagascar, Antananarivo
Malawi, Lilongwe
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Maldives, Male
Mali, Bamako
Malta, Valletta
Marshall Islands, Majuro
Mauritania, Nouakchott
Mauritius, Port Louis
Mexico, Mexico City
Micronesia, Palikir
Moldova, Chisinau
Monaco, Monaco
Mongolia, Ulan Bator
Montenegro, Podgorica
Morocco, Rabat,
Mozambique, Maputo
Myanmar (Burma), Nay Pyi Taw
Namibia, Windhoek
Nauru, Yaren
Nepal, Kathmandu,
Netherlands, Amsterdam
New Zealand, Wellington
Nicaragua, Managua
Niger, Niamey
Nigeria, Abuja
Norway, Oslo
Oman, Muscat
Pakistan, Islamabad
Palau, Ngerulmud
Panama, Panama City
Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby
Paraguay, Asuncion
Peru, Lima
Philippines, Manila
Poland, Warsaw,
Portugal, Lisbon
Qatar, Doha
Romania, Bucharest
Russia, Moscow
Rwanda, Kigali
St. Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre
St. Lucia, Castries
St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Kingstown
Samoa, Apia
San Marino, San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome
Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
Senegal, Dakar
Serbia, Belgrade
Seychelles, Victoria
Sierra Leone, Freetown
Singapore, Singapore
Slovakia, Bratislava
Slovenia, Ljubljana
Solomon Islands, Honiara
Somalia, Mogadishu
South Africa, Pretoria
South Sudan, Juba
Spain, Madrid
Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte
Sudan, Khartoum
Suriname, Paramaribo
Swaziland, Mbabane
Sweden, Stockholm
Switzerland, Berne
Syria, Damascus
Tajikistan, Dushanbe,
Tanzania, Dodoma
Thailand, Bangkok
Togo, Lome, 824,738
Tonga, Nukuʻalofa
Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain
Tunisia, Tunis
Turkey, Ankara
Turkmenistan, Ashgabat
Tuvalu, Funafuti
Uganda, Kampala
Ukraine, Kiev
United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom, London
United States, Washington, D.C
Uruguay, Montevideo
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
Vanuatu, Port Vila
Vatican, Vatican City
Venezuela, Caracas
Vietnam, Hanoi
Western Sahara, El Aaiun
Yemen, Sana'a
Zambia, Lusaka
Zimbabwe, Harare
Melaka Mlalaysia
Penang Malaysia
Selangor Malaysia
Taiping Ipoh Perak Malaysia
Melaka Malaysia
Muar Batu Pahat JB Johor Bahru Malaysia
Perlis Malaysia
Brunei Malaysia
KK Kota Kinabalu Sandakan Sabah Malaysia
Kuching Sibu Miri Bintulu Mukah Pulau labuan Sarawak Malaysia
Langkawi Kulim HI-TECH Alor Setar Alor Star Kedah Malaysia
Kelantan Malaysia
Kuatan Pahang Malaysia
Terengganu Malaysia
Senawang PD Port Dickson Seremban Negeri SembilanMalaysia
Bayan Lepas Prai GeorgeTown Perai Penag Malaysia
Shah Alam Klang Kuala Lumpur KL Puchong Petaling Jaya Subang Serdang Balakong Chukai Sungai Buloh Rawang Malaysia
BALIKPAPAN INDONESIA
BANDUNG INDONESIA
BATAM INDONESIA
BANTEN INDONESIA
BEKASI INDONESIA
CILEGON INDONESIA
CIKARANG INDONESIA
LAMPUNG INDONESIA
MEDAN INDONESIA
MAKASSAR INDONESIA
PELEMBANG INDONESIA
SEMARANG INDONESIA
JAKARTA INDONESIA
BATAM INDONESIA
SURABAYA INONESIA
BALI INDONESIA
TULUNGAGUNG INDONESIA
RIAU INDONESIA
YOGYAKARTA
BOGOR INDONESIA
KLATEN INDONESIA
JURONG ISLAND SINGAPORE
TUAS SINGAPORE
WOODLANDS SINGAPORE
ANG MO KIO SINGAPORE
BUKIT TIMAH SINGAPORE
DEFU INDUSTRIAL ESTATE SINGAPORE
KAKI BUKIT SINGAPORE
YISHU SINGAPORE
LOYANG SINGAPORE
YEW TEE SINGAPORE
TAGORE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
MANDAI INDUSTRIAL SINGAPORE
SENOKO INDUSTRIAL SINGAPORE
Afghanistan, Kabul Albania, Tirane Algeria, Algiers Andorra, Andorra la Vella Angola, Luanda Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua St. John's,Barbuda Codrington Argentina, Buenos Aires Armenia, Yerevan Australia, Canberra Austria, Vienna Azerbaijan, Baku Bahamas, Nassau Bahrain, Manama Bangladesh, Dhaka Barbados, Bridgetown Belarus, Minsk Belgium, Brussels Belize, Belmopan Benin, Porto-Noveo Bhutan, Thimphu Bolivia, Sucre Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo Botswana, Gaborone Brazil, Brasilia Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan Bulgaria, Sofia Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou Burundi, Bujumbura Cambodia, Phnom Penh Cameroon, Yaounde Canada, Ottawa Cape Verde, Praia Central African Republic, Bangui Chad, N'Djamena Chile, Santiago Colombia, Bogota Comoros, Moroni Congo, Brazzaville Costa Rica, San Jose Cote d'Ivoire, Yamoussoukro Croatia, Zagreb Cuba, Havana Cyprus, Nicosia Czech Republic, Prague Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa Denmark, Copenhagen Djibouti, Djibouti Dominica, Roseau Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East Timor, Dili Ecuador, Quito Egypt, Cairo El Salvador, San Salvador Equatorial Guinea, Malabo Eritrea, Asmara, Estonia, Tallinn Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Fiji, Suva Finland, Helsinki France, Paris Gabon, Libreville Gambia, Banjul Georgia, Tbilisi, Germany, Berlin Ghana, Accra Greece, Athens Grenada, St. George's Guatemala, Guatemala City Guinea, Conakry Guinea-Bissau, Bissau Guyana, Georgetown Haiti, Port-au-Prince Honduras, Tegucigalpa Hungary, Budapest Iceland, Reykjavik India, New Delhi Indonesia, Jakarta Iran, Tehran Iraq, Baghdad Ireland, Dublin Israel, Jerusalem Italy, Rome Jamaica, Kingston Japan, Tokyo Jordon, Amman Kazakhstan, Astana, 700,000 Kenya, Nairobi Kiribati, South Tarawa Korea (North), Pyongyang Korea (South), Seoul Kuwait, Kuwait City Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek Laos, Vientiane Latvia, Riga Lebanon, Beirut Lesotho, Maseru Liberia, Monrovia Libya, Tripoli Liechtenstein, Vaduz Lithuania, Vilnius Luxembourg, Luxembourg Macedonia, Skopje Madagascar, Antananarivo Malawi, Lilongwe Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Maldives, Male Mali, Bamako Malta, Valletta Marshall Islands, Majuro Mauritania, Nouakchott Mauritius, Port Louis Mexico, Mexico City Micronesia, Palikir Moldova, Chisinau Monaco, Monaco Mongolia, Ulan Bator Montenegro, Podgorica Morocco, Rabat, Mozambique, Maputo Myanmar (Burma), Nay Pyi Taw Namibia, Windhoek Nauru, Yaren Nepal, Kathmandu, Netherlands, Amsterdam New Zealand, Wellington Nicaragua, Managua Niger, Niamey Nigeria, Abuja Norway, Oslo Oman, Muscat Pakistan, Islamabad Palau, Ngerulmud Panama, Panama City Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby Paraguay, Asuncion Peru, Lima Philippines, Manila Poland, Warsaw, Portugal, Lisbon Q Qatar, Doha Romania, Bucharest Russia, Moscow Rwanda, Kigali St. Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre St. Lucia, Castries St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Kingstown Samoa, Apia San Marino, San Marino Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Senegal, Dakar Serbia, Belgrade Seychelles, Victoria Sierra Leone, Freetown Singapore, Singapore Slovakia, Bratislava Slovenia, Ljubljana Solomon Islands, Honiara Somalia, Mogadishu South Africa, Pretoria South Sudan, Juba Spain, Madrid Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Sudan, Khartoum Suriname, Paramaribo Swaziland, Mbabane Sweden, Stockholm Switzerland, Berne Syria, Damascus Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tanzania, Dodoma Thailand, Bangkok Togo, Lome, 824,738 Tonga, Nukuʻalofa Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain Tunisia, Tunis Turkey, Ankara Turkmenistan, Ashgabat Tuvalu, Funafuti Uganda, Kampala Ukraine, Kiev United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi United Kingdom, London United States, Washington, D.C Uruguay, Montevideo Uzbekistan, Tashkent Vanuatu, Port Vila Vatican, Vatican City Venezuela, Caracas Vietnam, Hanoi Western Sahara, El Aaiun Yemen, Sana'a Zambia, Lusaka Zimbabwe, Harare
