by Gary Mintchell | Mar 31, 2022 | Automation, Robots
MODEX trade show is happening in Atlanta this week, but I’m sitting in the Chicago suburbs staring at snow flurries. <sigh> However, I am not bereft of news. This is the material handling show. I attend when it’s convenient, since this is not one of my specialties. Here is a solution to a problem I’ve tried to solve earlier in my career—mixed-case palletizing.
Robotics technology company Mujin will debut mixed-case robotic palletizing with intelligent buffer and re-sequencing capability. This novel application is one of several innovative solutions in Mujin’s booth (#B1407) highlighting how its intelligent robotics solutions can perform challenging picking and packing tasks without the need for advanced programming.
Mixed-case palletizing has been difficult, if not impossible, to automate. Traditionally, this labor-intensive operation requires material handlers to store the cases for an order until there are enough cases to build the pallet. Recently, many organizations have begun the process of automating the storage and sequencing of their goods to make human packers more efficient, but such material handling equipment is expensive and has a large footprint. With Mujin-powered palletizers, the robot can buffer and re-sequence cases without the need for upstream material handling equipment. These palletizers eliminate the manual operation and automate without huge operational and infrastructure changes.
“Robots are becoming more intelligent, and new applications such as mixed-case palletizing are now possible,” said Ross Diankov, co-founder, Mujin. “With Mujin solutions, all warehouses need to do is send the boxes directly to the robots, and they’ll re-sequence them before placing them on the pallet. That’s it. The process is significantly easier, more reliable and much less costly.”
Mujin’s flagship product, the MujinController, controls robots from top robotic arm vendors Fanuc, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi and Yaskawa Motoman using advanced sensing and real-time motion planning. The MujinController guides the movement of any robot arm via machine intelligence, a new and advanced category of artificial intelligence (AI) that automatically manages potential downtime scenarios through perception and autonomous decision making without the need for human intervention.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 30, 2022 | Cloud, Data Management, Operations Management
Analyst firms have made considerable publicity projecting the amount of data generated by Industrial Internet of Things. IIoT populates many manufacturing enterprise databases with the promise of better output from analytics applications for improved decision making. With real-time data, operations leaders can use analytics to assess both demand and cost-to-serve, and make informed decisions. Additionally, the customer experience must be personalized and differentiated to be relevant and competitive in today’s digital economy.
Striim, a company I’ve only just now learned about, collects data in real time from enterprise databases (using non-intrusive change data capture), log files, messaging systems, and sensors, and delivers it to virtually any target on-premises or in the cloud with sub-second latency enabling real-time operations and analytics.
Its latest press release is not bashful about promoting its new product. Striim, Inc. announced general availability of Strim Cloud, the fastest way for customers to deliver real-time data and insights to power business intelligence and decision-making to meet the needs of the digital economy. Striim Cloud is the industry’s first and only fully-managed software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for real-time streaming data integration and analytics. With a few clicks, customers can easily build real-time data pipelines to stream trillions of events every day, backed by enterprise-grade operational, security and management features. Striim Cloud’s zero-maintenance, infinitely scalable platform enables customers to transform their businesses by adopting new cloud models, digitizing legacy systems, and modernizing their application infrastructure.
I, of course, cannot verify any of these claims. We all know that “easy” is a relative term for engineering. But this looks worth checking out.
“Handling and analyzing large-scale data for real-time decision-making and operations is an ongoing challenge for every enterprise; one that is only going to become more challenging as more data sources come online,” said Ali Kutay, founder and CEO of Striim, Inc. “These challenges are driving ‘digital transformation.’ Striim Cloud is a powerful, cloud-based, SaaS platform that gives enterprises worldwide an invaluable advantage in reaching this goal.“
Striim Cloud seamlessly integrates data into platforms such as Azure Synapse Analytics, Google Big Query, and Snowflake. By doing so, Striim Cloud enables businesses to power business intelligence and decision-making to meet the needs of the digital economy while delivering an unbeatable, data-driven customer experience.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 29, 2022 | Data Management, Enterprise IT, Operations Management
Early in my career I reported to the head of product development who realized the critical importance of data that originated with product engineering and design. He appointed me to lead the data function. Little did I realize that the role has become even more critical in manufacturing (and other) enterprises today.
I recently heard from my Datadobi PR contact who shared a copy of an announcement made later via the Datadobi blog with deep thoughts on current trends and requirements for data management. The news relates to a recently published IDC report.
IDC says a Data Mobility Engine Can Serve as the Core of an Effective Data Management Strategy
Research firm IDC predicts that, over the next five years, more than 80% of the data collected by organizations will be unstructured data, and that will only continue to grow 40-50% per year for most enterprises.
