Business

How leveraging smart factories optimises products and operations for manufacturers

Mei Dent, Chief Product and Technology Officer, TeamViewer Manufacturing processes and supply chains have become more complex over the past few years, making traditional methods insufficient to meet the demand for greater customisation and shorter production cycles. Manufacturers feel pressured by rising labour and material costs to find more efficient ways to produce high-quality goods. Additionally, the increasing need to meet environmental regulations and sustainability goals pushes manufacturers to adopt greener practices. As global competition intensifies, manufacturers must find ways to innovate and stay agile to respond quickly to market changes. Smart factories address these challenges by integrating advanced technologies to create a more responsive, efficient, and sustainable production environment. By leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT) to deliver predictive analytics and big data, manufacturers can optimise processes, manage inventory in real time, streamline logistics, and improve factory management. Smart factories collect, process, and use this data to gain valuable insights. Real-time production monitoring and closed-loop optimisations, along with collaboration between advanced robotics and humans, help create these transformations. However, a significant challenge in smart factory implementation is the disconnect between IT professionals and plant managers, particularly regarding data collection, outcome creation, and data protection. IT professionals often advocate for comprehensive data collection to optimise predictive maintenance, while plant managers are more concerned with the practical, immediate concerns such as knowing which machines are currently in production, how production is running, and maintaining seamless operations. IT professionals’ preference for leveraging cloud solutions can also clash with plant managers’ concerns about security and the usability of hyper-scale offerings. For example, IT professionals may push for automated updates and virtualisation, whereas plant managers worry about if production is operating at the level needed and the potential disruptions to long-established production systems. Bridging these […]

Aspiration finds success

Women Going Places July 2024 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited – Issuu Women Going Places, a new magazine from Media Hawkes Bay Limited, profiles aspirational women with a story to tell. The women included in July issue are from Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN. In future issues, profiles from further afield will appear. Over the past few years, within our magazines, on our media platforms and on Linkedin, we have included individual profiles from fascinating women who are following their dream and bringing about change to their environments. Their stories – as with the stories within this issue – are about ability, determination and a desire to succeed. There is nothing quite like aspiration! There are many stories out there to be told and shared…and we are happy to provide the platform to do so. If you are a woman or know of a woman wanting to let readers know about your journey in this challenging and highly competitive world, let us know and we can have your story read by our readers. Enjoy the read. Regards, Doug Green, Publisher publisher@xtra.co.nz

mimic joins race to develop first AI-driven collaborative robot

The race to develop the first commercially available humanoid robot has been primarily concentrated in the US – until now. Mimic, a Switzerland-based startup, is challenging US dominance and joining the robotics race to be the first to take a robotic arm and humanoid hand combination to market using generative AI, as it raises a pre-seed round of $2.5M. mimic’s $2.5M round is led by early stage Swiss investor Founderful, together with participation from German-based fund another.vc, UK-based Tiny.vc and an all-star lineup of specialised angel investors. Spinning out from the research university ETH Zurich, mimic was founded by researchers Elvis Nava, Stefan Weirich,Stephan-Daniel Gravert and Benedek Forrai in 2024. The founding team were working at the intersection of robotics and AI under Professor Robert Katzschmann’s Soft Robotic Labs when they became increasingly convinced that the latest developments in large scale generative AI models would upend a multitude of industries, beyond just language and image generation. The team set out to develop a foundation model for robotic manipulation and quickly realized how much value their idea held to revolutionise the way robotics fit into our everyday lives and economy. Today, global labour shortages are rocking businesses across multiple sectors and employers are struggling to find, hire and retain workers. Against the backdrop of a pronounced shift in work preferences, like reduced hours and enhanced flexibility to work from home, lab or shortages are especially severe in the case of menial, repetitive, and demanding manual tasks. mimic plans to ease these shortages with dexterous, human-like robotic hands that fit seamlessly into existing manual labour workflows, driven by state-of-the-art AI models trained directly from human demonstrations. This solution will enable a robot with humanoid hands to understand and imitate any behaviour, simply by watching a human perform it. This marks a departure […]