1NO , 1NC
1NO , 1NC
1NO+1NC
2NO
1NO+1NC
2NO
2NO+2NC
2NO+2NC
1. Contactors
1.1 Non-Reversing Contactors - Direct On Line (DOL)
Repairs and Services by Fictron Professional Team Fictron also sells Original and Quality products from the ranges and brands below and more Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com
Perbaikan dan Layanan oleh Fictron Fictron Juga menjual Produk Original yang Berkualitas Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com Baikan Perbaiki Baiki
บริการรับซ่อม ติดตั้ง Inverter ซ่อม inverter (อินเวอร์เตอร์) ทุกรุ่นทุกยี่ห้อ เช่น Fictron บริการรับซ่อม Inverter ทุกรุ่น ทุกยี่ห้อ ทุกอาการเสีย เช่น เปิดเครื่องไม่ติด ไฟไม่เข้า Runไม่ได้ Outputไม่ออก ซ็อต Boardไหม้ โชว์Alarmต่างๆ ปรับค่าไม่ได้ ฯลฯ ยินดีให้คำปรึกษาเเละบริการ สามารถคลิกดูรายละเอียดรุ่นที่ซ่อมได้ที่ Link ยี่ห้อ หรือติดต่อโดยตรงที่ Inverter Inverters Servo Drive Drives Motor Soft Starter HMI Touch Screen Monitor PCB PLC Power Supplies CNC UPS Electronics PSU Boards Controllers ALLEN BRADLEY KEB HAITIAN YASKAWA RIETER DANFOSS LENZE SIEMENS NIDEC CONTROL TECHNIQUES INVERTEK INVT CUTES DELTA ABB SCHNEIDER FICTRON ELECTRIC LG LS HITACHI TECO TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI FUJI ELECTRIC OMRON HYUNDAI PROFACE HITECH GE FANUC PANASONIC MINAS EUROTHERM CURTIS EMERSON EMOTRON DENSEI NEMIC LAMBDA HONEYWELL BOSCH REXROTH HAAS TOYOTA YALE ZAPI DANAHER NICHIYU DYNADRIVE MINARIK ORIENTAL NISSEI BAUMULLER B&R ACOPOS KINCO KOMATSU HAKKO KEYENCE OTIS KONE COPLEY SEGMA SSD SPG AEG BALDOR BEIJER CONVO DEMA EATON CUTTLER HAMMER GEFRAN HOLIP HUAWEI INDRRAMAT IMO SANKYO SUMITOMO SEW EURODRIVE SAMCO RELIANCE ELECTRIC TELEMECANiQUE FRECON VACON Contact Fictron sales.co@fictron.com
Afghanistan, Kabul
Albania, Tirane
Algeria, Algiers
Andorra, Andorra la Vella
Angola, Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua St. John's,Barbuda Codrington
Argentina, Buenos Aires
Armenia, Yerevan
Australia, Canberra
Austria, Vienna
Azerbaijan, Baku
Bahamas, Nassau
Bahrain, Manama
Bangladesh, Dhaka
Barbados, Bridgetown
Belarus, Minsk
Belgium, Brussels
Belize, Belmopan
Benin, Porto-Noveo
Bhutan, Thimphu
Bolivia, Sucre
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
Botswana, Gaborone
Brazil, Brasilia
Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan
Bulgaria, Sofia
Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou
Burundi, Bujumbura
Cambodia, Phnom Penh
Cameroon, Yaounde
Canada, Ottawa
Cape Verde, Praia
Central African Republic, Bangui
Chad, N'Djamena
Chile, Santiago
Colombia, Bogota
Comoros, Moroni
Congo, Brazzaville
Costa Rica, San Jose
Cote d'Ivoire, Yamoussoukro
Croatia, Zagreb
Cuba, Havana
Cyprus, Nicosia
Czech Republic, Prague
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa
Denmark, Copenhagen
Djibouti, Djibouti
Dominica, Roseau
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
East Timor, Dili
Ecuador, Quito
Egypt, Cairo
El Salvador, San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea, Malabo
Eritrea, Asmara,
Estonia, Tallinn
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Fiji, Suva
Finland, Helsinki
France, Paris
Gabon, Libreville
Gambia, Banjul
Georgia, Tbilisi,
Germany, Berlin
Ghana, Accra
Greece, Athens
Grenada, St. George's
Guatemala, Guatemala City
Guinea, Conakry
Guinea-Bissau, Bissau
Guyana, Georgetown
Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Honduras, Tegucigalpa
Hungary, Budapest
Iceland, Reykjavik
India, New Delhi
Indonesia, Jakarta
Iran, Tehran
Iraq, Baghdad
Ireland, Dublin
Israel, Jerusalem
Italy, Rome
Jamaica, Kingston
Japan, Tokyo
Jordon, Amman
Kazakhstan, Astana
Kenya, Nairobi
Kiribati, South Tarawa
Korea (North), Pyongyang
Korea (South), Seoul
Kuwait, Kuwait City
Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek
Laos, Vientiane
Latvia, Riga
Lebanon, Beirut
Lesotho, Maseru
Liberia, Monrovia
Libya, Tripoli
Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Lithuania, Vilnius
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Macedonia, Skopje
Madagascar, Antananarivo
Malawi, Lilongwe
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Maldives, Male
Mali, Bamako
Malta, Valletta
Marshall Islands, Majuro
Mauritania, Nouakchott
Mauritius, Port Louis
Mexico, Mexico City
Micronesia, Palikir
Moldova, Chisinau
Monaco, Monaco
Mongolia, Ulan Bator
Montenegro, Podgorica
Morocco, Rabat,
Mozambique, Maputo
Myanmar (Burma), Nay Pyi Taw
Namibia, Windhoek
Nauru, Yaren
Nepal, Kathmandu,
Netherlands, Amsterdam
New Zealand, Wellington
Nicaragua, Managua
Niger, Niamey
Nigeria, Abuja
Norway, Oslo
Oman, Muscat
Pakistan, Islamabad
Palau, Ngerulmud
Panama, Panama City
Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby
Paraguay, Asuncion
Peru, Lima
Philippines, Manila
Poland, Warsaw,
Portugal, Lisbon
Qatar, Doha
Romania, Bucharest
Russia, Moscow
Rwanda, Kigali
St. Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre
St. Lucia, Castries
St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Kingstown
Samoa, Apia
San Marino, San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome
Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
Senegal, Dakar
Serbia, Belgrade
Seychelles, Victoria
Sierra Leone, Freetown
Singapore, Singapore
Slovakia, Bratislava
Slovenia, Ljubljana
Solomon Islands, Honiara
Somalia, Mogadishu
South Africa, Pretoria
South Sudan, Juba
Spain, Madrid
Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte
Sudan, Khartoum
Suriname, Paramaribo
Swaziland, Mbabane
Sweden, Stockholm
Switzerland, Berne
Syria, Damascus
Tajikistan, Dushanbe,
Tanzania, Dodoma
Thailand, Bangkok
Togo, Lome, 824,738
Tonga, Nukuʻalofa
Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain
Tunisia, Tunis
Turkey, Ankara
Turkmenistan, Ashgabat
Tuvalu, Funafuti
Uganda, Kampala
Ukraine, Kiev
United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom, London
United States, Washington, D.C
Uruguay, Montevideo
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
Vanuatu, Port Vila
Vatican, Vatican City
Venezuela, Caracas
Vietnam, Hanoi
Western Sahara, El Aaiun
Yemen, Sana'a
Zambia, Lusaka
Zimbabwe, Harare
Melaka Mlalaysia
Penang Malaysia
Selangor Malaysia
Taiping Ipoh Perak Malaysia
Melaka Malaysia
