Iot-Compatible Equipment and Business Development for the Industrial Sector
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Environmentally Conscious Technology in Industrial Fields FEATURED ARTICLES Aiming for a Low-carbon Society IoT-compatible Equipment and Business Development for the Industrial Sector In the manufacturing industry around the world, industrial equipment is being made IoT-compatible in a move toward the realization of smart factories that utilize massive amounts of data. Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. provides two industrial IoT solutions that collect and utilize data based on the company’s long experience in supplying products to the industrial sector. The first of these is a lifecycle management service that optimizes the operation and maintenance of facilities and equipment. A service that can monitor the status of equipment through the cloud was launched. The other is a programmable automation controller system that optimizes the operational control of production systems, and provision of the HX Series Industrial Controllers for IoT Applications that forms the core has commenced. The HX Series has been applied to the Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems inverter production line and is accumu- lating know-how on productivity improvement activities. Moving forward, Hitachi will link information between these two industrial IoT solutions to contribute to further optimization. Atsushi Ito Yoshinori Mochizuki Makiko Naemura Mitsuhiro Imai Nobuhiro Tottori Kazuto Shirane, Dr. Eng Kazuo Sato Masahiro Yamazaki Fumiyuki Tamura years through technological innovation. Production systems and equipment undergo advanced control 1. Introduction according to large quantities of information, data and various field networks. Recently, information In recent years, the trend in the manufacturing indus- exchange between the supply chain, delivery chain, try has been to utilize huge amounts of data to realize and factory has started, and the importance of data smart factories. This is called the Industrial Internet and information processing technology is increasing. in the USA and Industrie 4.0 in Germany. Both are In one form of smart factory, a large number of busi- aimed at realizing smart factories by collecting data ness establishments and companies mutually interact from the sites and the external environment, and to ultimately provide products and services. These utilizing the data to perform optimization utilizing business establishments and companies are connected operational experience and knowledge. to each other via a network. Furthermore, connecting Production systems and equipment in the manufac- suppliers, factories, logistics, and consumers to this turing industry have become more advanced over the network would enable real-time information sharing, 108. 536 Figure 1 — Industrial IoT Solution by Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems will work on the realization of smart factories via two approaches: optimization of operation and maintenance of facilities and equipment, and optimization of operation and control of production systems. Optimization of operation Optimization of operation and maintenance of facilities and equipment and control of production systems Enhances operations and maintenance services based Integration of control and information and enhancement on a core of many years of achievements (know-how) of automation/drive equipment LCM service monitoring PAC System Provides high value-added services according to customer Provides a new ecosystem applying ICT to the optimization needs from the introduction of industrial facilities to of operations in addition to the advancement of production after-sales services. system control Management/ Hitachi private cloud business planning Mobile network Network DB Internet Dedicated Firewall Analysis/diagnosis Measures planning line Web server OT x IT Know-how Safe and secure Data collection/ Feedback to the site network environment accumulation Air compressor Think Automation Sales/ Act Replacements PAC System maintenance Sense Manufacturing Information Realization of LCM including maintenance and leases linkage Expansion overseas under consideration DB: database ICT: information and communication technology IoT: Internet of Things IT: information technology LCM: lifecycle management OT: operational technology PAC: programmable automation controller the creation of data on human work and know-how, Based on the concept of “can connect, can be con- and the accumulation and application of know-how nected,” Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems prod- and knowledge. As a result, a wide range of decisions ucts contribute to the realization of smart factories can be made quickly in real time in the manufac- through manufactured items and services. turing process and manufacturing can be visualized Specifically, a lifecycle management (LCM) ser- from individual processes to overall production. Based vice and programmable automation controller (PAC) on this, quality and troubleshooting capabilities are system are introduced below as two industrial IoT expected to improve, and furthermore, the benefit of solutions that Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems being able to accumulate human-dependent know- is working on. how as data is expected through utilizing innovative information and communication technology (ICT) Figure 2 — IoT Cloud Monitoring Service in the LCM Service Figure 1 (see ). An outline of the monitoring system configuration is shown. This aggre- gates equipment information on the cloud and makes it available for viewing on the web. This strengthens links between customers and 2. Industrial IoT Solutions of Hitachi maintenance service networks, leading to the provision of added value. Industrial Equipment Systems Hitachi private cloud Confirmation of operation status Mobile on the web network Firewall DB Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. has Internet Network User supplied products to the industrial sector for many Web server Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Service/agent years. Based on these achievements, the company has Distributor/maintenance company Compressor Mobile Ink jet launched initiatives on industrial Internet of Things printer System image (IoT) solutions that collect and utilize data and feed Tablet PC back the results in order to respond to expectations PC: personal computer for smart factories. Hitachi Review Vol. 66, No. 5 536–537 109. The LCM service strengthens operations and main- To realize this LCM service, Hitachi Industrial tenance services based on a core of many years of Equipment Systems launched an IoT cloud monitor- achievements (know-how) with the aim of optimizing ing service. the operation and maintenance of facilities and equip- Air compressors are one of Hitachi Industrial ment (see Figure 2). An IoT cloud monitoring service Equipment Systems’ main product lines. For example, is applied to enhance the LCM service. The concept the application of the IoT cloud monitoring service of the LCM service is to provide high value-added to the LCM service of these air compressors contrib- services according to customer needs from the intro- utes to the realization of one-stop maintenance by duction of industrial facilities to after-sales services. enhanced coordination with the maintenance services The PAC system integrates control and information of retailers and dealers. Data such as discharge tem- to enhance automation and drive equipment in order perature, current value, and power consumption are to optimize the operation and control of production gathered in the cloud from the air compressor using systems. Various solutions cultivated over the years a mobile network, and the data can be monitored on are applied for this purpose. The concept of the PAC a dedicated screen (see Figure 1). system is to provide a system that applies ICT to the Figure 3 shows the monitoring screen of an air com- optimization of operations as well as the advancement pressor. Operation data and graph displays, inspection of production system control. and fault histories, troubleshooting guides, and other Hitachi will mutually link these two IoT solutions information are prepared so that the operating state of to contribute to further optimization. the air compressor can be seen at a glance. In addition 2. 1 Figure 3 — Example of Monitoring Service Screen and Report LCM Service In addition to confirming operation data, inspection histories, and other information, it is also possible to output operation reports. This section describes the LCM service and IoT cloud monitoring service for equipment at industrial (1) Order online parts from terminals (2) Output forms such as operation Display of compressor operation status facilities. information and monthly reports (3) Status display at a glance (1) (2) The Hitachi Industrial Equipment Group has a (4) Status can be confirmed without (3) going to the site (6) (5) Preventive maintenance and graph (7) full-service network. Using this, the LCM service (4) Alarm display for streamlined early activation investigations of fault causes supports “safe, secure, and stable operations” accord- (6) Registered terminal mail notification in event of trouble ing to the customer’s needs from introduction of (7) Cloud maintenance history management due to information equipment to after-sales service, and provides high sharing (5) (8) (8) Manual support-type added-value through things such as labor reduction, troubleshooting simplification, efficiency, and optimization. Figure 4 — Conceptual Diagram of PAC System Analysis/diagnosis/determination The PAC system is positioned