Guest contributor |
Not all factory automation equipment has the same capability and quality, and each piece of machinery has a specific role to play in the manufacturing process. Regardless of which vendor each asset came from, they are all there to get the job done.
If your maintenance technicians struggle with extracting diagnostic information from each robot, it is important to consider the value of shifting from a reactive maintenance model to a proactive and predictive one, especially in the automotive industry where every minute of downtime can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
This is why it is crucial to consider adopting an integrated solution like the Mitsubishi Electric Factory Automation (MELFA) robot cloud maintenance solution from Mitsubishi Electric and ICONICS. It can help users to manage assets more intelligently and efficiently and to future-proof the manufacturing process.
MELFA robots offer high precision, next-generation intelligence, a large range of models for most applications, and features to work in safe collaboration with humans. Additionally, the MELFA robot cloud maintenance solution integrates with equipment from virtually any vendor through industry standard connectivity.
By deploying a Microsoft Azure-based predictive maintenance solution that integrates with existing equipment, manufacturers can obtain contextualised information about the status and condition of every asset within a unified web interface. This means that operators can visualise maintenance information, alarm conditions and historical trends on any device, while managers can explore self-service dashboards for key performance indicators to discover actionable insights and understand the operational status of their factories. This solution also natively integrates with popular maintenance systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 to automatically generate work orders with included diagnostic information. Repair time is therefore reduced, which also results in more cost-effective operations.
Another benefit of this flexible maintenance approach is its support for any connected equipment, through secure protocols such as OPC Unified Architecture, MQ Telemetry Transport and Microsoft Azure IoT Hub. It also leverages digital twin technology to accelerate application deployment with rapid configuration.
Visit our website to learn how the MELFA robot cloud maintenance solution gives organisations just the competitive advantage they need.
Melissa Topp is senior director of global marketing at ICONICS
This article was originally published in the Winter 2022 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.