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Afghanistan, Kabul Albania, Tirane Algeria, Algiers Andorra, Andorra la Vella Angola, Luanda Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua St. John's,Barbuda Codrington Argentina, Buenos Aires Armenia, Yerevan Australia, Canberra Austria, Vienna Azerbaijan, Baku Bahamas, Nassau Bahrain, Manama Bangladesh, Dhaka Barbados, Bridgetown Belarus, Minsk Belgium, Brussels Belize, Belmopan Benin, Porto-Noveo Bhutan, Thimphu Bolivia, Sucre Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo Botswana, Gaborone Brazil, Brasilia Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan Bulgaria, Sofia Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou Burundi, Bujumbura Cambodia, Phnom Penh Cameroon, Yaounde Canada, Ottawa Cape Verde, Praia Central African Republic, Bangui Chad, N'Djamena Chile, Santiago Colombia, Bogota Comoros, Moroni Congo, Brazzaville Costa Rica, San Jose Cote d'Ivoire, Yamoussoukro Croatia, Zagreb Cuba, Havana Cyprus, Nicosia Czech Republic, Prague Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa Denmark, Copenhagen Djibouti, Djibouti Dominica, Roseau Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East Timor, Dili Ecuador, Quito Egypt, Cairo El Salvador, San Salvador Equatorial Guinea, Malabo Eritrea, Asmara, Estonia, Tallinn Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Fiji, Suva Finland, Helsinki France, Paris Gabon, Libreville Gambia, Banjul Georgia, Tbilisi, Germany, Berlin Ghana, Accra Greece, Athens Grenada, St. George's Guatemala, Guatemala City Guinea, Conakry Guinea-Bissau, Bissau Guyana, Georgetown Haiti, Port-au-Prince Honduras, Tegucigalpa Hungary, Budapest Iceland, Reykjavik India, New Delhi Indonesia, Jakarta Iran, Tehran Iraq, Baghdad Ireland, Dublin Israel, Jerusalem Italy, Rome Jamaica, Kingston Japan, Tokyo Jordon, Amman Kazakhstan, Astana, 700,000 Kenya, Nairobi Kiribati, South Tarawa Korea (North), Pyongyang Korea (South), Seoul Kuwait, Kuwait City Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek Laos, Vientiane Latvia, Riga Lebanon, Beirut Lesotho, Maseru Liberia, Monrovia Libya, Tripoli Liechtenstein, Vaduz Lithuania, Vilnius Luxembourg, Luxembourg Macedonia, Skopje Madagascar, Antananarivo Malawi, Lilongwe Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Maldives, Male Mali, Bamako Malta, Valletta Marshall Islands, Majuro Mauritania, Nouakchott Mauritius, Port Louis Mexico, Mexico City Micronesia, Palikir Moldova, Chisinau Monaco, Monaco Mongolia, Ulan Bator Montenegro, Podgorica Morocco, Rabat, Mozambique, Maputo Myanmar (Burma), Nay Pyi Taw Namibia, Windhoek Nauru, Yaren Nepal, Kathmandu, Netherlands, Amsterdam New Zealand, Wellington Nicaragua, Managua Niger, Niamey Nigeria, Abuja Norway, Oslo Oman, Muscat Pakistan, Islamabad Palau, Ngerulmud Panama, Panama City Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby Paraguay, Asuncion Peru, Lima Philippines, Manila Poland, Warsaw, Portugal, Lisbon Q Qatar, Doha Romania, Bucharest Russia, Moscow Rwanda, Kigali St. Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre St. Lucia, Castries St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Kingstown Samoa, Apia San Marino, San Marino Sao Tome and Principe, Sao Tome Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Senegal, Dakar Serbia, Belgrade Seychelles, Victoria Sierra Leone, Freetown Singapore, Singapore Slovakia, Bratislava Slovenia, Ljubljana Solomon Islands, Honiara Somalia, Mogadishu South Africa, Pretoria South Sudan, Juba Spain, Madrid Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Sudan, Khartoum Suriname, Paramaribo Swaziland, Mbabane Sweden, Stockholm Switzerland, Berne Syria, Damascus Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tanzania, Dodoma Thailand, Bangkok Togo, Lome, 824,738 Tonga, Nukuʻalofa Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain Tunisia, Tunis Turkey, Ankara Turkmenistan, Ashgabat Tuvalu, Funafuti Uganda, Kampala Ukraine, Kiev United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi United Kingdom, London United States, Washington, D.C Uruguay, Montevideo Uzbekistan, Tashkent Vanuatu, Port Vila Vatican, Vatican City Venezuela, Caracas Vietnam, Hanoi Western Sahara, El Aaiun Yemen, Sana'a Zambia, Lusaka Zimbabwe, Harare
SnapLogic, provider of the #1 Intelligent Integration Platform, announced it has increased its partnership with Databricks with new support for Delta Lake, the open source storage layer created by Databricks that brings reliability to traditional data lakes. Collectively, the joint solution helps customers accelerate the integration, transformation, and processing of big data workloads into Delta Lake, boosting data quality and accelerating the time to value of advanced analytics and machine learning initiatives.
Organizations are gradually more investing in data lakes to gain actionable insights into their growing data assets. However, the high volume and complexity of data often results in data quality, reliability, and performance issues. Together, SnapLogic and Databricks are removing these roadblocks by providing a low-code, visual paradigm for data engineers to create and process data pipelines that leverage the full power of Delta Lake — together with features like ACID transactions, scalable metadata handling, schema enforcement, and batch and streaming support.
“Seamless integration of SnapLogic eXtreme’s big data processing solution with Delta Lake means our joint customers get direct and continuous access to trusted, reliable data,” said Pankaj Dugar, Vice President of ISV and Technology Partners, Databricks. “With SnapLogic eXtreme’s self-service approach, data teams get faster time to value on their analytics and machine learning projects.”
“Databricks and SnapLogic are committed to delivering product innovations that help organizations reduce the time, effort, and skills needed to manage their big data initiatives so they can quickly turn their data into meaningful insights that drive the business forward,” said Craig Stewart, Chief Technology Officer, SnapLogic. “By teaming up with Databricks, we aim to remove the key technical barriers to data lake and big data management so our customers can accelerate their analytics and machine learning initiatives and focus on delivering real business value.”
SnapLogic provides the #1 Intelligent Integration Platform. The company’s AI-powered workflows and self-service integration capabilities make it quick and easy for organizations to manage all their application integration, data integration, API management, B2B integration, and data engineering projects on a single, scalable platform. A huge selection of Global 2000 customers — including Adobe, AstraZeneca, Box, Emirates, Schneider Electric, and Wendy’s — rely on SnapLogic to automate business processes, accelerate analytics, and drive digital transformation.
After spending August experimenting with a four-day work week in a country notorious for overwork, Microsoft Japan said sales per employee improved 40% in contrast to the same month last year.
The “Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019” saw full-time employees take off five consecutive Fridays in August with pay, in addition to shortening meetings to a maximum of 30 minutes and inspiring online chats over face-to-face ones. Among workers responding to a survey about the program, 92% said they were happy with the four-day week, the software maker’s Japan affiliate said in a report on its website on Oct. 31.
