From robots on the factory floor to autonomous cars on the road, AI is transforming the automotive sector. The new technology has plenty of room to expand, increasing efficiency, productivity, and safety throughout the process of automotive manufacturing. In the next five years, AI is expected to completely revolutionize the industry. “I think much of AI in manufacturing has been limited to predictive maintenance and in the next five years, there will be a much wider set of use-cases of AI in manufacturing as its value is better understood,” Frans Cronje, CEO of DataProphet, told Generis Group. Ahead of the American Automotive Summit, we spoke with Frans to discuss the impact of AI on the automotive industry, what steps manufacturers need to take to leverage the technology, and what the future of AI looks like.
Read More →LEADERS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SUMMIT: INTERVIEW WITH FABIAN SCHMAHL
Fabian Schmahl was named President & CEO of thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc. in April 2008. He is responsible for managing the development and manufacture of premium quality, high performance automotive suspension solutions for Original Equipment, Aftermarket and Motorsports applications. Schmahl oversees the operations of thyssenkrupp Bilstein locations in Hamilton, Ohio (headquarters); Poway, California; Troy, Michigan; and Mooresville, North Carolina. As President & CEO of thyssenkrupp Bilstein, Schmahl has earned extensive recognition for his commitment to his employees, community and the manufacturing industry. Under his leadership, thyssenkrupp Bilstein has been recognized as a Top Workplace in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by Enquirer Media and Best Workplace in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by Business Courier. In 2015 and 2017, Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities voted thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America Employer of the Year. In November, Fabian will join us at the American Automotive Summit.
Read More →3 Critical Components for a Full Industrial IoT Solution
As manufacturers have likely heard again and again, there are many benefits to implementing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions. Though no two environments are the same, there are some key benefits that all manufacturers will appreciate: new revenue streams, cost savings, flexibility, and increased visibility, which enables better decision making. In rapidly changing markets, the IIoT allows companies to stay relevant, giving them data to guide decisions and make a business case for innovation, allowing them to put out products faster and at a lower cost. But many manufacturers are still hesitant to implement a full IoT Solution. Some are held back by budget concerns; more still are held back by fear of the unknown. It’s hard to know where to start. Technology changes so quickly that one can get overwhelmed and fear the risk of making the wrong decision. Most lack in-house knowledge and hiring a whole implementation team can be an expensive, risky, and time-consuming proposition.
Read More →3 Key Components to Enable Predictive Maintenance
The ultimate goal of predictive maintenance is to reduce valuable machinery downtime. Predictive maintenance has become an essential tool for almost every industry because of its efficiency in detecting faults during the early stages of failure, allowing for a much simpler, safer, and cheaper repair solution than the alternative: catastrophic failure. Today, companies are adopting predictive technologies at staggering rates. According to Markets and Markets Research, the market size for predictive maintenance technologies is just above $1.4 billion and is expected to eclipse $5 billion by 2021 with the help of IoT. As with any program, there is a very simple formula for predictive maintenance success. There should be an owner, someone who is held accountable and responsible. There should also be attainable goals for the program; understanding what program success looks like may mean that the owner needs to go through extensive training. An evaluation of current program maturity should follow with a comparison with best practice. Then a proper roadmap can be built to bridge the current state to the future, best practice state. Because most companies operate with limited resources, one of the toughest jobs is going to be prioritizing the time, money, and energy spent on certain initiatives to close the gap.