SYSPRO: Manufacturing CFOs shift focus to operational resilience

SYSPRO, a global provider of ERP software, has released its third annual Global CFO Survey, which reveals that the role of the manufacturing Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has seen a strategic inward focus aimed at bolstering operational resilience and efficiency in the wake of some unprecedented macro-economic shocks. The study, which was conducted from July to September 2023 and commissioned by SYSPRO, assessed the sentiment amongst CFOs within manufacturing sectors across the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC), including Australia and New Zealand, as well as Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The participants included financial leaders across both SMEs and larger enterprises, with the results reflecting the insights of a wide selection of decision makers in the manufacturing sector. Key insights: The study revealed that manufacturing CFOs believe that we are not post-crisis but rather between crises and that this is a situation that is likely to persist. As a result, the vast majority have recognised that their role is evolving into one of a ‘Hybrid CFO’. Shift to Operational Focus: In response to a series of external shocks, including post-pandemic supply chain disruptions, rising material costs, inflation and environmental challenges, manufacturing CFOs are increasingly adopting a hybrid role. This approach emphasises operational efficiencies to mitigate future economic shocks. The research demonstrated that CFOs are increasingly expected to operationalise digital transformation (52 per cent), which again points towards a greater involvement in operational areas. The Rise of the Hybrid CFO: The survey highlights the evolving role of CFOs, who now integrate strategic business knowledge with traditional financial expertise. This hybrid capability is essential for ensuring competitive advantage and requires a deep understanding of all business functions. Survey responses from all regions including APAC showed a high degree of consistency in terms of identifying the core skills and competencies required for a […]

CSIRO telescope becomes stellar ‘speed camera’ in world-first measurement

In a world first, researchers have measured the jets of neutron stars to be moving at 114,000km per second – one-third the speed of light. The international team achieved this result using the European Space Agency (ESA)’s orbiting gamma ray telescope, Integral, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) on Gomeroi Country which is owned and operated by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. Neutron stars, like black holes, have huge gravitational pulls. When pulling matter from a nearby star, their extreme environments cause the occasional thermonuclear explosion and constant jets of matter shooting into space. Not much is known about these jets, including their composition and speed. These latest results, published today in Nature, revealed that thermonuclear explosions – detected by Integral – pushed gas into the jets. The jets were then tracked with ATCA allowing their speed to be recorded. Professor James Miller-Jones from Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Perth was one of the project researchers. He said it’s typically hard to measure the speed of a jet, but discovering the jets are enhanced after every thermonuclear explosion provides a new way of measuring their speeds. “The explosion tells us when the enhanced jets were launched, and we simply time them as they move downstream – just like we would time a 100m sprinter as they move between the starting blocks and the finish line,” Professor Miller-Jones said. CSIRO’s Dr Jamie Stevens, who leads the ATCA operations team in Narrabri, describes the telescope as a world-class and adaptable instrument. “Radio telescopes are extremely versatile in the research they can do,” Dr Stevens said. “Five of ATCA’s six dishes, for instance, take on different configurations by moving along a track. It can be used to look at everything from nearby objects in […]

In the ‘age of AI,’ what does it mean to be smart?

As artificial intelligence gets better at predicting human behavior, a business psychologist encourages people to strengthen the uniquely human skills that machine learning has yet to tap. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic has written, I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique (Harvard Business Review Press). He explains why some AI algorithms model humanity as a simple species, how attention has become commoditised, and why the right questions are now more valuable than the right answers. Why did you write this book, now? I’m a professor of business psychology at Columbia University and UCL [University College London] and the chief innovation officer at ManpowerGroup. I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique is a book about the behavioural consequences or impact of artificial intelligence, including the dark side of human behaviour and what we should do to upgrade ourselves as a species. The book is written at a time that, in my view, could only be described as the AI age. Humans have always relied on technological inventiveness and innovation to shape their cultural and social evolution. Now, even the wider public is talking about things like ChatGPT and other conversational interfaces, and the tech giants are described mostly as data companies and as algorithmic prediction businesses. The book was very much written in the midst of the AI age, or under the influence of AI, because I wrote the bulk of this at the height of the pandemic when we had very little physical interaction or contact with other people outside of our nuclear families. This means I was heavily influenced by hyperconnectedness and the datafication of me. Everything I did was being datafied and subjected to the predictive powers of AI during 2020 and 2021. I can’t say that there won’t be a better era […]

Fighting data noise in industrial production – with fully configurable digital twin

Genius Core, provides industrial manufacturers and process-focused industries with a fully configurable digital twin of their facilities, giving complete, real-time visibility over maintenance needs, safety, and operational efficiency from anywhere in the world. Process Genius says Genius Core tackles the critical issue of digital noise in industrial processes, where hundreds of systems and sensors combine, making it extremely difficult to keep track of deviations in processes, maintenance, safety alerts, and malfunctions. The platform centralises all data from equipment in a 3D visualisation on both overview and facility levels, and all critical information can be accessed in real-time. Operators can also set up their digital twin without external help from external consultants. Data noise is one of the critical obstacles to industrial efficiency. A single facility produces thousands of data points to multiple systems from equipment every minute, which is often only accessible in one of the systems in use or Excel spreadsheets. As such, facility managers and process engineers waste significant amounts of time looking for the data they need or, in the worst case, overlook critical failures or maintenance needs because they are not made aware of critical information. When operating multiple facilities, this problem increases substantially. Genius Core removes these hurdles that cause decision-making delays. The modern industry operator doesn’t lack data. Industry 4.0 has seen a vast array of sensors and software that has made available any data imaginable from each piece of equipment in the facility. Their issue now is how to put this data to good use. With hundreds of systems and thousands of data points, the challenge is understanding the data and making the right decisions. With Genius Core, they can finally stop doing unnecessary and time-consuming detective work and focus on making those decisions. Industrial production largely depends on consistent facility uptime, and […]