Japan has been striving to bring down some of the world’s longest working hours because it confronts a labor shortage and rapidly aging population. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s move to make workplaces more flexible and reduce overtime has drawn mixed reviews.
The summer trial also cut costs at Microsoft Japan, with 23% less electricity consumed and 59% fewer pages printed contrary to August 2018, as outlined by the report. Some Microsoft Japan managers still did not realize the changes in working styles and some employees expressed concern that shorter work weeks would bother clients.
Microsoft Japan plans to hold another work-life challenge in winter. Employees will not get special paid days off, but will be motivated to take time off on their own initiative “in a more flexible and smarter way.”
PHY Wireless has been spun out from its parent Acorn Technologies to provide intellectual property (IP) cores allowing location-of-things services on LTE and 5G cellular networks. Its hellaPHY product suite provides scalable, low-cost, positioning and location intelligence solutions, targeting high-accuracy and low-power location services. It will be an independent, pure-play provider of IP cores, looking to sell to carriers, chip makers, Internet of things (IoT) module manufacturers, application service providers and end users.
The new firm, based in California, is seeking funding from external investors.
PHY Wireless CEO Tom Horgan said, “Our team has worked diligently over many years [under Acorn Technologies] to focus our technology innovations through proof-of-concept, to commercial-ready solutions. We have strong design-win momentum across our core product line, excellent relationships with key tier-one wireless operators, focused commercialization launch plans, and an investable business model with a clear focus on PHY Wireless’ positioning mobile solutions, where we see the greatest growth opportunities.”
The design wins Horgan refers to include LTE chip and module provider Sequans Communications, which had licensed the hellaPHY intellectual property (IP) cores in 2016. PHY Wireless’ IP is used for features such as for instance indoor location services in a power efficient manner for IoT to CAT 15 devices compliant with FCC E-911 mandates, while providing spectral efficiency enhancements that improve network throughput.
The hellaPHY solution is a suite of receiver IP cores targeting LTE, though it's suitable to any OFDM standard. It's tailored to meet future wireless data access demands with its minimal network interaction and improved spectral efficiency of up to 60%.
Implemented as an optimized DSP/RTL core ready to be dropped into an SDR or ASIC, the IP core can also be customized to accommodate existing implementations. PHY Wireless claims superior channel estimation and other system integral parameter estimates, including fine timing estimation, Doppler estimation, noise covariance matrix estimation and time of arrival estimation. Its time of arrival estimation has demonstrated significant performance advantage over competing solutions for LTE positioning in comparative reference signal rime difference (RSTD) 3GPP simulations.
The company states its technology has been engineered for the toughest minimal IoT situation, leading to a very small footprint, and requiring the least network resources and device power of anything in the marketplace. This, it said, allows IoT module makers and wireless chip makers to meet their aggressive targets for low power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT solutions in regards to cost, power, and performance.
The company's solutions scale throughout UE categories and support E911 requirements and bring infrastructure efficiency to carriers by advancing spectral efficiency. Its algorithms are provided in both hardware and software versions that can exist within basebands or on application processors.
Horgan told EE Times that while accuracy is certainly an essential measure of the quality of a location technology, it is by no means the only measure that needs to be considered, particularly for IoT (CAT-M1 and NB-IoT) applications. He said, “Power, cost, time to first fix (TTFF), and security are also very important, as the need for long battery life and low device cost are key elements to the rollout of IoT devices and applications. hellaPHY LOC is the lowest-cost approach to positioning, as it eliminates the need for other technologies (WiFi, BT, GNSS), and doesn’t require any costly third-party lookup tables. The small amount of code can easily fit in the current, and planned, devices' available memory, and processing power requires only a fraction of the modem MCU application processor capabilities.”
He added that its core is 60x more power-efficient than GNSS, and 6x more power-efficient than any UE-assisted positioning approach where the position calculation is done in the cloud or in the location server. “The TTFF that can be achieved by hellaPHY LOC is in fractions of a second, which allows the IoT device to remain in a deep sleep mode longer and only require a very short amount of time to get an initial fix. This in turn helps improve the power efficiency even further.”
Horgan also mentioned security of device location is also extremely important as data privacy issues come to the fore. “By utilizing the security features built-in to most processors in use today, we are able to secure not only the position calculation but also the location of the device. So each device has a very secure location of its own, unlike what might be in a cloud implementation where many device locations would be stored and could possibly be hacked with a single intrusion versus the millions required to hack each individual IoT device.”
Furthermore, Horgan commented, “IoT devices (CAT-M1 and NB-IoT) only use a fraction of the bandwidth of higher category devices, and only have a single antenna and receiver versus the diversity in higher category devices. With that in mind, hellaPHY LOC has demonstrated in third party tests up to 4x better accuracy than the higher order category devices, in dense urban, suburban, and rural use cases. We have demonstrated sub-30m accuracy in remote locations where our technology was able to listen to signals from eNodeB’s that were more than 12km away.”
China's three significant state telecom operators rolled out 5G wireless technology Thursday, as the country is racing to narrow its technology gap with the U.S. amid a bruising trade war. China Mobile, the country's largest carrier, announced its 5G services were available in 50 cities - including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen - with packages starting from 128 yuan ($18) a month.
Rivals China Telecom and China Unicom are also supplying services at comparable prices in major cities, according to notices on their websites. The ultra-fast mobile internet service - which is 100 times faster than existing 4G networks - enables consumers to download full-length films within seconds, or use apps with virtual reality.
The technology will also lead the way for driverless cars, further automation in factories, and allow users to remotely control appliances like coffee makers and ovens via the internet. China is supposed to be a front-runner in the adoption of 5G services with over 170 million 5G subscribers by next year, according to estimates by China Telecom. South Korea will be in second place with a predicted 75,000 users, followed by the U.S. with 10,000, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein said in a research note last week.
''China will promote the deep integration of new generation information technology and the real economy,'' said Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at a technology conference Thursday.
''This involves accelerating the integration and application of 5G in industries, transportation, energy, agriculture, education and health,'' Chen said, according to a statement on the ministry's website. Beijing has been pushing for a quick rollout of the technology, and China's state economic planner said in January that developing a 5G network was one of its ''investment priorities'' this year.
Without regard to the success of 5G networks at home, Chinese telecom equipment giants have faced regulatory push back offshore. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it was considering blocking telecom carriers from buying equipment from Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE.
The U.S. is also threatening crippling sanctions on Huawei, which is anticipated to be a leading player in offering 5G network hardware. Washington has expressed fears that Huawei's equipment could contain security loopholes that allow China to spy on global communications traffic, and has been lobbying European countries to stay clear of it. The company has over and over repeatedly denied the U.S. accusations.
Quantum computing will reach the practical stage by 2035, and human outposts will be established on the moon and Mars by 2040, an institute under Japan's science ministry forecasts. The National Institute of Science and Technology Policy's report released Friday projected those dates among estimated timelines for progress on nearly 702 technologies, based on a survey of 5,352 experts.
The Science and Technology Foresight 2019 study looked at Japan's competitive edge in global tech. The findings will help Tokyo devise technology policy. The S&T Foresight survey offers predictions in earthly fields such as robotics and artificial intelligence, medicine and natural disasters - plus outer space and the origins of life.
Western countries and China are making advances in the competitive research field of quantum computing, hailed as the next major leap in computational technology after AI. Japan strives to forge a strategy for quantum technology development within the year, as well as a timetable for concrete steps in the field over the next decade. Last month, Google claimed a breakthrough in ''quantum supremacy,'' using a quantum computer to solve in minutes a problem that the U.S. web giant said regular computers would take thousands of years to solve.
Google's computer used 53 ''qubits,'' or quantum bits - the basic unit of information in quantum computing, analogous to a regular bit in classical computing. The S&T Foresight report projects that quantum computers with hundreds of qubits will enter use in some areas by around 2035.
