AI Partnerships Advance Industrial Automation

OT + IT + AI/ML = 🧠🦾 is the equation for Industrial Automation in 2024. AI is improving quality, throughput, and worker safety.

Jan 28, 2024

Shop Talk

Capturing this week's zeitgeist

Following Apple’s Vision Pro manufacturing video release, we have a CNC detective breakthrough!

Looks like Apple is using Haas DC-1 machines to make the Vision Pro. This machine was just announced on 1/16/24, and it was a bit of a mystery why they would replace their DT/DM line with a machine whose main difference is just the chips coming out the back and a new tool changer. Now it all makes sense.

Also, up level your skills with Protolabs’ inspirON academy, which aims to tackle a widening skills gap by helping engineers at any stage in their career to increase their understanding of designing for injection moulding, 3D printing and CNC machining and Databricks’ Generative AI Engineer Learning Pathway and Certification.

Assembly Line

This week's most influential Industry 4.0 media.

Looking at the future of semiconductor manufacturing

🏭 Vertical: Semiconductor

“Investing in equipment is front and center in power semiconductor manufacturing, and there is a strong sense of excitement about pioneering technology. You ask yourself if there is a way to increase the productivity of the equipment, to manufacture more power semiconductors, and improve the quality…I’ve spent all day in a clean room fine-tuning the movement of the wafers and devising ways to stabilize the temperature. I got really excited when, after a lot of trial and error, I managed to adjust the conditions to get stable production.

Figure Humanoid Bot CEO Brett Adcock TESLA Competitor?

🏢 Organizations: Figure

Building the NextGen Factory with Splunk and Bosch Rexroth

🏢 Organizations: Splunk, Bosch Rexroth

Splunk and Bosch Rexroth have joined forces to help manufacturers elevate their resilience and take advantage of new market trends and agile operating models leveraging OT + IT + AI/ML.

These rich data sources are ingested into Splunk’s data analytics platform leveraging AI capabilities. As a result, possible business outcomes not only include an optimized, agile production performance but also an elevated security posture including IT / OT cybersecurity. Predictive Analytics such as Predictive Maintenance and Predictive Quality based on the Splunk Machine Learning Toolkit can be implemented. Factory managers can finally bring cost-efficient lot size one production to life.

Processing Thousands of Blueberries with AI

🏢 Organizations: GP Graders, Elifab, INDUSER

Using the Power of AI to Make Factories Safer

✍️ Author: Riccardo Mariani
🔖 Topics: Worker Safety
🏢 Organizations: NVIDIA, FORT Robotics, Protex AI

AI-powered stationary outside-in safety platforms, which monitor activity across many distributed machines or robots, can predictively and proactively orchestrate consistent safety policies. Machines and robots equipped with inside-out reactive safety can detect any specific interaction within their workspace and take appropriate measures.

If the worker continues or crosses the stop safety zone, the FORT safety stack on IGX commands (WiFi) the FORT endpoint (embedded in the machine) to activate the emergency stop (reactive safety). The Protex edge computer vision app uses NVIDIA DeepStream 6.2 and the Protex model has been trained with NVIDIA TAO Toolkit and quantized with NVIDIA TensorRT.

Mitsubishi Electric Automation Demo: Multi-Robot Bin Picking

🏢 Organizations: Mitsubishi Electric, Realtime Robotics, SICK

ROS 2 and VSCode

✍️ Author: Giovanni Remigi
🏢 Organizations: PickNik Robotics

This document provides a detailed guide for using Visual Studio Code (VSCode) to build and execute ROS 2 projects efficiently with C++ and Python. It covers a range of topics, including initializing VSCode, remote development over SSH, development using Docker, sourcing ROS dependencies, and building with Colcon. The document also delves into specific techniques for working in C++ and Python within the ROS 2 environment, offering valuable insights and tips to enhance the development process.

2 collaborative robots freeing up 10 employees per production shift

🏢 Organizations: Vention, Niederrhein Automation

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New Product Introduction

Highlighting new and innovative products and services

Lectra expands its Furniture On Demand offer with Valia and Vector cutting equipment to accelerate the transition of furniture industry players to Industry 4.0

🏢 Organizations: Lectra

The Group announces the launch of its enhanced Furniture On Demand by Lectra offer. This solution automates, streamlines and gives total visibility over on-demand production – unitary and series – of furniture products, enabling smarter and more sustainable manufacturing.

The Group is also launching a new generation of smart and connected furniture cutting equipment, VectorFurniture Q2 and VectorFurniture iX2. This eco-designed equipment consumes 30% to 40% less energy than the previous generation, already renowned for its energy performance, maximizing efficiency. It is more compact and 200 kilograms lighter, significantly reducing environmental impacts during production, transport and use.