Navigating technology trends

“Did you see the article about blockchain on the paper’s home page? I think we need blockchain, too.” “We should give all our IT to an offshore system integrator—that will save a lot of money. Our competitors are doing the same thing.” “We need to do something about generative AI right away!” Many who work in IT have heard variations of these statements from well-meaning senior colleagues. And given how much technology underpins so many trends, as well as the increasing pace of innovation, IT leaders can expect to hear more of them and feel pressure to act on them. Sometimes it makes a lot of sense to act quickly on a trend. Innovation, after all, is a hallmark of successful companies. But not all trends are created equal. The annals of many IT organisations are littered with bold initiatives in trends that created a lot of excitement but not much value. Moving quickly to chase a trend often bogs an organisation down, leads to wasted spend, and takes attention away from important priorities. For this reason, the ability to evaluate trends quickly and communicate their relevance to the business is becoming a critical capability for the modern CIO. In practice, it is rarely as simple as saying “yes” or “no” to investment in a particular trend. Trends are unpredictable, change with time, and their relevance to a given business often waxes or wanes. Instead, CIOs need a clear set of parameters to rely on both for evaluating trends and for determining which posture to take for engagement with them: first mover, fast follower, slow adopter, or sometimes non-partaker. Four guides for determining a trend’s relevance Disruptive business value: The trend can result in measurable value to the business. Independence: The trend allows the organisation to work in smaller, more independent units. Connectivity: The […]

AI set to supercharge robotic automation

Digital transformation is an ongoing process so we can expect to see breakthrough trends continuing to shape society. But how will these trends impact robotics and automation and what can the manufacturing industry expect to see in 2024? AI will set a new pace of development in robotics and automation AI is transforming the world of software development, making it cheaper, faster, and more effective. Software is a key component of automation, and with AI, software developers will be able to create more customised and optimised solutions for various tasks and challenges. If software development has sometimes felt like digging with a shovel, the introduction of AI is like bringing two horses and a plough to the process. However, automation expertise will remain a scarce and valuable resource in the process of AI revolutionsing manufacturing. It has been interesting and perhaps surprising to see AI changing the lives of office workers before it touches working practices in most factories. The benefits of machine learning will reach more manufacturers in 2024. After all, the technology is already there – we have many partners developing applications using AI to allow our robots to perform more complex and diverse functions. For example, AI allows robots to have human-like perception, handle variation, move parts precisely, adapt to changing environments, and learn from their own experience. With time, these capabilities will lead to unprecedented flexibility, quality and reliability in manufacturing. Developments in robotics software will enable more sharing and reuse Robotics software is the glue that binds users to their mechanical counterparts – a digital connectivity that transcends physical interaction. Software developments are enabling a new dimension of collaboration – connecting the people that use robots. 2024 will see software developments leading to new levels of sharing and reusability. Imagine a world […]

3D printed titanium structure shows supernatural strength

A 3D printed ‘metamaterial’ boasting levels of strength for weight not normally seen in nature or manufacturing could change how we make everything from medical implants to aircraft or rocket parts. RMIT University researchers created the new metamaterial – a term used to describe an artificial material with unique properties not observed in nature – from common titanium alloy. But it’s the material’s unique lattice structure design, recently revealed in the journal Advanced Materials, that makes it anything but common: tests show it’s 50% stronger than the next strongest alloy of similar density used in aerospace applications. Improving on nature’s own design Lattice structures made of hollow struts were originally inspired by nature: strong hollow-stemmed plants like the Victoria water lily or the hardy organ pipe coral (Tubipora musica) showed us the way in combining lightness and strength. However, as RMIT’s Distinguished Professor Ma Qian explains, decades of trying to replicate these hollow ‘cellular structures’ in metals has been frustrated by the common issues of manufacturability and load stress concentrating on the inside areas of the hollow struts, leading to premature failures. “Ideally, the stress in all complex cellular materials should be evenly spread,” Qian explained. “However, for most topologies, it is common for less than half of the material to mainly bear the compressive load, while the larger volume of material is structurally insignificant.” Metal 3D printing provides unprecedented innovative solutions to these issues. By pushing 3D printing design to its limits, the RMIT team optimized a new type of lattice structure to distribute the stress more evenly, enhancing its strength or structural efficiency. “We designed a hollow tubular lattice structure that has a thin band running inside it. These two elements together show strength and lightness never before seen together in nature,” said Qian. “By effectively merging two […]

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