VALENCIA, 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
ITI, the technological center specialized in ICT, develops, through the European i4Q project, two key components that will allow European industries to manufacture without defects. i4Q improves quality at all stages of the production chain by “effectively managing high volumes of quality data from interconnected devices in factories,” the center said in a statement.
Likewise, he has indicated that “in an industrial environment marked by cost minimization, digitalization and, more recently, by the boom caused by the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence, having high volumes of quality data can contribute to that some firms can distance themselves from their competition”.
In this context, he highlighted, the I4Q project in which ITI participates facilitates companies dedicated to manufacturing “challenges such as improving the quality of products, services and manufacturing processes, reducing waste and defects, costs and delivery times.” .
i4Q, funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 program, addresses challenges in industrial data management through a comprehensive solution based on IoT, Internet of Things. It is made up of modular components designed to manage the large amount of data coming from interconnected devices in factories.
The central objective is “to support the manufacturing, monitoring and online control of production, with the focus on achieving defect-free manufacturing, that is, improving quality and efficiency in production chains,” added ITI.
Along these lines, the technological center specialized in ICT has developed “two key components”: i4QDR (Data Repository) and i4QTN (Trusted Networks).
The i4QDR is a distributed storage system that monitors the correct reception, storage and delivery of data “suitable to support and enhance a high degree of digitalization in companies where the majority of manufacturing devices act as sensors or actuators and generate large amounts of data,” said Sonia Santiago, R&D engineer in ITI’s Distributed Systems group. Likewise, she has stated that “one of the advantages of this tool is that it allows you to manage different technologies related to data management.”
In relation to i4QDR, a guide has been developed for building storage systems within the framework of Industry 4.0, called i4Q Guidelines for building Data Repositories for Industry 4.0. This document explains the motivation and challenges when developing a tool like i4Q and a data repository for Industry 4.0. In addition, it offers some recommendations to address these challenges and provides details on the requirements and design decisions that were made during the development of the tool, ITI has specified.
On the other hand, the i4QTN is a software-defined industrial interface for data communication, which “is characterized by predictability, determinism, reliability and low consumption while reducing the cost of new communication infrastructure, also guaranteeing the collection of high quality data through reliable networks”, explained the expert in Industrial Wireless Communications at ITI José Vera.
To achieve defect-free manufacturing, i4Q seeks to meet “three premises that are key to achieving this goal,” the technology center has highlighted. First, ensure and increase the quality of manufacturing data. The project seeks to develop methodologies, tools and infrastructure to guarantee the quality of the data necessary for operational intelligence and analysis, focusing on building components that ensure the reliability of industrial data.
Likewise, another goal is to develop components for Data Analysis through a set of management tools for the life cycle in the cloud of Artificial Intelligence models related to manufacturing.
Another line of action of the project focuses on developing components for the reconfiguration and qualification of the rapid manufacturing line, through strategies and methods for process quality, reconfiguration and optimization of processes through the use of manufacturing data and machine learning algorithms.
ITI has added that all these developments are being tested and validated in six use cases, covering different manufacturing perspectives (industrial equipment manufacturers, parts and component manufacturers and final product manufacturers) and industrial sectors (metal, plastic, wood and ceramics).
The center has ensured that the i4Q solution provides support for the supervision and control of manufacturing lines through software, methodologies and consulting services; and handles large volumes of data from smart devices, ensuring its reliability.
It is structured in five capabilities (sensing, communication, infrastructure, storage, analysis and optimization) and includes simulation, prescription and optimization to improve efficiency, quality and reconfiguration of the manufacturing process, seeking to achieve defect-free production.
The project is financed by the H2020 program of the European Union under the grant program 958205, it has a budget of 10 million euros, and 24 entities from 11 countries participate in it. FIDIA, BIESSE, Whirlpool, Ria Stone, Farplas and the Valencian company FACTOR collaborate as pilot companies, which constitute a representation of different industrial sectors and activities and are characterized by the need to work with high quality products and digitize their processes. .
