One of my last overseas travels, before the Pandemic lock down, was a visit to the Hitachi Omika works factory in Ibaraki Japan. Omika Works is a factory showcasing Hitachi’s Lumada solutions which combine Operational Technology (OT) with Information Technology (IT) and products. From the start of operations in 1969, the Omika Works has been providing information control systems for important social infrastructure systems, such as railway, electricity, water supply and sewerage. It has been engaged in the design, development and manufacturing of hardware and software as well as the maintenance and operation of customers’ systems. The Omika Works has expertise in high-mix, low-volume, customized, production, tailored to the individual needs of customers.
At the World Economic Forum at Davos, earlier this year, Omika Works was recognized as a Lighthouse advanced factory. Since 2018, the World Economic Forum has been recognizing and announcing the most advanced factories that are world leaders in the adoption and integration of the cutting-edge technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as Lighthouses. Using Lumada Solutions, Omika Works utilized IoT in the design and manufacture of hardware to reduce production lead time, created highly reliable and scalable systems with an autonomous decentralized framework in the design and development of software, strict quality control utilizing digital twin simulator, and maintenance support by cyber security training and operation services.
One of the Lumada Solutions developed at Omika Works is Hitachi's Assembly Navigation System which incorporates design and structural information from the 3D CAD data of the finished product, analyzes disassembly sequences and actions through an original algorithm, and automatically generates a 3D procedure manual with a suitable assembly order. Each operation is shown on one screen in a simple way according to the assembly order, removing the need for the worker to interpret the assembly order from a production drawing and thereby facilitating efficient assembly according to the various procedures displayed on the screen. Moreover, it automatically generates and provides procedures that are immediately understandable, where one can check designs and structures in detail by rotating, enlarging, and shrinking them.
This month Hitachi announced that the company will provide Hitachi’s Assembly Navigation System as a free cloud service for 3D procedure manuals to support the manufacturing of ventilators which are essential in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ventilator design specifications (3D CAD data) will be made available free of charge by healthcare company Medtronic (headquartered in Ireland) and this system will publish the assembly processes after each process is automatically made into a procedure. Starting from June 5th,2020
and for one year, this will be provided through a cloud service (SaaS) and can be easily navigated in a web browser on a computer or tablet. In the future, the plan is to create a community dedicated to exchanges of views between users and offer a service for sharing knowhow about operational procedures and so forth.
Making available assembly procedures using the assembly navigation system (image)
Hitachi is providing Lumada solutions globally to drive digital innovation of customers by utilizing its 115 years of OT expertise and advanced digital technologies such as AI. Hitachi will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society and powering good through creative collaboration.
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