BASF and Inditex make a breakthrough in textile-to-textile recycling with loopamid, the first circular nylon 6 entirely based on textile waste

🔖 Topics: Sustainability, Circular Economy
🏭 Vertical: Textiles
🏢 Organizations: BASF, Inditex

BASF and Inditex jointly announce a breakthrough in their efforts for boosting recyclability in the textile industry. With the launch of loopamid®, a polyamide 6 (PA6, also known as nylon 6) made from 100 percent textile waste, BASF is providing the first circular solution for nylon apparel made entirely from textile waste. Zara has turned the material into a jacket made from 100 percent loopamid. Following a “design for recycling” approach, all parts, including fabrics, buttons, filling, hook and loop and zipper are made from loopamid.

Dynamic, cost-effective and reliable: the new KR FORTEC

🏢 Organizations: KUKA

The new KR FORTEC is now available – including with an extended arm that handles loads of 240 kg across a reach of 3700 mm. Technically, this heavy-duty robot fits between the KR QUANTEC and KR FORTEC ultra. Cross-model modularization ensures a high transmissibility of robot series components. “We developed the KR FORTEC to achieve a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and to launch a resource-saving product on the market. The KR FORTEC is up to 700 kg lighter than its predecessor,” explained Maximilian Pettkuhn, Portfolio Manager at KUKA. For customers, modularization means lower costs for spare part storage.

Intel Opens Fab 9 in New Mexico

🏢 Organizations: Intel

Intel celebrated the opening of Fab 9, its cutting-edge factory in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The milestone is part of Intel’s previously announced $3.5 billion investment to equip its New Mexico operations for the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, including Intel’s breakthrough 3D packaging technology, Foveros, which offers flexible options for combining multiple chips that are optimized for power, performance and cost.

GM-Honda Begin Commercial Production at Industry’s First Hydrogen Fuel Cell System Manufacturing Joint Venture

🏢 Organizations: General Motors, Honda

In a pivotal moment in the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell systems, GM and Honda today announced the start of production at their 50-50 joint venture production facility, FCSM. FCSM is the first large-scale manufacturing joint venture to build fuel cells. FCSM was established in Brownstown, Michigan, in January 2017 based on a joint investment of $85 million. The 70,000-square-foot facility has already created 80 jobs. The world-class hydrogen power solutions built at FCSM will be used by both companies in various product applications and business ventures.

Industrial Policy

How governments are shaping the future industrial landscape.

Globalisation is not dead, but it is fading: ‘glocalisation’ is becoming the new mantra

✍️ Author: Larry Elliott
🔖 Topics: Glocalization

Everything that has happened since the arrival of the Covid pandemic has pointed to a new paradigm: some call it de-globalisation, others call it – perhaps more accurately – “glocalisation”. An ugly term, glocalisation is not the global free market, and it is not autarky (a nation that operates in a state of self-reliance), but something in between. It involves shorter supply chains, an emphasis on building back domestic manufacturing capacity, and a more strategic role for government. As with any form of mixed economy, the degree of glocalisation varies from country to country.

🇬🇧 Made Smarter drives £22m tech investment among SME manufacturers

300 businesses have now secured £6.5m matched funding from the government-funded, industry-backed initiative, adopting technologies as diverse as sensors, robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence (AI). Among the latest wave of businesses starting their journey with Made Smarter to benefit their bottom line and the environment are food and drink manufacturers: Harbourside Products, Northern Pasta Company, Brightside Brewing Company, Just Bee Honey, Studio Bakery and Chandley Ovens.

🇺🇸 Michigan Strategic Fund Approves Projects Creating Nearly 1,000 Jobs Across the State

Australian global green energy, metals, and technology company Fortescue chooses Michigan for its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Center, citing state’s automotive leadership, strong engineering talent. Germany-based provider of EV charging stations EcoG establishing U.S. headquarters in Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, building on region’s mobility innovation ecosystem. Logistics provider Fifth Wheel Freight creating flagship headquarters in Michigan, creating 352 jobs

Business Transactions

This week's top funding events, acquisitions, and partnerships across industrial value chains

H2 Green Steel raises more than €4 billion in debt financing for the world's first large-scale green steel plant

🔖 Topics: Funding Event
🏢 Organizations: H2 Green Steel

H2 Green Steel signs definitive debt financing agreements for €4.2 billion in project financing and increases the previously announced equity raised by €300 million. Total equity funding to date amounts to €2.1 billion. The company has also been awarded a €250 million grant from the EU Innovation Fund. H2 Green Steel has now secured funding of close to €6.5 billion for the world’s first large-scale green steel plant in Northern Sweden.

H2 Green Steel has also raised close to €300 million more from investors, bringing the equity in the project to a total of €2.1 billion. New shareholders include Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Mubea and Siemens Financial Services. Additionally, IMAS Foundation and Just Climate are some of the existing shareholders which are increasing their investments in H2 Green Steel.

