Digital Techno Bytes

AI –AR the future of Maintenance in Manufacturing Arena

Nearly a decade ago 2002 to be precise a cyber action thriller by the name of “Minority Report” starring Hollywood’s superstar Tom Cruise and directed by the Sci-Fi master Steven Spielberg was released and went on to become that years blockbuster movie. The theme was very unique and unusual. Set primarily in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia in the year 2054, where PreCrime, a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge (predictive analysis) provided by three psychics called "precogs". The cast includes Tom Cruise as Chief of PreCrime John Anderton, Colin Farrell as Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer, Samantha Morton as the senior precog Agatha, and Max von Sydow as Anderton's superior Lamar Burgess.

The film combines elements of tech noir, whodunit, thriller and science fiction genres, as well as a traditional chase film, as the main protagonist is accused of a crime he has not committed and becomes a fugitive.Spielberg has characterized the story as "fifty percent character and fifty percent very complicated storytelling with layers and layers of murder mystery and plot".The film's central theme is the question of free will versus determinism. It examines whether free will can exist if the future is set and known in advance. It also shows the role of preventive government in protecting its citizenry, the role of media in a future state where technological advancements make its presence nearly boundless, the potential legality of an infallible prosecutor.

There are many scenes in which Tom Cruise uses the capabilities of the Precogs to analyse the data captured by the Precogs in the form of their visions and analyses them in Virtual Reality on screens made up of Digital Images in thin Air. Much like the present day VR & Augmented Reality device projections .

Look around you and all this has come true with the present day IoT , Machine Learning and AI – AR technologies. Companies today have more access to data than ever before in history. This is expected to increase as the cost of the core connectivity devices become cheaper and more accessible worldwide. From accounting to HR, employee training programs to product manufacturing and delivery, businesses are looking to continue leveraging the data at their disposal to make their internal process better, faster, and more efficient.

As expected, they are already using these technologies to address one of the most challenging aspects of running an organization that owns physical assets - efficient maintenance management. Of particular interest is the fact that these technologies allow communication from machine-to-machine (M2M) and from machine-to-humans (M2H). However, the fact that machines are now able to think intelligently, learn, teach themselves, make decisions and respond like (or even better) than humans, has launched a never-before-seen opportunity to improve recurrent maintenance issues.

Today, there is profound interest in the ways to use technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR), and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to reduce costs and improve asset optimization and workers' safety.

The following is a look at how the face of maintenance is changing with the introduction of these technologies.

Artificial Intelligence in Maintenance Management

The cost of unplanned equipment downtime is staggering. Take the manufacturing sector for instance - the International Society of Automation (ISA) estimates that manufacturers lose $647 billion globally every year to downtime.

To combat this challenge, companies are now taking a more proactive approach to their maintenance strategy. Instead of waiting for equipment to fail before repair (reactive maintenance) or replacing parts on a strict time-based schedule (preventive maintenance), they are using intelligent devices and systems to predict and address problems before they occur (predictive maintenance).

Over the years, the shortcomings of time-based maintenance have become obvious. A Boeing study shows that up to 85 percent of equipment fail despite regular calendar-based maintenance. Predictive maintenance came as a result of the need to improve on these shortcomings. 

Artificial Learning and Predictive Maintenance: How It Works

AI software:

·         Captures data from sensors, exiting systems (DCS / PLC) , third party softwares like QCS , Vibration Analysis Systems etc

·         Monitors anomalies and patterns (historical benchmarks combined with data analytics to give signature patterns for both assets and process )

·         Uses that data to request for human intervention by way of Early Warning Notifications and Alerts

For predictive maintenance, there are two ways AI monitors the information coming out of assets:

Anomaly: The system reads data generated from the equipment and picks up any variations from normal running conditions.

Failure:  This focuses on data patterns to detect a potential failure based on similarities with predefined failure modes.

Both of these generate alerts to let the maintenance team know that there’s a need to investigate the situation. When combined, they form the basis of advance maintenance strategies like condition-based maintenance and predictive maintenance.

Predictive maintenance is now being used to monitor a wide variety of equipment and it has the major advantage of picking up on faults that a human inspector would miss, or simply wouldn’t be able to inspect or test. Better yet, companies in manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and public utilities are using this technology to remotely monitor their critical assets scattered all over the world on land and underwater. This saves them from the inconvenience of sending their staff out for routine inspections as was the case in past years.

Other Maintenance Applications for AI

Inventory Management - Automated inventory management means organizations can minimize, or eliminate, the need for manual inventory checking. This removes the common problem of human error and time wasted while checking large stocks of items.

AI also allows the tracking of any product or spare part in real-time. But it shouldn’t necessarily end with tracking of inventory items alone. Take a look at Ocado, a British online-only supermarket where over a thousand robots work all day to fill grocery shopping orders from buyers. Facilities could be developed in the near future where spare parts and other maintenance inventory items are sorted and issued to technicians entirely by robots.

Fleet Management - Artificial intelligence has become a game-changer for fleet management. The growing adoption of AI means fleet and maintenance managers can now achieve more control over the most pressing challenges they face especially with regards to fuel management, vehicle maintenance, logistics, unauthorized use of vehicles, safety and driver performance and tracking.

The possibilities are still being developed but it’s already obvious that this technology delivers better-managed fleets, considerable cost savings, and improved productivity.

Augmented Reality in Maintenance

Companies are using virtual reality / augmented reality  technology in their maintenance efforts majorly for employee training. At the forefront of this trend are manufacturers and major aviation giants including Air France, Airbus, and Boeing.

It’s easy to understand why. For example, the manufacturers want to empower their workforce and plant-operators to maintain factories of the future (FoF). But, the assets in smart factories are typically extremely expensive and sensitive.

How do they train new workers to operate machinery without jeopardizing the integrity of the equipment or endangering the individual? Simple. Virtual reality and augmented reality devices are solving this problem.

Instead of hiring experts or designating more experienced staff to train new entrants every time, these businesses are creating unique training experiences that are accessible just by wearing a VR headset or operating AR apps on tablets and smartphones. The trainee is able to interact with a customized simulated environment and experience a first-person view.

An added advantage is that these training are accessible on-demand basis 24/7 and for multinationals, their staff can train themselves from any of their facilities anywhere around the globe. Or even from the comfort of their homes in their free time.

In terms of Asset Maintenance the field force can now carry a Smart Tablet which is pre-configured with the software solution , uses Advanced analytics of machine and fleet data  to Deliver role specific KPIs, alarms, and trends to the  mobile user.

These new age software solutions provide Mobile KPIs, analytics, and collaboration For better service delivery. Structured navigation and views Making the most of mobile KPI presentation. Navigation driven  by asset model  and user role. Makes setup for each machine simple – creates templates by machine type. Combined machine state and performance Offers mobile KPI data in a single, accessible view.On a single screen it provides

1.    Key asset  nameplate information

2.    Key relationships

3.    Health index indicators

4.    Alarm state aggregation

5.    Key performance indicators

6.    Real time charting

Such solutions Improve fleet management using predictive alerts And with geo-intelligence – proximity awareness its Drives O&M teams responsiveness

What is the Future ?

Going into the future, the implications of AI for maintenance in whatever industry will likely be in the form of more automation and responsibilities for the machines rather than humans.

The thought and decision-making process of machines, especially robots, will continue to advance with several benefits such as carrying out work in dangerous or hazardous environments, the use of self-driving vehicles for better supply chain management (SCM), and monitoring humans to prevent fatigue-related accidents.

No one knows exactly what futures going to look like but definitely, maintenance in tandem with artificial intelligence AI and Augmented Reality AR will be better and more efficient than what was available in the past.