The report also laid out targets for robotics and AI that would transform everyday life and work. Robots will be able to perform surgical procedures by 2032, it said, reducing reliance on human skill. A year later, flying cars will ferry people around urban areas. And by 2034, the report said, devices will enable communication with people who cannot speak, as well as with animals.
Some predictions in past editions of the report fell far off the mark. But in 2009, an inspection found that about 70% of the ideas previously covered did become a reality. Though even experts have difficulty estimating time frames, it appears they tend to gauge correctly whether a piece of technology eventually will be viable.
CHINESE phone giant Huawei said on Sunday that it was ready to roll out 5G infrastructure across South-east Asia, disregarding US warnings its tech could be used to hoover up data for Beijing. The firm has emerged as a key protagonist in the wider US-China trade war that has seen tit-for-tat tariffs imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.
President Donald Trump's administration has warned Huawei's equipment could allow China to spy on other countries and has effectively blocked American companies from selling US technology to the firm. But the company has many times rejected the accusations, saying it is the victim of tech envy.
Thailand and the Philippines have shrugged off the cybersecurity warnings in a rush to exploit the ultra-fast 5G network promised by China's biggest smartphone maker, while Vietnam has edged away from Huawei.
''China and the US now are in the trade war and also there is some kind of technology war (which) Huawei is very focused on at the moment,'' said Huawei vice-president Edward Zhou at the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit on Sunday. ''We are here to support Asean (in) the development of 5G,'' he said. Encompassing hundreds of millions of people, the 10-member bloc wants the next-level technology to help businesses, infrastructure and transport compete globally.
Host country Thailand has welcomed Huawei with open arms, granting it to set up a test bed at a major university near the Thai capital. A Huawei spokesperson previously told AFP it had invested US$5 billion in the trials and has been invited to conduct similar tests in other South-east Asian markets. In some other places, the Philippines' Globe Telecom said this summer it was launching South-east Asia's first 5G broadband service using Huawei technology.
Both Thailand and the Philippines are historic US allies and some see the tangle over 5G as a challenge of influence between the two powers. But not all countries have been keen to sign up. Vietnam has quietly sided with the US on the issue, shunning the Chinese firm in favour of alternative providers for 5G technology, including Ericsson and Nokia.
The country's military-owned telecoms giant Viettel hopes to be the first to roll out 5G in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and has said it plans to do so without Huawei, citing security concerns. Mr Zhou reiterated past statements by the company brushing aside the US claims. ''There aren't any cybersecurity issues for us. There is no evidence for the US to say that,'' he said.
How is Whirlpool Corporation balancing the use of human and robotic talent on the plant floors?
Collaborative robots enable us to be much more flexible. Because they are pretty small and lightweight and don’t need traditional cages and guarding, they can simply be moved if needed. These robots are easier to program than traditional models, saving time, and are relatively inexpensive when compared with other technologies. We are targeting applications where there is also some ergonomic, quality, or materials savings benefit. Our strategy is not to replace people, instead to identify win-win opportunities to improve the type of work our employees are doing, while creating a tangible efficiency improvement or quality benefit.
What is the benefit of having human employees and machines work side-by-side?
The addition of robots allows employees to concentrate on tasks that require greater cognitive skills. Collaborative robots can be used for repetitive jobs as well as those that require detailed precision, such as applying a consistent amount of adhesive in an exact, repeatable location.
How do you handle the safety issues of humans and machines working together?
Safety is our major priority. We have strict guidelines in place in all plants to ensure our employees are able to work in an environment that allows them to return home each day free of injury. On our assembly lines, we are targeting the use of robotic applications to improve high risk ergonomics issues. In the case of automated material handling devices, we believe the controlled speed and advanced sensors/cameras allow those devices to operate in a safer manner than human operated forklifts. Data has shown that in high velocity/high congestion areas, the automated material delivery carts are far superior from a safety standpoint.
How long has Whirlpool been expanding their robotic workforce and is the pace accelerating?
Industrial robotics are not new to Whirlpool Corporation. We have been using robotics in our stamping, paint, and finishing operations for many years. What has evolved over the past 5 years is the availability and cost effectiveness of collaborative robots that can work side by side with our employees and the technology and cost effectiveness of automated material dealing with solutions.
Yes, the pace has expanded and will continue to do so as feasibility and costs continue to evolve. We have an advanced manufacturing team that is continually evaluating new technologies and determining whether there is a potential application in our operations.
How is robotics helping advance the home appliance manufacturing industry?
The addition of many forms of automation at our plants across the United States has allowed us to increase our level of consistency and efficiency across the board. With the evolution of the smart home and the growing demand for connected appliances, our plants need more advanced test systems to ensure our appliances meet consumers needs and expectations. It’s an ideal marriage of advanced manufacturing solutions to support a more advanced product offering.
Do you think the growing use of robotics in manufacturing can help bring the industry in the USA compete with foreign manufacturers using cheap labor?
Robotics are part of the industrial digital transformation that Whirlpool Corporation has deployed to ensure our products are produced with the best possible cost and quality. This allows us to execute a local-for-local strategy of producing where we sell. While the re-shoring of U.S. manufacturing has been in the news in recent years, Whirlpool Corporation has a different story to tell: we never left the United States in the first place. Whirlpool Corporation is making strategic investments in both people development and technology to support the continued success of our U.S. manufacturing operations. These investments are allowing us to turn data into operational knowledge, and technologies such as collaborative robots and augmented reality support a safe and ergonomic work environment for our team members, eliminate errors in our production processes, and drive product quality through advanced testing.
Whirlpool’s Marion, Ohio facility engages with high school students to give them direct, on-the-job experience with robotics. What’s the benefit of this type of training versus a traditional university education?
We know that partnerships and co-ops with vocational schools, high schools, and community colleges can provide an opportunity for on-the-job learning in a controlled environment, shepherded by people who have spent decades in these positions. It also provides a valuable pipeline of skilled labor to operate our world class processes. By providing a new lens to view manufacturing, given plant floors are not as dark and dreary as they were decades ago, alongside educational institutions, we can reposition manufacturing and the Whirlpool name with future talent.
What trends do you see impacting the manufacturing industry in the years to come?
Smart use of automation, machine learning/AI, augmented reality, big data analytics, and additive manufacturing are all areas we are actively investigating at Whirlpool and are part of our industrial digital transformation roadmap. The use of renewable energy to power our factories is also critically important to Whirlpool and is an area where we will continue to invest.
In this column IEEE Fellow Chenyang Xu shares five popular hurdles he’s seen that can drain a startup and offers how to avoid them. Xu is a founding partner at the Silicon Valley Future Academy of Palo Alto, Calif., and an accomplice at the Corporate Innovators Huddle of Menlo Park, Calif. The CIH provides a forum to help large companies be more innovative by investing in and partnering with startups. Xu is also a managing partner at Perception Vision Medical Technologies, a startup in Guangzhou, China, involved with artificial intelligence. He has recommended hundreds of tech entrepreneurs and investors during the past two decades.
STAYING IN THE WEEDS
Engineering entrepreneurs in some cases are their own worst enemy, Xu says. They are inclined to be so passionate about their invention that they spend too much time on engineering tasks rather than on customer needs, business development, fundraising, sales, and growing the company. “It’s understandable,” Xu says, “because engineering is what they excel in and are most comfortable doing. But this can bring down the company. “You just have to change your mindset. The success of the company does not lie in staying in your comfort zone. It takes courage to leave your comfort zone to do activities you’re not experienced with. “Often it requires someone else to alert them that they can’t just focus on engineering.”
WORKING IN ISOLATION
Don’t waste time developing a product without knowing there is a market for it, Xu cautions. “I've seen several engineers develop a product - some for far too long - dreaming somebody will buy it. But when it’s finally ready, there are no customers for it, or the market has shifted,” he says. “That’s a lot of wasted time and money, and very sad to see.”
