Industrial Internet Consortium launches Smart Factory machine learning testbed

Sept. 25, 2017
Plethora IIoT and Xilinx will be used in the testbed that aims to accelerate machine learning for predictive maintenance in high-volume manufacturing

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) has announced the Smart Factory Machine Learning for Predictive Maintenance Testbed. The testbed is led by two companies, Plethora IIoT, a company, designing and developing for Industry 4.0 and Xilinx, a provider of All Programmable technology.

This testbed explores machine-learning techniques and evaluates algorithmic approaches for time-critical predictive maintenance. This knowledge leads to actionable insight enabling companies to move away from traditional preventative maintenance to predictive maintenance.

"Testbeds are the major focus and activity of the IIC and its members," said IIC executive director Richard Mark Soley. "We provide the opportunity for both small and large companies to collaborate and help solve problems that will drive the adoption of IoT applications in many industries. The smart factory of the future will require advanced analytics, like those this testbed aims to provide, to identify system degradation before system failure. This type of machine learning and predictive maintenance could extend beyond the manufacturing floor to have a broader impact to other industrial applications."

“Downtime costs some manufacturers as much as $22k per minute," said Plethora IIoT team leader Javier Diaz. "Therefore, unexpected failures are one of the main players in maintenance costs because of their negative impact due to reactive and unplanned maintenance action. Being able to predict system degradation before failure has a strong positive impact on machine availability: increasing productivity and decreasing downtime, breakdowns and maintenance costs."

Additional IIC member companies participating in this testbed are: Bosch, Microsoft, National Instruments, RTI, System View, GlobalSign, Aicas, Thingswise, Titanium Industrial Security and iVeia. They provide technologies to enable the Smart Factory Machine Learning testbed, including:

  • Factory automation
  • OT and IT security
  • Edge to cloud machine learning and analytics
  • Time-sensitive networking (TSN)
  • Data acquisition
  • Smart sensor technology
  • Design implementation
  • Embedded programmable SoC technology
  • Secure authentication

Plethora IIoT and Xilinx will provide more information on this testbed at the EMO 2017 trade show, from 18-23 September in Hannover, Germany. They can be found in Hall 25 at Stand B60, in the Industry 4.0 area.