IVI Connected Manufacturing Award 2020, the winners announced. “From demonstration to implementation”, Achievements which are implemented at manufacturing sites (First published in Japanese in May, 2020)

  Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI, Prof. Yasuyuki Nishioka, President) announced the award winner of IVI Connected Manufacturing Award 2020 at Startup Seminar on May 14, 2020.  “Visualization/analysis of people and things’ operation and its optimization, Part II (Pursuit of IE for the next generation), Mazda Motor Corporation” won the award among eighteen business scenario WGs active in 2019. The year of 2019 has become a milestone year, because over one hundred business scenarios have been completed until 2019 since 2015, the year of IVI’s launch. The themes of business scenarios have been categorized into three forms, “PoC type”,  “Steadily implemented type” and “CIOF (Connected Industries Open Framework )”.

  “PoC type”scenarios, which have fields of proof experiments to try advanced methods and technologies, do not require rigid feasibility for TO-BE scenarios as general business scenarios do. On the other hand, “Solid implementation type”scenarios, which try tools that can be implemented with low cost, have focuses on process for implementation, how easy and with low cost. As for “CIOF” scenarios, with which data distribution among enterprises by using plug-in introduced by CIOF, we have been working to realize business processes and business models with CIOF which have previously been impossible.

 

<IVI Connected Manufacturing Award 2020, selection results>

【Award of the year】 5C03
Visualization, analysis and optimization for records of human and things II (pursuit of next-generation IE)

Demonstrated by Mazda et al.

Review: This is an example of improvement in quantification at a production site where forklifts move around. They achieved both quantification of movements of human and things (data collected automatically) and “loss analysis using IE method”, and then built standardized operations to maximize efficiency in organizing transportations, which had been done by human operations. It led to quantified movements by using patterned movements and success in defining and visualizing the rules of loss. It will be possible to develop the system not only for forklifts’ movement but also for human and robot cooperation at a production site in the future.

 

【Award of excellence】 5A03: PoC type scenario
Quality improvement of a material production line – Casting of cylinder heads

Demonstrated by Mitsubishi Electric et al.

Review: The theme of the WG is quality improvement at a cylinder head casting line of an automobile engine factory. Though human skills and experiences kept at production sites controlled the quality before, the WG investigated the causal relationship to the quality by using sensors and analysis newly applied and focusing on molten metal components. They verified that the content of specific component affected the quality which had not been thought as a quality factor by researchers. They verified that individual differences of cooling plates of the products caused variations of the products’ quality. This was a great example that a scientific analysis required quantification.

 

【Award of excellence】 5E02: CIOF scenario
Secure data distribution service – AI implementation at edges to make a production site intelligent

Demonstrated by Toshiba et al.

Review: The WG aimed to create a mechanism for in-process judging quality by data with deep meaning corrected by edge computers for manufacturing processes ranging from a few seconds to less than one second, while IoT / M2M, high-performance sensors, edge computers and practical applications of AI are being put to practical uses. They also aimed at international standardization of machine sensor data, distribution of CIOF data and establishment of the environment for Loosely Connected Manufacturing. In addition to making the model for them, they made a system which worked on-site and used it for trend analysis by each lot and discovery of predictive information.

 

【Award of excellence】 5B02: Solid implementation type scenario
Visualizing information about equipment maintenance

Demonstrated by CKD et al.

Review: This theme was selected when considering to avoid long time stop of a production line, even if peripheral equipment, as it was not a main equipment, got abnormal, it would be often the case that it was not a matter of daily maintenance because it could be replaced by a human or be first-aided. They dealt with fan failures of servo amplifiers of machine tools, tried a simple and easy sensor and worked with offline verifications. Though this was not an outstanding theme, it was an activity that was familiar and easy to understand for everybody.

 

【Award of recognition】 5C06: PoC type scenario
Efficient collaboration between design and manufacturing

Demonstrated by NIKON et al.

Review:  This WG is a new WG, of which five members among seven are new members who have joined IVI in these two years. The machining time (processing cost) and optimized delivery time are calculated with 3D models, while adding on-site knowledge to a system drawn by TO-BE method, with speeding up and improvement of estimation works for delivery time and cost in a prototype department. Though it was planned as a goal for one year (a CAN-BE goal), the target (a TO-BE goal) would be expected to produce a great result, if with use of CIOF in future.

 

【Review for all demonstrations】 Hiroyuki Mizuno, Chairman of Business Cooperation Committee 2019, CKD

  Looking back on the activities of the Business Scenario Working Group in 2019, I thought it was a year in which the ability to effectively use the collected data was tested. Starting from selection of components which matched production sites, collecting data and analyzing the problems, we were able to successfully realize the world of TO-BE, which we drew in the scenarios. For all of IVI members, it was a year that everyone could power up, leaving from the study mode where we had been up to now, changing from PoC to solid implementations and from proof experiments to productions.

 

■What is Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI)?
  IVI is a forum, which is located in the field of manufacturing industries, established on March 18, 2015. The purpose of IVI is to realize Connected Manufacturing that is possible through integration of manufacturing and IT in the IoT era based on the concept of “Loose Standard”. 739 members from 240 companies and 16 organizations are participating in events both inside and outside Japan. The members are IHI, OMRON, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kobe Steel, Konno Works, CKD, JTEKT, Toshiba, Toyota, Nikon, NEC, Panasonic, Hitachi, Brother, Busu, Fujitsu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Yaskawa, etc. (Regular members: 81 large companies and 75 SMEs. Support members: 29 large companies and 48 SMEs. Implementation members: One large company and 6 SMEs. Supporting members: 16organizations. April 22, 2020)

For inquiries, contact:

    Secretariat, Industrial Value Chain Initiative

    Email:  office@ iv-i.org

    person in charge: Takashi Sugano

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    Internet website:  http://iv-i.org/

For press inquiries, contact:

    Secretariat, Industrial Value Chain Initiative

    Email:  office@ iv-i.org

    person in charge: Takashi Sugano

Press release (PDF document)