Never create a technology or a product without doing your homework first, Xu says. He recommends getting out of the lab or office and visiting as many prospective customers as possible to learn about their needs and workflow as well as their frustrations with current products. After you have done that, figure out the value proposition for your product and why a customer would want to buy it. Also learn about your competitors’ products and their selling points.
“It’s crucial to show investors tangible evidence that you’ve done all this,” Xu says. “They want to make sure your invention is the right product or market fit for scaling up and growing the company.”
OVERLOOKING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Xu says it is important for tech startups making sure the intellectual property (IP) on which their invention is based is their own and doesn’t violate that of another company. If it does, that’s a significant risk with serious implications.
“I've seen startups sued by other competitors—large or small,” Xu says. “This prevents them from raising money from investors or selling the product. Eventually the startup goes out of business.”
Those who have left an employer to start their own company in the same market or are developing a comparable technology have to be extremely careful, Xu says. If the invention was derived from work done for the former employer, he suggests asking the company to license its technology to you.
He proposes hiring a patent attorney to consistently conduct IP audits at key company milestones, like when the company starts developing a new product, makes improvements to an existing one, or adds a new feature. And see to it that to protect your own IP by filing for patents.
NEGLECTING SALES
Don’t overlook the challenges that come with selling the product, Xu says. Founders need to put plenty of work into developing the sales strategy and employing the right people. The salesperson needs to know the product inside and out, as well as the customers’ needs - and be able to explain those needs to the engineering team.
A popular mistake an engineering founder makes, Xu says, is hiring a sales manager who has prior experience selling existing products from established companies but is inexperienced in selling new products to new markets. “I’ve seen many sales managers pull down a promising startup because they’re used to selling an existing product in an existing market to existing customers,” Xu says. “Selling a new technology from a startup is a very different process.”
Another failing is employing so many salespeople before the product is ready to hit the market. “That can be a recipe for disaster,” Xu says, “because the company may not be ready to scale the product that quickly, but the sales people are waiting around to sell it. That puts pressure on the engineering team, and it’s not a good way to grow.”
FALLING DOWN ON FUNDRAISING
Founders need to raise capital continuously to keep their company afloat and growing. Fundraising is never easy, but it’s mainly difficult for those engineering founders who used to work for large public companies and never had to worry about where the money was coming from.
Preparation is essential. Xu recommends creating a clear fundraising strategy, which includes a business plan with goals and objectives, as well as a timeline for how long the money is likely to last. “The vast majority of tech startups require multiple rounds of fundraising to reach profitability,” Xu says. “Just raising the initial funding doesn’t mean you’re successful.”
After the first round of fundraising - the seed round - it is on to others: first Series A, then B, then C. Each one targets different stages of the company’s growth. Potential investors expect various things from a business plan, depending on the fundraising stage, including a proof-of-concept demonstration, details on revenue realized and forecast, or expansion plans.
Xu says founders need to stay on top of each round’s investment requirements. “My recommendation is the moment you complete the first round, get the investment requirements for the next round ready and build them into your product-development plan,” he says. “The key to successful company building is to not run out of cash.”
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF Industry 4.0 POWERED BY FICTRON INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES in MALAYSIA
Since the Germans first introduced “Industrie 4.0” in 2011, the phrase has been quickly adopted, becoming the hottest and most spoken buzzword across the manufacturing sector worldwide. Industry 4.0 is more than just a fashionable buzzword. The term refers to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, comprising growing trends in automation, the Internet of Things (IoT). Big Data and Cloud Computing technologies. Just like steam power, electricity and electronics of the past industrial revolutions, Industry 4.0 is revolutionising the manufacturing and production industry through digital optimisation. By integrating cyber-physical systems into manufacturing technologies, Industry 4.0 creates manufacturing of the future – the smart factory
INDUSTRY4WRD READINESS ASSESSMENT
The Government will allocate RM 210 million from 2019 to 2021 to support the transition and migration to Industry 4.0. The Malaysia Productivity Corporation will carry out Readiness Assessments to assist up to 500 Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to migrate to Industry 4.0 technologies. Industry4WRD Readiness Assessment (Industry4WRD-RA) is a comprehensive programme to help firm assess their capabilities and readiness to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and processes. The assessment uses a pre-determined set of indicators to understand their present capabilities and gaps, from which will enable firms to prepare to prepare feasible strategies and plans to move towards Industry 4.0. The Industry4WRD-RA will help firms to:
Determine their state of readiness in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies
Identify the gaps and areas of improvement for Industry 4.0 adoption as well as opportunities for productivity improvement and growth and
Develop feasible strategies and plans to perform outcome-based intervention projects
Fictron Industrial Supplies Group of Companies in Malaysia and greater Asia; is authorised distributor and partnered with KEB Automation KG to bring the Industry 4.0 technology to this region. Fictron offers complete consultation, design and system integration SI of the Industry 4.0 automation hardware and software. And intergrates Big Data, IOT and Artifical Intelligence AI to Manufacturing and Industries. Allowing efficient manufacturing process with Predictive Maintenance and Adaptive Maintenance instead of the more conventional Preventive Maintenance.
Fictron Group also has in-house industrial automation and electronic repair services, on-site troubleshooting and maintenance. HRDF approved courses also available for training and development; of engineers and technicians skills of all Fictron clients.
FEATURING our partner KEB Automation Technologies which consist of :-
Against the background of an increased focus on the role of technology to solve some of the world’s biggest struggles, today sees the launch of Turn.io a product that leverages messaging platforms for social impact.
Turn.io is a startup incubated by Praekelt.org, an initial associate in the WhatsApp Business API pilot programme. Developed to connect social impact organisations with audiences using chat messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Google’s Android Messages, Turn.io is underpinned by the significant role of chat as the expanding platform of choice for the majority world.
“Every day there are over a billion opportunities to have conversations that can improve lives,” says Turn.io co-founder, Simon de Haan, from San Francisco where he is at the moment attending the 2019 Social Capital Markets Conference.
“However, conversations only have value if they have an impact. We believe that having an impactful conversation at a key moment can positively change someone’s life”.
When MomConnect, a digital maternal health programme, was unveiled in partnership with South Africa’s National Department of Health in 2014, it rapidly reached national scale cited as a global measure of what a mobile health programme can achieve. Developed by Praekelt.org, MomConnect launched as an SMS messaging service, but by 2017, the number of users made it difficult to manage and track key behavioural change conversations.
To solve this, Turn.io was developed to manage conversations with mothers. It changed the way mothers interact and instantly triggered a necessary and continuous evolution of the technology platform that drives MomConnect.
Since 2018, Turn.io has developed features and functionality to enhance the use of chat for social enterprises such as for example using Natural Language Processing & Machine Learning to triage the most urgent conversations, making sure that conversations start at the right time with the right people.
Samsung Electronics has teased tech-savvy fans all over the world by disclosing a glance of the new concept for the company's upcoming foldable smartphones. The tech giant introduced the new concept for its foldable smartphone during ''Samsung Developer Conference 2019'' (SDC2019) held at San Hose Convention Center in California on Tuesday, about one month after the company's first foldable smartphone ''Galaxy Fold'' reach the shelves in South Korea on September 6 this year.
Samsung had formerly prepared for the global release of Galaxy Fold in April this year but owing to a few technical issues such as for example display hinge malfunctions and damages caused to the phone's display after some reviewers tried to remove the display's protective film layer, the company delayed the launch till September.
When the ambitious brainchild of Samsung was finally released, tech-savvy consumers around the world responded positively. Consumers noticed the 7.3-inch foldable display very attractive and very useful. While Galaxy Fold actually folds out like a book to turn into a tablet PC with a 7.3-inch display, the new form factor showed a special concept of folding in half like a folder-type mobile phone that was popular in the 1990s.
