Wintel, a partnership between Intel and Microsoft, has been strongly driving the development of PCs and NBs. Recent years, digital transformation has been one of the key elements in manufacturing industry remarkably edging toward intelligentization. The two prominent companies also work hands in hands to navigate their services through edge computing, visual recognition, and Artificial Intelligence + Internet of Things (AI + IoT). Synnex Technology International Corporation invited Intel, Microsoft, and many leading technology companies to join 2022 Taiwan AI EXPO and hosted "When AI enables mass production – Future Manufacturing Summit for Successful People."
Lien-Ren Hsueh, General Manager of Synnex Component Business, Synnex Group, believed that in the rapidly changing industry environment, the manufacturing industry has to strengthen the resilience of their organization to address distinct challenges. Experts in different areas dissect the AI development trends in the manufacturing field in the hope of entering a new era of smart manufacturing with collective wisdom.
I-Fen Lin, Deputy General Manager of Synnex Component Business, Synnex Group, pointed out in his opening remarks that digital transformation has become an essential lesson for businesses to remain unbeaten against market challenges, such as complex production equipment and strenuous effort to integrate heterogeneous systems. Transformation would be more seamless if professional support is in place from close partners. Synnex has worked with Microsoft recently to assist several manufacturers in deploying smart systems and empowering both production lines and employees.
IoT covers a considerably wide range of aspects. That is why software systems, hardware platforms and expertise should come into play simultaneously with a view to devising a new-generation manufacturing structure that tailors to clients' requirements. As a result, Intel has been actively establishing a complete industry ecosystem and deepening partnership in recent years. In addition to extending the collaboration with Microsoft that has continued for years, Intel framed the concept of Intel IoT Solution Aggregator where Synnex plays a major role. Synnex and Intel brought Market Ready Solutions (MRS) and IoT RFP Ready Kits (RRK) for industry players to swiftly accomplish the most purpose-built IoT specific to their needs.
Crystal Yin, Microsoft IoT Partner Ecosystem, Director of Asia Sales, expressed that Intel, professional and experienced, is also one of the key factors in successful digital transformation. With years of presence in the manufacturing industry, Microsoft has everything in its product portfolio, from data capture from front-line equipment and communication and transmission of the network layer to data analysis in the top layer. Microsoft carries on the collaboration with Intel, supporting the integration of intelligent edge and intelligent cloud conned by AI + IoT. The purpose is to foster system upgrades and the construction of a smart solution that delivers diverse functions and immensely high information security for manufacturers. Together with partners in IoT ecosystem, we achieve more!
Metaverse has been firing on all cylinders, while the technology of digital twin has attracted great attention. Kuo-Pin Kao, Technical Director of Otsuka Information Technology, gave a speech on Otsuka Intelligence – Interaction between Digital Twins and AI Inspection Mapping to introduce the values that this technology attaches on the manufacturing industry. He stated that the company adopts Microsoft HoloLens Mixed Reality AR smart wearable devices and Azure Digital Twins to design an AI smart integration solution that bolsters the establishment of a factory IoT system and intelligent inspection model. Therefore, onsite personnel are able to precisely carry out works, for example, system inspection or equipment maintenance. In this way, manufacturers could have a clear and timely picture of the operation status to prevent unexpected downtime and further increase capacity utilization.
Han-Lu Fan, Business Development Manager for Taiwan, DataMesh, also believed that metaverse at business level will act as a novel power of industry innovation and be primarily built upon the technical foundation of XR and digital twin. She provided an overview about DataMesh in the first place. The company is a global partner of Microsoft in the realm of XR as well as forming a closed-loop working relationship with XR leaders, including Qualcomm and NTT Docomo, from product research and development to selling in the industry. Businesses are well served with the fundamentals of an industrial metaverse by DataMesh, which can be applied to CAD, BIM and IoT and knowledge base to develop digital twin. Businesses then make the most of their know-how to bridge the digital world and reality. By empowering industries, such as manufacturing, architecture, and operation and maintenance with XR techniques, front-line personnel management and execution capabilities can be improved. DataMesh specially indicated that it is the digitalization of cumulative experiences that keeps businesses not only motivated to invest in innovation technologies but also competitive at its core.
Image recognition carries weight in the field of smart manufacturing. Hong-Pei Lin, General Manager of YUAN High-Tech Development, mentioned that as the world-renowned video capture module provider, the company has accumulated an abundance of expertise and experiences. Recently, it launched a smart image processing platform equipped with NVR and AI image recognition to respond to scenarios of video capture, recording, streaming, and image analysis in a smart factory. The first 8-channel product of its kind processes image in real time and supports different formats of video or audio input signals. It shows more flexibility as it is intended for system build across both Windows and Linux that helps manufacturers optimize the overall signal processing of image and audio.
ADLINK, specializing in industrial PCs, has been committed to the manufacturing industry for years. Manufacturers at home and abroad have benefited from ADLINK's products designed for edge computing and realized their vision of smart manufacturing. Yan-Ting Shen, Product Manager of Open Instrument Business Center, IoT Solutions & Technology Office, took their MCM solutions for example. MCM-100 in the series is embedded with I/O which is highly scalable to capture data from the equipment in a field. By contrast, MCM-200 I/O module with lower power consumption is a better fit for rapid deployment to detect the temperature and current of the equipment on site. ADLINK have seen successful use cases with their MCM solutions in various manufacturing areas, namely petrochemical industry and semiconductor fabrication. Their product performance and quality of services have received notable recognition in the market.
In the end of the summit, I-Fen Lin shared that AI could be a valuable aid to shaping the thinking on data decision and enriching market insights, but AI implementation requires thoroughly professional capabilities. Hence, he suggested that manufacturers seek collaboration with partners from varied areas so that they can leverage the collective wisdom to contribute to diverse values for their business.
Synnex invited Intel, Microsoft, and many leading technology companies to join 2022 Taiwan AI EXPO and hosted "When AI enables mass production – Future Manufacturing Summit for Successful People.