by Gary Mintchell | Feb 2, 2024 | Business, Manufacturing IT, News
I have been wondering where ThinkIQ is going to wind up. It’s a pretty cool startup in the smart manufacturing software space (aka, MES). The company has taken an investment by Mitsubishi Corporation and a collaboration agreement to jointly accelerate the growth of ThinkIQ’s digital manufacturing platform in Japan. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
ThinkIQ has built its open platform working closely with U.S. and European government smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 initiatives and global standards bodies. The investment is further testament to ThinkIQ’s technology and will drive expansion leveraging Mitsubishi’s global presence.
ThinkIQ provides visibility to the manufacturing shop floor across each tier of complex supply chains. The SaaS platform securely connects to the physical world of legacy and smart equipment, IoT sensors, OT and IT systems to bring all relevant data into a single analytics platform that brings context, meaning and discoverability for all participants in supply chain and manufacturing operations. ThinkIQ Vision brings vision-processing software combined with powerful pre-packaged Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence capabilities to turn standard cameras on the shop floor into sensors that eliminate blind spots across equipment, materials, and people to greatly enhance the available data for Continuous Intelligence.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 25, 2024 | Business, Commentary, News
Singapore has become one of my highest website traffic originators over the past year. I know much manufacturing and production occurs there and in the region. Then I ran across this analysis from Samatha Mou, a research analyst for Interact Analysis. Mou is based in China providing support in the Industrial Automation sector. Check out the report here.
A series of global manufacturing hubs are being established in south-east Asia, including those for semiconductors in Malaysia, electronics in Vietnam, and automotive in Thailand. However, the concentration of sector-specific manufacturing in these territories is unlikely to trouble China’s vast economy.
As manufacturing becomes increasingly globalized, our research indicates that a number of countries in south-east Asia are becoming hubs for certain products and components. These include Malaysia – semiconductors; Vietnam – electronics; and Thailand – automotive.
The latest work by analysts at Interact Analysis shows the trend for international companies establishing facilities in the region is showing little sign of stopping, despite predictions of a growing trend for reshoring and nearshoring in many western markets and legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States encouraging domestic production of technology such as lithium-ion batteries. Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand all offer relatively cheap destinations for the manufacture of parts for export to other markets.
In addition to global corporations choosing to base manufacturing operations in south-east Asia, some Chinese manufacturers are also expanding operations to other countries in the region. Creating manufacturing hubs, such as those in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, can help eliminate inefficiencies, provide proximity to expertise, remove time zone problems, and provide greater control over production costs.
In conclusion, we are likely to see greater concentration of these industries in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand as each country appears to be specializing in production of parts. However, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the vast manufacturing economies of China and India in the short term, and may well feed components and parts into their domestic manufacturing industries. We are also likely to see exports from the trio of south-east Asian territories to other regions, such as the expanding electric vehicle and batteries markets in the Americas and Europe.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 24, 2024 | Business, Design, Sustainability
Batteries have become the crucial constraint for many electrification advances. Especially for electric vehicles. I have an EV (Ioniq 6, which I recommend) with the main constraint centering on battery size and charging time. I’ve heard from a Israeli company called StoreDot who is moving towards commercialization of an “extreme fast charging” battery technology. Following are highlights of its 2023.
- This year saw it sign landmark agreements with strategic partners Volvo Cars, Polestar, VinFast and Flex|N|Gate
- 2023 also saw 15 leading global OEMs test its cells for six to nine months verifying outstanding performance and proceeding to B-sample projects with several OEMs
- StoreDot’s recent joint development project with Polestar yielded an announcement about the world’s first 10-minute EV charging demo for early 2024
- StoreDot proved it offers the first and only solution to enable EV fast charging with high cycle life during consecutive fast charging, showing no degradation of performance due to fast charging
- StoreDot expanded globally this year opening an innovation hub in California and appointed renowned automotive industry leader Carl-Peter Forster as its Chairman
- StoreDot remains firmly on track for the mass production readiness of extreme fast charging ‘100in5’ battery cells in 2024
Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO said:
“In 2023, StoreDot has not only achieved all of its planned milestones, but we have also made significant strides towards commercialization and mass production of our extreme fast charging battery cells. We proudly declare ourselves as the world’s leading company in XFC battery technologies, a title we’ve earned through our dedication to innovation and unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. We are the first and only company to enable extreme fast charging with high cycle life of consecutive fast charging. Our focus for 2024 is scale up and commercialization, and we remain on course to achieve mass production readiness of our ‘100in5’ cells next year. No other company is making as much progress in this sector as we are, and the EV world is about to witness the revolution we’re bringing to drivers’ charging experience.”
