Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, under the name of Industry 4.0, focuses on obtaining and using data to facilitate decision-making and thus achieve a competitive advantage. Industry 4.0 is about smart factories. For this, a series of technologies have emerged that communicate the physical and the virtual world, including Internet of Things, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence. These technologies can be applied in many areas of the industry such as production, manufacturing, quality, logistics, maintenance, or security to improve the optimization of the production capacity or the control and monitoring of the production process. An important area of application is maintenance. Predictive maintenance is focused on monitoring the performance and condition of equipment during normal operation to reduce the likelihood of failures with the help of data-driven techniques. This chapter aims to explore the possibilities of using artificial intelligence to optimize the maintenance of the machinery and equipment components so that product costs are reduced.
TopSmart Factories Are The Factories Of The Future
The so-called Industry 4.0 is here to stay. More and more organizations are deciding to turn their manufacturing centres into Smart Factories. The so-called Smart Factory presents multiple advantages that are essential to promote the survival and growth of the industry in turbulent times, marked by rapid social, economic and technological transformation.
In a Smart Factory, both the facilities and the processes of the factory have been digitized, connected and automated, through various technologies that include the Internet of Things, Robotics, Cloud Computing, Big Data or Artificial Intelligence, among others.
Through the use of these technologies, it is possible to integrate smart machines capable of executing repetitive actions that were previously carried out by humans within the factory. These machines are also integrated into a network system that connects all departments and processes. Thus, the Smart Factory is also characterized by a constant flow of information updated in real time, allowing greater control and optimized decision-making.
The objective of Smart Factories is to increase productivity, reduce physical effort, improve quality and monitor processes through the collection of data in real time.
As can be expected, the advantages of the Smart Factory are numerous, among which the following stand out:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Predictive Maintenance: It refers to a type of maintenance that is able to predict the failure of a component of a machine, in such a way that said component can be replaced, based on a well-determined plan, just before it fails. It allows to minimize the dead time of the equipment, while maximizing the lifetime of the component.
Deep Learning: It refers to networks capable of learning unsupervised from data that is unstructured or unlabeled. It is also known as deep neural learning. It is seen as a subset of Machine Learning in Artificial Intelligence.
Big Data: It refers to the possibility of analyzing and systematically extracting information from, or otherwise deal with data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data-processing application software.
Artificial Intelligence: A wide-ranging branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence.
Machine Learning: It refers to the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience. It is seen as a subset of Artificial Intelligence.
Industry 4.0: It refers to the digitization of the industry and all the services related to it. The goal is to achieve effective automation and smarter factories. Terms such as cyber industry, smart industry or fourth Industrial Revolution are used synonymously with Industry 4.0.
Smart Factory: It refers to a highly digitized and connected production plant using different technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics or Augmented and Virtual Reality in order to function with minimal human intervention, learn and be able to adapt to changes in real time.
Internet of Things: It refers to the digital interconnection of all kinds of objects or devices with the Internet, such as sensors and mechanical devices, but also everyday objects such as household appliances, footwear or clothing. The goal is to reach Machine to Machine (M2M) interaction.