The concept video hinted at precisely how the new foldable smartphone design could be used in real life situations. The phone could be bent to an L-shape so that it can be placed stably on a surface by itself while a user films video using the phone's front-facing camera.
Samsung didn't expose whether the company's next foldable smartphone will be designed similarly to the one shown in the teaser video. But, the company said that it will continue to work with new form factors for its foldable smartphones with hundreds of developers and partners to inspire people with new user experiences.
Scientists in the U.S. have reported a technological breakthrough that could resolve one of the key issues surrounding all-electric vehicles, suggesting just 10 minutes of charging time could add 200 miles (320 km) of driving range.
Writing in the journal Joule on Wednesday, researchers at Pennsylvania State University said that such a speedy charge rate needed a battery to speedily take in 400 kilowatts of energy. Current-generation vehicles aren't capable of this feat because it risks the lithium plating, the formation of metallic lithium around the anode, which would severely deteriorate battery life.
To find the way this constraint, the researchers raised the temperature of their experimental battery to 60 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) during the charge cycle, then dropped it back down as it was used. What this does is “limit the battery’s exposure to the elevated charge temperature, thus generating a very long cycle life,” said senior author Chao-Yang Wang, a mechanical engineer at The Pennsylvania State University.
But scaling up the design and bringing it to market might possibly take a decade, said Rick Sachleben, an affiliate of the American Chemical Society. Makers will need to make sure that instantly raising the temperature is safe and stable, and doesn’t lead to explosions given the phenomenal amount of energy that is being transferred.
“Fast charging is one of the holy grails of electric vehicles,” he said. “It’s one of the things that is necessary for them to compete with petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines.”
The existing generation of Tesla vehicles need around 30 minutes for a partial charge. One of the inventors of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries who was granted a Nobel Prize in chemistry in October, M. Stanley Whittingham, says ongoing research will continue to make the batteries cheaper, safer and with greater energy density. Further improvements to the technology might also prop up efforts to fight climate change by enabling greater use of renewable-energy sources, Whittingham said.
He said Lithium-ion batteries will continue to influence in smart phones and electric vehicles for at least the next 10 years, “because there is nothing really on the horizon,” though Toyota Motor Corp. and American companies are improving solid-state batteries. It’s not clear yet whether you will get a decent amount of power” from such batteries, he added. “They may work for things such as iPhones initially, but there are some big questions before they are used in larger-scale systems.
Still, Whittingham said, if you look at the sellers of electricity, they do not particularly want them to be charged very fast.”
It seems that the England is a good place for China right now, on two counts at least. One is Arm confirming that a few of its UK-developed architectures are outside the scope of current U.S. export restrictions. The second is news over the weekend suggesting the British Prime Minister is set to allow Huawei supply to non-contentious parts of the 5G network.
If there was any sign that things were getting better for Huawei, it was clear when EE Times documented last month that executives from Arm, Arm China and HiSilicon (Huawei’s chip division) met behind closed doors in Shenzhen, to reassure the Chinese media and local electronics industry of their ongoing cooperation.
Under the current guidelines Arm cannot license any U.S. origin intellectual property (IP) to HiSilicon unless granted an export license by the U.S. Commerce Department, or it has been determined the IP is not of U.S. origin.
Now it appears that, after an in-depth review, Arm has decided that its Armv8-A architecture, together with the next generation of that architecture, are of UK origin. Therefore, an Arm spokesperson confirmed to EE Times that Arm can provide support to HiSilicon for those certain architectures. She added, “Arm has communicated this to the appropriate U.S. government offices, and we continue to be in compliance with the U.S. Commerce Department guidelines, respective to Huawei and its affiliate HiSilicon.”
5G green light expected
In a completely separate development, the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper documented yesterday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to endorse his predecessor’s decision to give Huawei access to the non-contentious parts of the 5G network. The main reason quoted is that the west doesn't have a good alternative for Huawei technology, which signifies it would be left behind if it doesn’t use Huawei. One senior government source is quoted in the Sunday Times as saying, “The reality is that if you don’t say yes, you don’t have alternatives. The West has screwed up by allowing Huawei to develop a near-monopoly in this area.”
Earlier this year, the chair of British Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee, the Rt. Hon. Norman Lamb, said, “The benefits of 5G are clear and the removal of Huawei from the current or future networks could cause significant delays.” As we reported, the issues were around ethics and politics rather than the technological one. Lamb highlighted that supply chains for telecommunications networks were global and complex, so a ban on Huawei equipment wouldn't normally take out potential Chinese influence from the supply chain. He also said it would probably maximize security vulnerability by reducing competition. Lamb also emphasized that his conclusion that Huawei must not be wholly excluded from the UK’s 5G networks is built only on technical considerations, not geo-political.
After a two-year hiatus, British luxury phone maker Vertu has announced resumption of sales at its Ho Chi Minh City store next month. Vertu Vietnam, a local unit of the phone maker, said genuine Vertu phones will once again be sold in Vietnam, first from an District 1 outlet in Ho Chi Minh City in October, then a Hanoi outlet the next month.
Vertu luxury cell phones had been marketed in Vietnam since 2006 by electronics distributor FPT Trading, earlier known as FPT Telecom Products Distribution Co., Ltd., through three outlets in Vietnam. In late 2017, the stores closed after Vertu ceased production in the U.K. The company had lodged for bankruptcy in its home country, having racked up debts of some £138 million, but its business was still growing in Vietnam.
A representative of FPT Trading said that when Vertu’s U.K. factory was closed, customers in Vietnam were still ordering its super-luxury phones. Vertu will now distribute its phones through Vertu Vietnam, a Hanoi headquartered company established in May 2019. Before Vertu declared its come back to Vietnam, traders had observed that demand for Vertu handsets in the country had never died down.
“Normally, we rarely see Vertu phones, but in events or places with lots of rich people, you can find 80-90 percent of them using them. For them, the latest technology is not a top priority. They use Vertu because of the phone’s anti-tapping protection features, the brand name and the fact it is crafted from luxury materials,” said Nguyen Phi Dung, a dealer in luxury hand-carried Vertu phones.
Models that cost between VND100–150 million ($4,300 – $6,450) used to be the most popular, but customers have even bought handsets costing VND500 million to over VND1 billion ($21,500 – $43,000), Dung added. Vertu was established by Finnish phone-maker Nokia in 1998, but changed hands multiple times later. In 2012, it was sold to Swedish investment corporation EQT; and in 2015 to Hong-Kong based investment fund Godin Holdings.
In March 2017, Vertu was sold to Baferton Ltd., owned by Turkish businessman Hakan Uzan. However, just four months later, Uzan had to close Vertu’s U.K. factories, having failed to save it from bankruptcy. However, in October last year, Vertu made an unexpected return to China with a new Aster P, priced at $5,167 for black and white models, and $14,146 for its yellow model.
Immediately after brushing aside demands from Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point to spin off its semiconductor business, Sony reaffirmed their motivation to the sector by pressuring forward plans to establish a 100 billion yen ($918 million) factory in Japan. The move not just explained its rejection of Loeb's suggestion, but also marked a shift away from an ''asset-light'' strategy the company had been pursuing in recent times.
Behind the decision was the furious competition in entertainment from the likes of Google and Walt Disney. Sony, which seeks to be a ''creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology,'' is increasingly dependent on its market-leading image sensors. The semiconductor business, which includes the image sensors, accounts for 15% of the company's entire profits.
The fresh investment was made possible by a succession of moves to shrink down sectors and cut costs. It reported an all-time high group operating profit of about $8.2 billion last fiscal year, with solid results across much of its business portfolio, including games, music and flat-screen televisions coupled with semiconductors. Operating cash flow, except for financial services, topped $6.8 billion.
The investment also shows Sony's confidence in the future of image sensors. The Japanese company sees demand for the chips beyond smartphones to a variety of new connected devices as the superfast fifth-generation wireless technology takes center stage. But it was a tough decision. Sony's management has learned from experience that a downturn in demand, mostly with the outlook for smartphone demand uncertain, could leave it saddled with heavy costs without bringing the expected benefits from its investment.
