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Hitachi

Hitachi in the U.S.A.Hitachi in the U.S.A.

Hitachi America R&D

Hitachi America, Ltd. Research & Development

Optimized Factory

Standalone data is of little or no value. But great value can be found by connecting and contextualizing data to gain insights and inform decision-making. To compete globally, today’s manufacturers need the real-time production and quality insights that can only come from a connected factory. They need a system that provides not just insight into what’s happening on the factory floor, but a complete view of operations and business processes such as sales and logistics. By aggregating and analyzing data for actionable insights, manufacturers can improve operational efficiency, on-time delivery rates, product quality and manufacturing flexibility.

Hitachi America Research and Development Division (R&D) developed the Hitachi Optimized Factory to bring unfettered data access to the industry. This extensive suite of smart solutions helps manufacturers aggregate data from operational technology (OT), IT and the internet of things (IoT) to enable timely decision-making and control across the factory. With Hitachi Optimized Factory, manufacturers have a solution that uses predictive analytics and machine learning in production operations to reach new levels of efficiency.

The Hitachi Optimized Factory suite includes:

  • Shop floor visualization for live monitoring of production-line operations (using production data and inference sensing solutions) and real-time detection of adverse events.
  • Shop floor traceability for end-to-end traceability and tracking of raw materials and work-in-progress (WIP) parts, as well as real-time analysis of operations such as schedule adherence and production scheduler and operator efficiency.
  • Live condition monitoring to monitor industrial assets by connecting OT asset characteristics, sensing and data extraction parameters, network constraints and machine learning model requirements. Using a sensor fusion approach, acoustic, vibration, camera and programmable logic controller (PLC) data is combined to model equipment behavior and detect impending failures.
  • Interactive robotics and multimodal control of robotic arms using both speech and gesture recognition through motion sensors and video analytics.
  • Digital twin representation of shop-floor processes to simulate feasibility and scalability testing for any new manufacturing solution and to simulate what-if scenarios.

Our Optimized Factory analytics capabilities take manufacturers beyond monitoring and visualization, providing actionable insights, predictions and recommendations that truly optimize the manufacturing process:

  • Operator performance analytics based on operation sensing data allows manufacturers to classify operator skill level for transferring the operational know-how of skilled workers to trainees.
  • Early defect detection based on data from the assembly process and final inspections is used to predict defective products that may be in process, reducing the number of defects and the related costs.
  • Dynamic scheduling based on production simulation and a data-driven, self-learning simulation model optimizes production scheduling while adapting to product or process variations, demand fluctuations and sudden events such as express orders.

Working with industrial manufacturers across industries, we develop and deploy smart quality control and defect rate reduction solutions to improve product and manufacturing quality. We use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to make recommendations for production and quality. Our solutions analyze production data and model a relationship between key performance indicators (KPIs) and the 4M (men, machines, materials and methods) approach.

With decades of leadership in both IT and OT, Hitachi has the expertise to help manufacturers harness the true potential of their data. At Hitachi America R&D, we tap cutting-edge technologies like machine learning, analytics and AI to help manufacturers modernize. Our solutions help manufacturers across industries – and around the world – achieve continuous improvement and optimal end-to-end production that will ultimately benefit everyone.