IoT and Edge AI Empower Industry 4.0 Revolution
Dive into our latest blog post and explore how Edge AI is empowering devices in the IoT Revolution.
Manufacturing is an enormous, well-entrenched, mature market. Many of its business processes have been tried and true since time immemorial. However, a new wave of Edge Artificial Intelligence solutions has the potential to dramatically change how products are created.
With them, suppliers can streamline workflow, reduce delays, gain more insight into their operations, differentiate their services, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Manufacturing is a large global industry, generating trillions of dollars. Competition is intense, so suppliers are constantly searching for an advantage. IoT has already had a massive impact on efficiency, now Edge AI is on the brink of providing massive advantages in literally every part of their operation.
Edge AI’s Important Role in Industry 4.0
Edge AI is a key element in Industry 4.0, a movement that builds upon previous industrial revolutions by leveraging new technologies and creating smart factories and intelligent supply chains.
Industry 4.0 represents a big paradigm shift in manufacturing, enabling companies to achieve higher levels of efficiency, agility, and competitiveness, which are vital in today’s rapidly evolving global market.
Manufacturing is an Equipment Heavy Industry
Let’s take a closer look at this equipment. Manufacturers now have a wide and growing range of equipment that creates their products.
a) Industrial Robots: automated, programmable devices capable of movement on three or more axes. They are used in assembly, welding, painting, pick-and-place, packaging, labeling, inspecting, and testing.
b) Programmable Logic Controllers: specialized digital computers that control pieces of machinery.
c) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition: process, gather, and monitor real-time data, and interact directly with devices, like sensors, valves, pumps, and motors.
d) Centrifuge: uses centrifugal force to separate components of a mixture based on their density
e) Mixers: blend, mix, or homogenize various materials in the manufacturing process.
f) Drill Press: create holes in various materials, typically metal, wood, or plastic.
g) Conveyor Belts: mechanical material handling solutions that transport products and materials from one area to another. They are often used in factories, warehouses, and other industrial settings to move boxes, packages, and raw materials.
And many more. Traditionally, these devices had little to no intelligence. As microprocessor technology has shrunk in size and grown in capabilities, they have become smarter.
IoT was the first wave, enabling data to be collected from just about any device, process, motor or machine in the production line. This Big Data collection and analysis has allowed us to accurately predict equipment failures and take preventative measures to avoid them, and it has given factory managers countless other insights that help keep things running smoothly. However, storing big data in the Cloud and all the compute required to process it, isn’t cheap.
Edge computing is a game changer because it enables manufacturers to move data processing from large central servers to small intelligent devices. Edge AI takes this intelligence to another level by infusing IoT-enabled devices and equipment with on-board AI to filter, process, interpret and act up on the data they are collecting – without needing to pass so much, or any, data to the cloud, nor wait for insights or instructions from the Cloud. This is a significant evolution that will make factories even smarter, more efficient, and more flexible than ever before.
Benefits of IoT and Edge AI in Factories
IoT in manufacturing led to Big Data and analytics which enabled us to correlate information and gain insights into how their individual machines in a manufacturing plant are performing; and getting visibility on potential reliability issues or imminent failure.
With Edge AI on the horizon, new edge solutions are being designed to improve the efficiency and performance of manufacturing equipment further still.
Now Edge AI solutions can calculate machine vibrations, temperature, acceleration, displacement, and sound frequencies and more to determine the health of a motor or machine, and act upon that information autonomously – without needing to push large amounts of data to the cloud, or waiting for the cloud to interpret it, and suggest a course of action.
How IoT and Edge AI Edges Business Forward
1. Improved Operational Efficiency
Edge AI enables manufacturers to Increase efficiency. The solutions collect device data and leverage it immediately to gain unprecedented insights used to improve operations.
2. Predictive Maintenance
Equipment failures disrupt operations, sap productivity, and compromise safety. Real-time monitoring evaluates machinery performance around the clock. These systems use AI analytics to watch for potential problems. If anomalies arise, they alert personnel who can take swift action before failure occurs.
3. Enhanced Compliance
Manufacturers need to adhere to a wide range of industry and government regulations. Continuous monitoring of production processes provides them with the data needed to verify that their systems adhere to such standards.
4. Streamline Supply Chain
Analytics provide insights into demand, material availability, supplier performance, and logistic workflow. Management engages in proactive decision-making and is better able to balance resources to allocation, and adapt to market fluctuations. Manufacturers lower excess inventory, keep systems running longer and more efficiently, and streamline supply chain and manufacturing plant workflow.
5. Reduce Unplanned Downtime
When a system goes down, chaos ensues: interrupting manufacturing runs, disrupting supply chains, draining productivity, and creating safety hazards. With Edge AI solutions, manufacturers gain real-time data visibility into equipment performance and usage data so they address problems before they knock everything offline.
6. Asset Tracking
Materials constantly move through the supply chain, the manufacturing plant, and the distribution channel. Also, suppliers have on-site equipment that helps keep manufacturing processes moving forward. However, they don’t always know what is where. New edge AI solutions can provide them with the visibility to track these items in real time
7. Better Quality Control
Real time monitoring enables companies to detect defects throughout the production process. By overseeing production and detecting defects in real-time, manufacturers can adjust before faulty products come off the line. Suppliers lower the risk of making faulty products, saving money on costly recalls and repairs.
A New Manufacturing Era Emerges
In sum, Industry 4.0 represents a significant shift in how products are designed, manufactured, and delivered. It leverages advanced Edge AI to improve efficiency, productivity, and flexibility.
In fact, Edge AI will be everywhere and in just about everything going forward. Given the capabilities, the type of applications possible is virtually limitless. Manufacturing and industrial processes are being transformed through the integration of digital technologies. These new solutions enhance suppliers’ competitiveness, efficiency, and productivity. It changes how goods are produced, distributed, and serviced, improves quality, offers greater customization, and provides more responsiveness.
In essence, Industry 4.0 is ushering in an era of connectivity, advanced analytics, automation, and intelligent manufacturing that will transform the industry. Engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said the scale, scope and complexity of Industry 4.0’s transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced. The speed and breadth of data becoming available forces suppliers to rethink and reimagine every part of their operation. Companies that embrace these technologies can gain a competitive edge and drive positive economic outcomes.
The Challenge of Creating Industry 4.0 Applications
While the benefits are game changing, manufacturers face challenges. Right now, these ideas are more theoretical than readily available. The infrastructure needed to support Edge AI applications is largely non-existent.
Creating such solutions is complex because they perform very sophisticated functions. To put it bluntly, most companies lack such expertise as well as the time, funding, and desire to develop Edge AI applications themselves.
Find the Right Partner
Manufacturers must build up the infrastructure before they can deploy applications that deliver Industry 4.0’s potential benefits. However, they cannot do it by themselves. The work requires an embedded systems firm with the know-how to develop software directly from the AI microprocessors the applications are intended to run on.
Such companies collaborate closely with silicon vendors, network equipment vendors, software suppliers, and AI experts, so they can deliver Edge AI solutions today. These embedded systems specialists pull functions together and adapt them for each customer, thus accelerating product development and reducing your time to market.
As an embedded systems company, embedUR has been at it for decades. We work closely with chip vendors and can help your organization realize Industry 4.0’s potential; edging ahead of your competition. Contact us to de-risk your Edge AI projects and accelerate time to market.
