Page 7 - Industrial Technology EXTRA - 6th April 2020

SMART MANUFACRTURING... Mitsubishi Electric

chance to perform sophisticated data analysis by the Edgecross Consortium which is an
incorporating recognised AI algorithms in real time independent organisation of over 200 members
and therefore interface with the plant automation whose goal put simply is to standardise the interface
systems at high speed, making machine learning and between the OT and IT layers.
improved production efficiencies a reality.
The next major benefit to carrying out data In the final analysis
analytics at the Edge layer, is that the data can be One of the biggest challenges faced by manufacturing
filtered and only the necessary and relevant data industry is to ensure that final product quality remains
passed to the enterprise or cloud based servers. This consistent, independently of variable environmental
can considerably reduce the cost of data processing at conditions, raw products and in-feed ingredients.
this level, where cost is often attributed to the number Many plants have “optimised” their operations but
of data points processed. It is clear that by linking the what digitalisation and the road to smart
IT and OT world, the Edge classification of technology manufacturing offers in addition to this, is the ability
is playing a key role. to move to a predictive model based on a continuous
improvement strategy and if this is followed to its
Edge computing ultimate conclusion then the whole plant eco system
OInto this space, Mitsubishi Electric has launched the including energy supply and the supply of raw
MELIPC Edge-Computing solution.: The MELIPC materials can be completely integrated and made
solution takes care of all connectivity issues operationally efficient. The seamless vertical
“downstream to the plant level, supporting all of the connectivity between OT and IT also opens up
major open networks and removing the problem of manufacturing industry to newer business models -
interfacing to machines or plant assets controlled by like ‘batch size one’ or the rapid changeover of one
disparate automation vendors. It provides a real time product line to another to keep pace with fast moving
data logging and processing environment in a consumer trends.
ruggedized industrial form factor. From a data One of the key takeaways from this march of
processing perspective, it incorporates a suite of change, in systems, technology and networking is
analytical tools such as; multiple regression analysis, that it can be applied equally to existing production
the Mahalanobis-Taguchi system and Statistical lines and equipment as it can for new factories.
Process Control (SPC) and AI functionality such as Manufacturing by its nature is now a mature industry,
Similar Waveform Recognition, giving responses to so upgrades and progress inevitably involve managing
process analysis in real time. change, not just for physical plant and software layers
MELIPC has a dual operating system of Windows but for people too.
and VxWorks RTOS which gives the user the flexibility All manufacturing plants have the capability to
of embedding third party applications into either of become smart operations, the journey to that goal
these environments. The VxWorks RTOS environment may be short or long but can be achieved step by step
has a proven track record of running critical with the right planning, required investment and
embedded applications where high availability is a partnering with the right automation vendor to
mandatory requirement. The internal structure of help plot and navigate the course.
MELIPC follows the Edgecross framework as defined gb3a.mitsubishielectric.com

6 April 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p7