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Changing of the Guard: MES or Not?

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By Karan Talati, First Resonance

Innovation and operational changes are essential to maintaining your competitive edge in any industry. This is no different for manufacturing. Times are changing, and today’s manufacturers are re-evaluating their production processes.

Machine efficiency is necessary. It is important to the bottom line but doesn’t drive innovation. MES has been the go-to solution for manufacturers for decades, but it has lagged behind modern challenges facing today’s manufacturers.

Visionary entrepreneurs, startups, and incumbent companies with a new generation of engineers are looking to transform products of the physical world. To that, they need flexible and iterative workflows – not static efficiency measurements. Organizations across industries are rethinking legacy tools’ role in their operations. [Read more…] about Changing of the Guard: MES or Not?

Comau designs ‘highly automated, high-volume’ battery manufacturing line

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Comau, an industrial robotics and automation specialist, has designed and developed a “high-volume module manufacturing line” to produce new generation lithium-ion batteries for Leclanché, a provider of energy storage solutions for the heavy transportation, naval and railway industries.

Comau says the “state-of-the-art, highly automated line” is the result of a simultaneous engineering process and combines industrial robots, vision systems, laser welding, and the automated in-line validation of joints via artificial intelligence. Priority was given to ensuring multi-module configurability, full traceability and the highest level of safety.

The line includes the latest quality and process control technologies, thus setting the foundation for the transition towards Industry 4.0 principles. It will also allow Leclanché to produce up to six times the company’s current capacity, reaching an output of more than 60,000 modules per year. The solution is also expected to reduce costs by up to 20 percent, support 50 different product configurations and save Leclanché valuable time when introducing new formats into the manufacturing line.  [Read more…] about Comau designs ‘highly automated, high-volume’ battery manufacturing line

Hexagon and Plex Systems partner to offer smart manufacturing solutions

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Hexagon and Plex Systems are partnering to offer smart manufacturing solutions. The companies say the new partnership will provide manufacturers a path to greater automation and Industry 4.0 adoption.

Hexagon, a provider of sensor, software, and autonomous technologies, and Plex Systems, a cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions company, describe this as a new “strategic partnership”.

The global partnership will enable Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and Plex to co-sell Plex MES to Hexagon manufacturing customers, helping them to take control of the plant floor through full visibility and connectivity and realize the promise of Industry 4.0. [Read more…] about Hexagon and Plex Systems partner to offer smart manufacturing solutions

One-third of manufacturers planning to move software to the cloud, says IoT Analytics

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One-third of manufacturers are planning to move the software they currently use on-site to the cloud, according to research company IoT Analytics. 

IoT Analytics, a provider of market insights and competitive intelligence for the internet of things (IoT) and Industry 4.0, surveyed the industrial IoT market and found that almost one-third of manufactures are planning to move their manufacturing execution software to the cloud, significantly boosting the global Cloud MES market growth for the coming years.

Knud Lasse Lueth, CEO at IoT Analytics, says: “Companies are struggling to make use of their data in a meaningful way and use it to create value. Today, a significant portion of this data is ‘dark’ (that is, it is not used for any analysis). [Read more…] about One-third of manufacturers planning to move software to the cloud, says IoT Analytics

Why Manufacturers Should Consider Using a Cloud-based MES Platform

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Traditional manufacturing execution systems are deployed on a single machine that might be networked to a handful of terminals inside of a machine shop.

While this made sense in an era before widespread Internet adoption, it’s hopelessly dated today. Few people have the technology needed to turn their smart devices into antique telnet clients, and there are even less who would want to.

Cloud-based technology is a much better alternative, but adoption has been surprisingly slow. That’s causing many industry sectors to play a dizzyingly fast game of catch-up. [Read more…] about Why Manufacturers Should Consider Using a Cloud-based MES Platform

ABB expands project to automate semiconductor factory

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What started out as a small project to automate a single production stage has morphed into an award-winning program to digitally transform one of ABB’s own factories – in what is dubbed Project Genesis. (See video below.) 

The power semiconductors produced by ABB pass through hundreds of production steps, from raw wafer dicing to the final semiconductor module.

Production of the BiMOS semiconductor – one of two types produced at Lenzburg, Switzerland – was labor intensive and tended to generate bottlenecks during high demand. [Read more…] about ABB expands project to automate semiconductor factory

Critical Manufacturing launches its new, ‘most advanced’ manufacturing execution system

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Critical Manufacturing has relased what it describes as its “most advanced” Industry 4.0 Manufacturing Execution System (MES).

Critical Manufacturing MES V8 reveals a revolutionary new IoT Data Platform that merges IoT with MES and, two significant new modules that advance smart manufacturing in areas of materials logistics and factory automation to enable manufacturers to move closer to “Lights-Out” factories.

The release represents a “step change” for manufacturers to accelerate progress towards Industry 4.0, says Critical Manufacturing. [Read more…] about Critical Manufacturing launches its new, ‘most advanced’ manufacturing execution system

Critical Manufacturing and Tata Consultancy Services partnership to develop ‘modern MES’

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Critical Manufacturing has agreed a global consulting and services partnership with Tata Consultancy Services, a global leader in IT services, consulting and business solutions.

Under the agreement, TCS will offer global consulting, project development and implementation support services around Critical Manufacturing’s Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) for customers in the complex discrete industry, including the semiconductor, PCB manufacturing, medical device, aerospace and defense, and automotive segments.

Regu Ayyaswamy, global head, internet of things and engineering services, TCS, says: “TCS works with leading manufacturers globally, helping them scale up product innovation and pursue their growth and transformation initiatives. [Read more…] about Critical Manufacturing and Tata Consultancy Services partnership to develop ‘modern MES’

Plex Systems acquires factory data company Dattus

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Plex Systems, a provider of cloud enterprise resource planning and manufacturing execution systems software, has acquired Dattus, a supplier of industrial internet of things connectivity technologies.

Dattus solutions connect manufacturing equipment and sensors to the cloud, manage high-volume data streams, and analyze in-motion equipment data to optimize performance, reduce costs, and ensure uptime.

The acquisition is expected to accelerate Plex’s IIoT strategy, extending the Plex Manufacturing Cloud to new streams of machine data and the underlying intelligence. The acquisition was completed last month.  [Read more…] about Plex Systems acquires factory data company Dattus

Industrial internet: 42Q launches new protocol capability for factory automation

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42Q, a provider of cloud manufacturing execution systems (MES), has introduced Semiconductor Equipment Communications Standard, Generic Equipment Model (SECS/GEM) protocol capability.

SECS/GEM is an industry standard factory equipment interface protocol for equipment-to-host data communications.

In securing SECS/GEM capability, 42Q says it greatly simplifies the implementation of factory automation, machine to machine (M2M) communication, real time in process data collection and data analytics, all key elements of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Several factories using 42Q have already deployed this new protocol in their operations, sasy the company.  [Read more…] about Industrial internet: 42Q launches new protocol capability for factory automation