IDC’s Research VP of Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group Eric Burgener authored an IDC Analyst Brief, sponsored by Datadobi, titled “The Data Mobility Engine as the Foundation for an Efficient Data Management Strategy.”
In the analyst brief, Burgener urges organizations to implement a comprehensive data management strategy to confront this increasing influx of data, noting that a data mobility engine provides the foundation for an effective data management strategy and can drive significant benefits for the hybrid multicloud enterprise.
In his analysis, Burgener outlines the five main components of an effective data mobility engine, including the following:
1) Vendor-neutral interoperability
2) provide visibility into data metrics, access patterns, and usage activities
3) Orchestration and automation
4) Scan-optimize-copy capabilities
5) Integrity enforcement
Over the last several years at Datadobi, we’ve had more and more IT leaders come to us with concerns around data classification, data visibility, and organization-wide data accessibility, as well as how to handle aging data and the high costs that result from a fragmented data management strategy.
Finally, Burgener states in his report that “the benefits of an effective data management strategy include reduced IT costs, easier data sharing, better security, less legal exposure, and an improved ability to demonstrate governance and regulatory compliance.”
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 28, 2022 | Automation, Events, Networking, News
Hannover Messe 2022 will be an in-person event this year pushed back to the end of May. I still have not made plans to attend. I love going to Hannover, but it is an expensive trip for a one-person company (and probably just about any media company this year). The last trip I made before the Covid lockdowns in 2020 was to Hannover for the show preview. This year I attended the preview from my office virtually.
Following is news from the preview from The HARTING Technology Group which will be featuring its “Connectivity+” solutions to digitalization and sustainability. According to Christopher Ukatz, Managing Director of HARTING Deutschland GmbH, “This is all about factoring in societal megatrends: Sustainability, (de)globalisation and demographic change, as well as deriving the relevant technology: Modularisation, autonomy and digital twins. Under the umbrella term Connectivity+, products, solutions, services and applications are presented that are aligned with technological and social megatrends and thereby provide answers to the challenges of the future. The fact that this is not a theoretical construct makes the added value focus for customers all the more clearer.”
The focus [at the stand] is on joint brainstorming, dialoguing, and exchanging ideas on the connectivity of the future. Stand visitors can make an appointment in advance. Christopher Ukatz adds: “This is where the discussion on different technology approaches will take place. Customers can take the storyboard created by an industrial designer with them straight away. Our innovators look forward to meeting up with you!”
Topics that are more relevant than ever before, will be on the HARTING stand under the heading of “All for Energy”: Energy efficiency and decarbonisation are both strongly linked to Connectivity+ and this year’s orientation of the Hannover Messe. Control cabinet applications involving the Han Eco and its targeted use as an interface in data centres, as well as transformer or converter applications are the driving forces in this area.
Another exhibit area is dedicated to eMobility topics and shows the complete range of charging infrastructure: From the charging station for home use to the rapid charging station. Also worth a look: the HARTING product portfolio that at work inside a charging station. From PCB connectors to current sensors and network components, HARTING provides solutions that reduce installation times, support modular concept design and elevate safety levels.
In the exhibition area of small connectors for the topics All for Ethernet, All for PCB and 3D MID, the focus will naturally be on Single Pair Ethernet, also a Connectivity+ solution that is both resource-saving and highly efficient at the same time: From sensors to the cloud with just two wires. SPE creates a seamless data infrastructure and unlocks previously hidden optimisation potential in factory automation.
The PushPull locks highlighted and the associated application examples also clearly demonstrate the added value of modern quick-action locks.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 25, 2022 | Automation, Security
All things cybersecurity continue to come my way. They all seem to be jumping on the White House’s industrial control systems cybersecurity initiative to promote how their solution helps solve the problem. This news concerns industrial asset and network monitoring company SysSaber. It has introduced what they tout as the industry’s first vendor-agnostic, palm-sized threat detector.
This small form factor solution can be hosted on any existing infrastructure including DIN-rail and edge devices. They say the device can collect data from anywhere and send everywhere.
“With the introduction of our portable and ultra-scalable SynSaber 1.0 software, we are empowering critical infrastructure, municipality, and co-op CIOs, CISOs, and other asset owners with a level of accessibility and customization never seen before in the industrial marketplace,” said Jori VanAntwerp, CEO and co-Founder of SynSaber.
Key features of SynSaber 1.0 include custom asset identification processor, custom detection engine, and heads-up display allowing the operator to visualize where the data is being collected.