Stuttgart-based Instagrid bags €87 million Series C to expand clean portable power to the North American market

Instagrid’s flagship Instagrid ONE is lightweight and mobile enough to be used in the most remote locations and powerful enough to match the performance of the grid, making it possible to use electricity from renewable sources in any location. On a single charge, the Instagrid ONE portable battery is powerful enough to run welding equipment for an entire day’s work, pump over 55,000 litres of water with a large submersible pump or cut through hundreds of metres of concrete with heavy duty equipment, as well as a host of other commercial applications.

Sion Power Raises $75 Million to Commercialize Its Proprietary Licerion Technology for Electric Vehicles

🏢 Organizations: Sion Power, LG

Sion Power is the developer of LicerionTM technology. This technology uses compression in a lithium metal battery to enhance safety, lifetime and recharging rates. It is the Sion Power belief that any lithium metal system will require compression to have a viable energy storage system. The company has developed very robust intellectual property around this concept. LicerionTM has been successfully demonstrated in large energy capacity battery cells (up to 20Ah) and it is currently in development to reach 56Ah.

With this new capital, Sion Power will achieve technical and market validation of its technology. The company plans to build a fully automated manufacturing line to produce high quality large format lithium-metal cells for testing and market development by automotive OEMs and cell manufacturers.

Wayland Additive raises £4.2M to boost global expansion in metal 3D printing

🏢 Organizations: Wayland Additive, Parkwalk Advisors, University of Sheffield

UK additive manufacturing company Wayland Additive announced a £4.2 million fundraise to enable continued growth of global customers. A Huddersfield-based company, Wayland designs, develops, makes and sells industrial Calibur3 metal additive manufacturing machines, utilising cutting-edge electron beam 3D printing technology. It has successfully rolled out its technology to various buyers across different sectors, including aerospace, mining, engineering, medical, motorsport and military and defence, with operations across North America and Europe. This latest fundraising will allow Wayland to continue to expand its growing global customer base.

Cnergreen Secures $2M Investment from Rhapsody Venture Partners

🏢 Organizations: Cnergreen, Rhapsody Venture Partners, University of Calgary

Cnergreen, a Calgary-based startup manufacturing stable foams for CO2 injection in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), has secured a $2M Seed funding round led by Rhapsody Venture Partners, a US-based venture capital firm that specializes in hard-tech investments.

Taqtile Adds Leading Dual-Use VC Firm, Scout Ventures, to Its Investor Roster

🏢 Organizations: Taqtile, Scout Ventures

Taqtile, Inc., maker of Manifest®, the leading spatially-enabled work-instruction platform serving the industrial and defense sectors announces the addition of Scout Ventures as an investor. Taqtile will also add Scout Founder and Managing Partner, Brad Harrison, as a Board Observer. Scheduled to close in early 2024, this new financing will support strategic initiatives, including ramping up essential marketing programs, expanding support and sales staff, and bolstering engineering and development efforts.

Intel and UMC Announce New Foundry Collaboration

🔖 Topics: Partnership
🏢 Organizations: Intel, UMC

Intel Corp. and United Microelectronics Corporation, a leading global semiconductor foundry, announced that they will collaborate on the development of a 12-nanometer semiconductor process platform to address high-growth markets such as mobile, communication infrastructure and networking.

Accenture and Mujin Establish Joint Venture to Bring AI and Robotics to the Manufacturing and Logistics Industries

🏢 Organizations: Accenture, Mujin

The joint venture will combine Mujin’s experience in industrial robotics and automation with expertise from Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X. Accenture Alpha Automation’s solutions will integrate previously disconnected operational data from manufacturing and logistics sites with business management data, such as the company-wide supply chain status, financial information and market information. Accenture and Mujin will bring these solutions to clients to help them make faster, better decisions and hyper-automate their manufacturing and logistics processes.

Jacobi Robotics and Formic Team Up to Rapidly Configure Robotic Cells Using AI

🏢 Organizations: Formic, Jacobi Robotics

The Jacobi-Formic alliance initially targets robotic palletizers that stack cases onto pallets for storage or shipment. More than $400 billion worth of American trade is exported annually on pallets. But the physically demanding task of manual palletizing ranks as the leading cause of worker compensation claims in the manufacturing sector. This challenge, coupled with a daunting labor shortage, drives the growing demand and deployment of robotic palletizers.

ABB acquires R&D engineering company to further advance AI and software-driven automation

🔖 Topics: Acquisition
🏢 Organizations: ABB, Meshmind

ABB announced it has agreed to acquire a majority of software service provider Meshmind to expand its research and development capabilities in AI, Industrial IoT and machine vision. Through this acquisition ABB will integrate engineering talent, AI and software knowledge to form a new global R&D hub to further accelerate the development of innovative automation solutions within its Machine Automation division (B&R).

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