Through its ‘100inX’ product roadmap, StoreDot’s battery technology is delivering ‘Range on DemandTM’: 100 miles charged in 5 minutes in 2024, 100 miles charged in 4 minutes in 2026 and 100 miles charged in 3 minutes by 2028. StoreDot’s strategic investors and partners include BP, Daimler, VinFast, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Ola Electric, Samsung, TDK and its manufacturing partner EVE Energy. StoreDot is on target for mass production readiness of 100in5 technology by 2024.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 22, 2024 | Business, Commentary, News
Check out this essay by Om Malik, Bell Labs & Google: Bookends of the Same Sad Story? I’ve read his essays on the technology scene since the 90s. He has a track record.
The essence of the story is that both of these storied organizations that developed so much of what we use have been captured with management rather than leaders lacking vision and the persistence to see things through.
That raised questions about the state of our industrial market. When I observe the major advertisers in the automation and control magazines are master distributors rather than technology developers, I wonder. I thought I saw reasons for optimism a few years ago at Rockwell Automation, but that seems to have fizzled. The cash still flows (for now) at the tech companies in the industrial market. But for how long?
Is the market so mature that small tweaks are all that is needed?
They all have the products that helped them grow. The question still begging an answer is what’s next, if anything.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 16, 2024 | Business, News, Software
While I am on a Siemens run, here is recent news about a collaboration with Amazon Web Services. Collaborations are the second way large companies in our market are growing, innovating, and expanding. This one uses GenerativeAI to assist software development.
- Siemens to integrate Amazon Bedrock into its Mendix low-code development platform to allow customers to create new and upgrade existing applications with the power of generative AI
- Access to Amazon Bedrock’s advanced generative AI technologies will help customers accelerate digitalization and tackle skilled labor shortages
- Mendix is an industry leader in low-code development with 50M end-users and more than 200,000 applications running on AWS across industrial, finance and other sectors
Siemens and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are strengthening their partnership and making it easier for businesses of all sizes and industries to build and scale generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Domain experts in fields such as engineering and manufacturing, as well as logistics, insurance or banking will be able to create new and upgrade existing applications with the most advanced generative AI technology. To make this possible, Siemens is integrating Amazon Bedrock – a service that offers a choice of high-performing foundation models from leading AI companies via a single API, along with security, privacy, and responsible AI capabilities – with Mendix, the leading low-code platform that is part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio.
The combination will enable customers to select the generative AI model that best suits their specific use case and quickly and securely incorporate that model into their applications. This will make their development simpler, faster, and more efficient. Previously, when developers wanted to integrate generative AI models, they had to obtain access credentials, and write specialized function code. With the new Mendix-Amazon Bedrock integration, this can now be done with just a few clicks. Teams can create smart, industry-hardened applications without dedicated programming knowledge and users can interact with information easily via a graphical interface and the simplicity of a drag and drop commands.
This innovation allows Mendix customers to apply generative AI to drive productivity within their workforce. For instance, using generative AI, a factory worker can find machine documentation faster, generating relevant visualizations without a need to manually search a database, manuals, and records. A production engineer could also use generative AI to suggest machine adjustments to improve yield, and get suggestions on equipment adjustments, maintenance, or even spare parts to maximize a factory’s productivity. Customers do not need to build their own AI infrastructure and will be able to harness the power of their company’s data with the highest possible security and privacy, maintaining full control of their data.
Generative AI technology can supercharge applications with features like summarizing and analyzing lengthy technical or legal documents, translating content into different languages, or recognizing images. Financial businesses can integrate automatic fraud detection in their software, while workers in a car factory can improve quality based on AI analysis of millions of data points in the manufacturing line. With access to a choice of foundational models on Amazon Bedrock, users can easily select the best model for their specific task and integrate it with just a few clicks.