Read More →Top 3 Ways IIoT Enables Business Outcomes in Manufacturing
According to IoT solutions company relayr, the manufacturing industry, as a whole, is the least digitally advanced industry today. It is also the industry with the most to gain from the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). With shrinking margins and increasing pressure to deliver better, faster, and cheaper, manufacturers are looking for ways to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and open up new revenue streams, none of which can be accomplished without embracing the IIoT. The key areas in which the IIoT is poised to help manufacturers achieve their target business outcomes are: Asset Services – the continual monitoring and analysis of production line and/or supply chain data points that are most influential to a manufacturing enterprise. This data can be used to trigger automated responses in the machines, alert employees, track production and inventory in real time, and even enable custom product manufacturing Predictive Maintenance – the ability to conduct “just in time” maintenance, drastically reducing costs related to unplanned downtime as well as unnecessary preventative maintenance visits for healthy equipment. Through advanced analytics and anomaly detection, predictive maintenance capabilities only grow smarter over time through AI capabilities, to continually refine and improve manufacturers’ maintenance performance. Device Management – the functionality delivered by the ability to connect, retrieve data, and take action at the device (equipment) level. This interoperability is only achievable through a solid foundation of an IIoT middleware platform, connected hardware, and a solid device management software component. …
Read More →The Adaptive Machine: Cultivating a ‘green patch’ in your brownfield
Despite the well-documented advantages of digital transformation and smart factories, it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. Cultivating a green patch in your brownfield can be a good way to start. A green patch is bigger than a pilot project, because it is a full-scale production system, but it is a small investment than a greenfield. Typically, the project scope would be one line or cell. We talked with John Kowal, Director of Business Development at B&R Industrial Automation, a global supplier of advanced machine control solutions, about adaptive machines and how to cultivate a green patch within a brown field.
Read More →IoT Enables Predictive Maintenance
Over the past ten years or so there have been many smart manufacturing initiatives that have promoted the need for production facilities to become much more efficient and effective through the use of technology. The concept of the connected factory, achieved through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), is being implemented, which is significantly driving up operational effectiveness, resource utilization and a digital visibility of production and process metrics never before thought possible.
Read More →IBM: Be ready for Industry 4.0 with Cognitive Manufacturing
Is your business ready for industry 4.0? Automation and the need for an exchange and flow of data to create meaningful insights is growing, and with it is the need for businesses to prepare themselves for Industry 4.0. Cognitive manufacturing can help prepare manufacturers with Industry 4.0, as it can be used to bring insight across the entire value chain by connecting data points across systems, equipments and processes. It can help businesses “gain the visibility, flexibility and agility to grow, evolve and succeed in the digital age.” Cognitive manufacturing allows leaders to see the greater picture developed by data collected in real-time. Decision makers can then make choices based on the facts and data presented to them in a timely manner, find areas of weaknesses and opportunities to improve in the supply chain. Learn how Cognitive Manufacturing can help your business get ready for Industry 4.0 in IBM’s ebook: ibm.biz/BeReadyeBook!
Read More →The Quality 4.0 Impact and Strategy Handbook
The most recent decade has seen rapid advances in connectivity, mobility, analytics, scalability, and data, spawning what has been called the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. This fourth industrial revolution has digitalized operations and resulted in transformations in manufacturing efficiency, supply chain performance, product innovation, and in some cases enabled entirely new business models. This transformation should be top of mind for quality leaders, as quality improvement and monitoring are among the top use cases for Industry 4.0. Quality 4.0 is closely aligning quality management with Industry 4.0 to enable enterprise efficiencies, performance, innovation and business models. However, much of the market isn’t focusing on Quality 4.0, since many quality teams are still trying to solve yesterday’s problems: inefficiency caused by fragmented systems, manual metrics calculations, quality teams independently performing quality work with minimal cross-functional ownership, and ineffective supplier communication, among others.
Read More →KONE Improves “People Flow” in 1.1 Million Elevators with IBM Watson IoT
KONE Corp, a leading elevator and escalator manufacturer and service provider, identified an opportunity for improvement in “people flow”— a term KONE defines as the pressure to keep people moving smoothly. Every day, billions of people use elevators and escalators, and it takes just one malfunction for a user to be inconvenienced and for business to be lost as a result of an obstacle in “people flow.” To mitigate these malfunctions and to deal with unanticipated breakdowns and service interruptions, KONE has decided to go digital. KONE chose IBM Watson IoT, running on the IBM Cloud, to optimize connectivity and real-time data. The platform can connect, remotely monitor and optimize the management of over a million elevators and escalators worldwide. KONE’s decision to use IBM Watson IoT resulted in 1.1 million elevators connected to a cloud-based system that predicts maintenance needs Improves equipment availability through reduced downtime, fewer faults, and more detailed performance information Foster third-party innovation through application development to improve customer service and user experience By going digital and connecting to the cloud, the system can use sensor data from its equipment to help identify and predict issues, minimize downtime and personalize and improve the user experience. Learn more about how IBM Watson IoT improved KONE’s “people flow” and optimized their processes in their case study, http://ibm.biz/BdjMHS.
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