The outlook for the sensor market, nevertheless, has been brightening. Some industry estimates show global demand extending 60% between 2018 and 2023. This owes partly to the trend of installing multiple cameras in smartphones, and partly to an anticipated rise in demand for ''internet of things'' applications, like self-driving vehicles and factory robots, once 5G fully gets off the ground.
Sony showed off the lowlight performance of its image sensors at the Tokyo Motor Show which kicked off here Thursday. Its booth featured a diorama in a dark room that made the details all but not visible to the naked eye. But when a staffer turned on a monitor above the display, viewers could clearly see the characters on the screen.
By touting the sensitivity of its sensors, Sony looks to appeal to automakers developing self-driving vehicles, for which cameras that can spot details even under poor lighting conditions are crucial. At the Ceatec electronics expo this month, which Sony returned to after a six-year hiatus, the company focused on the potential of the chips in medical devices. It showcased a surgical microscope system with 3D imaging capabilities.
Sony has such applications in mind as it operates on sensors incorporating artificial intelligence. Autonomous vehicles with AI-equipped cameras, for example, would be able to process data locally instead of having to upload it to the cloud, saving precious time if it detects an obstacle and needs to stop quickly.
AI sensors would open the door to a new business model for Sony's semiconductor business, with recurring revenue from data processing services on top of chip sales. Though the segment is profitable now, earning 143.9 billion yen in operating profit last fiscal year, it lost money as recently as fiscal 2016, and Sony aims a stable stream of recurring revenue to help ensure it stays in the black.
There are a number of approaches to preventative maintenance itself, all of which are used to ensure that your equipment is working correctly and potential problems are uncovered.
Realizing which method of preventative maintenance to use isn’t always a straightforward decision. Based on the complexity and value of your equipment and the possibility of compliance requirements, you might use more than one approach. Below are the five common types of preventative maintenance in use at commercial facilities today, together with some preventative maintenance examples.
Time-based Maintenance (TBM)
When you change an air filter once every six months, you're basically doing time-based maintenance (TBM). Time-based maintenance (TBM) activities might involve anything from inspecting and cleaning to servicing and part replacing. The frequence of TBM is customarily predetermined according to the equipment supplier’s ideas and/or past performance of the machine.
TBM has some positive aspects and cons as a maintenance strategy. It uses much less manpower than some other maintenance strategies. But even though you’re following the set schedule, in some cases you may be changing or servicing something before it actually requires to be done. For instance, a manufacturer may recommend exchanging a fan filter every three months, but if that filter is located in an area of the building where it isn’t used often, you could go a bit longer without replacing it. That makes the cost of TBM higher than it should be.
The next maintenance strategy, condition-based monitoring (discussed below) can help avoid over-maintenance, and is seen as mostly more valuable and economical than TBM.
Failure-finding Maintenance (FFM)
Failure-finding maintenance is carried out making sure that something - often a protective device of some sort - still works. Protective devices are those designed to call attention to a problem, shutdown a process to avoid more problems, and shield against mishaps. Activating an alarm periodically would be viewed as failure finding maintenance.
While other types of preventative maintenance involve routinely changing or replacing parts, or noticing an apparent condition that may well display impending failure, failure-finding maintenance applies to hidden failures that can be discovered only by actually checking if something still works. By some estimates, up to 40 percent of failures in industrial settings fall into the hidden category; and up to 80 percent of those require failure-finding to be rooted out. An example of this type of preventative maintenance: A diesel generator might have a protective device that should turn off the generator in the instance of elevated cooling water temperature; the functionality of that device will not be noticed without simulating the appropriate conditions and checking if the device gives the right response.
Unfortunately, failure-finding maintenance is generally given low priority by maintenance professionals, but it is critical to maintaining a safe environment - and sometimes preventing the major disasters that happen resulting from multiple failures.
Risk-based Maintenance (RBM)
Risk-based maintenance (RBM) is a strategy that aims to lessen mechanical failures by evaluating the levels of risk associated with your equipment, and then prioritizing your maintenance activities as required. The theory behind risk-based maintenance is ultimately Pareto’s Law, which, when applied to maintenance, holds that 80 percent of failures are attributable to just 20 percent of your equipment; this means it makes sense to focus your efforts on those areas.
Both the likelihood of a breakdown and the results of a failure are considered in support of this approach. Based upon the results of your evaluation, you can make better decisions about what to inspect, and when. Again and again facility managers do this unconsciously as part of their routines, but it is more effective at delivering results when a methodology is used to help make decisions. When done right, risk-based maintenance can optimize both asset performance and your financial resources as well.
Condition-based Monitoring (CBM)
Condition-based monitoring involves supervising the condition of a piece of operating equipment or machinery to ascertain what type of maintenance needs to be done and when. Marks of declining performance or imminent failure would suggest maintenance needs to be done to restore the machine to its original level of performance and reliability. This approach is designed to avoid a breakdown by fixing problems before they occur, which means it is a type of predictive maintenance (number 5 below).
CBM is a more effective preventative maintenance strategy than time-based, considering that it is a proactive measure intended to specifically identify changes in machine performance and head off issues. Examples of what elements could be monitored to diagnose problems are:
- Visual - This is the most basic form of condition monitoring and may uncover things like cracks or corrosion.
- Vibrations - Changes in the vibrations produced by compressors, pumps, motors and other types of equipment can help spot performance problems.
- Wear debris (tribology) - Analyzing interacting machine surfaces for wear and fractures may serve as an early warning of equipment failure.
- Temperature (thermography) - Corroded electrical connections, faulty machinery, and damaged machine components can all change the temperature distribution of running equipment.
- Sound - The sound of a running machine is usually fairly stable; a change in the noise signal may indicate a change in the condition of the machine.
Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance is distinguishing when a piece of equipment is probably to fail and addressing it before it occurs. In the place of simply aiming to minimize downtime, predictive maintenance aims to maximize uptime. It’s an improvement over ordinary preventative maintenance approaches because it helps avoid failures in a timely manner.
It’s quite similar to condition monitoring in that both strategies have the same goal. The difference is that condition monitoring identifies immediate tasks based on monitoring results, while predictive maintenance enable you plan maintenance tasks based on knowledge about overall equipment health and expected performance - knowledge that comes through the gathering and analysis of data.
The Internet of Things makes predictive analytics possible. Sensors installed to your machines and equipment monitor and collect a vast range of operational data, on everything from vibrations, sights, and sounds to temperatures and power consumption. With the help of machine learning and algorithms, this data can then be mined and patterns identified. Eventually, that data can be used to provide valuable insights about aberrant performance that could reveal the likelihood of an imminent breakdown.
As an example of this type of preventative maintenance, consider a commercial refrigerated unit. A manufacturer that owns several commercial refrigerated units around the country needs a reliable way to prevent the units from failing because there are high costs associated with failure - including the cost of emergency repairs and product spoilage. As part of a predictive maintenance strategy, the manufacturer could equip each of the refrigerated units with a variety of sensors. The sensors would measure:
- Refrigerator temperature
- Humidity level
- Temperature of the coolant going into and out of the compressor
- Temperature of the coolant going into and out of the evaporator
- Vibration on the compressor
- The number of times the compressor starts and stops
- How long the compressor runs
- The amount of power the compressor is using
All this data could be held and evaluated using an Internet of Things platform. Using predictive analytics, it is possible to comprehend the optimal performance of a refrigerator unit and, when defects in the data manifest, to determine if and when the unit might fail. The problem can then be addressed before it happens.
Combined with your crucial assets, sensors can give you an unprecedented level of perceptiveness into your daily operations that supports your equipment - and your building - better than preventive maintenance. Predictive maintenance can greatly minimize downtime, decrease your financial expenditure by prolonging the life of your equipment, and increase the overall safety of your operation.
