July 2019

| 20 | July 2019 www.smartmachinesandfactories.com | STRATEGIES | Moving into the smart factory revolution, it is guaranteed to bring smarter automation into the workplace, and with this comes innovative solutions. Nevertheless, how can manufacturing efficiency be improved? First things first, it all starts with a deep dive into the data. Tim Foreman, European R&D manager, Omron, reports. S o what if it was possible to develop a machine that was capable of learning to predict when a major element of manufacturing equipment was at risk of breaking down? In addition, had the ability to pre-order spare parts in advance? Yes, this may sound like wishful thinking, yet they do exist in the form of machines with integrated artificial intelligence. These lengths are possible through the collection of data used to create specific models. Machine learning is finally executed when the data-inspired evaluating models are put into practice, used to adjust the machine’s unique behaviour through machine learning. The first step is collecting data, from individual machines or preferably from an entire production line. This can result in lots of data – what we call big data. Up to a point, analysing all this data can be handled effectively and cheaply using today’s processing power and cloud storage. Clean data is essential to enable more efficient processing and the best results. Simply by displaying this collected information on a screen, in an easy-to Smart factories and data models