The collaboration expands on the long-established partnership between AWS and Siemens to help streamline the use of IT and cloud technology so it can be easily integrated in applications and machine workflows, making it seamless to engage with.
Today, more than 50 million end users worldwide work with more than 200,000 applications built with Mendix’s low-code platform, available as part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio. Low-code platforms are expected to grow substantially over the next years. The technology enables developers to create applications by drag and drop with reusable components and software building blocks, which means they can build more software faster and with smaller teams.
Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that offers easy access to a choice of industry-leading large language models and other foundation models from AI21 Labs, Amazon, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, and Stability AI, along with a broad set of capabilities that customers need to build generative AI applications—simplifying development while supporting privacy and security. Users can also apply Guardrails to filter undesired content, adhere to responsible AI policies, or finetune their models using Knowledge Bases for Amazon Bedrock to give contextual information from private data sources and more relevant, accurate, and customized responses. The Mendix-Amazon Bedrock integration complements AWS’s other generative AI services, like Amazon CodeWhisperer, a machine learning (ML)–powered service that helps improve developer productivity by generating code recommendations based on developers’ comments in natural language and their code. Together, the services extend the benefits of generative AI to developers and enterprise users regardless of their programming abilities.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 16, 2024 | Business, News, Organizations
How do large companies with their inevitable bureaucracies innovate and grow? Through acquisition. Siemens has recently acquired two companies to strengthen its offerings in the water and transportation sectors.
Siemens acquires BuntPlanet to strengthen its artificial intelligence portfolio in the water sector
Siemens has announced the acquisition of BuntPlanet, a technology company based in San Sebastian, Spain. BuntPlanet’s award winning software has been deployed around the world to support customers with smart metering solutions, water quality, asset management, and integration of hydraulic models and artificial intelligence for detecting leaks and other anomalies in water networks. Siemens has had a licensing agreement with BuntPlanet since 2019 to sell their leakage detection software known as SIWA LeakPlus. With this acquisition, BuntPlanet’s entire offering and team will be integrated with Siemens’ application portfolio for water utilities making it even more comprehensive for water customers.
BuntPlanet’s core offering, BuntBrain, is a software platform with solutions for leak detection, water quality improvement, end-use water analysis, water loss reduction, asset management, digital twin and water meter management. The application includes the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence, big data, and hydraulic simulation to pre-locate leaks and other anomalies, minimizing risk of damage to infrastructure and reducing operational and maintenance costs. With proven integration with Siemens Measurement Intelligence hardware portfolio the combination of sector leading instrumentation and software has demonstrated detection of leaks as small as 0.25 liter per second.
Once the integration has fully concluded, Siemens will make BuntPlanet’s offering also available on its open business platform, Siemens Xcelerator.
Siemens strengthens market position with Heliox acquisition
- Heliox develops fast charging for e-bus and e-truck fleets, marine, port, mining vehicles and more.
- Heliox expands Siemens eMobility’s offering for the growing eBus and eTruck charging market, and for depot and fleet solutions
- Accelerates value creation in Siemens’ fast-growing eMobility business
- Adds attractive digitalization and software potential
Siemens AG has completed the acquisition of Heliox, a technology leader in DC fast charging solutions, serving eBus and eTruck fleets and passenger vehicles. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Heliox employs approximately 330 people.
The acquisition complements Siemens’ existing eMobility charging portfolio, adding products and solutions ranging from 40 kilowatts (kW) to megawatt charging solutions for depots and en-route charging. Heliox’s portfolio also extends Siemens’ market reach, primarily in Europe and North America, while improving capabilities in power electronics. Heliox’s mobile, scalable and parallel charging solutions will enable Siemens to serve these markets better.
Next to DC fast charging solutions, Heliox offers charger monitoring and energy management services. This expands Siemens eMobility’s IoT product portfolio and strengthens its digitalization and software offering.
Siemens eMobility is part of Siemens Smart Infrastructure. It offers IoT-enabled hardware, software and services for AC and DC charging from 11 kW to 1 megawatt for a broad range of applications. Siemens acquired Heliox from private equity firm Waterland and an entity owned by a group of employees and individual shareholders.
