Now that the OML community has passed its first birthday, it is time to see some real action, rather than just hear the hype. At the SMT show in Nuremberg, the first public demonstration of the live IoT connected line using OML will be shown, as part of the Fraunhofer “Future Packaging” exhibit.
The “Future Packaging” line has been a staple of the SMT Nuremberg show for many years, as respected high-tech machine vendors get together with their latest and greatest machines to create an actual functioning production line. Their individual production technologies are then show-cased in a real, active production environment, with several guided tours taking place throughout the days of the show.
With Industry 4.0 having been “invented” in Germany, where better to show the capabilities of the OML language? With around eighteen different vendors participating, each with unique technologies, all working together to create an advanced working SMT production line in just a couple of days before the show is quite an impressive feat. To then link machines from these different vendors on to a single IoT backbone, showing performance, quality, traceability information etc. is quite another. The most impressive thing however about the live demonstration is the relationship between the different vendors and the potential that the IoT offers through the use of OML.
Each machine vendor in the line is not only contributing information as an output to the IoT network, but is also able to get information from all of the other machines, as well as site level information for example, about work-orders and materials. The OML IoT platform now brings the opportunity for each specialist machine vendor, to create Smart, Industry 4.0 solutions and optimizations that increase the value proposition of their products, in a way that does not compete with other vendors in the line, nor with site-level solutions. A great win-win situation, where the customer enjoys the benefits of both.
It is going to be a great show-case. Look out for more stories on this “world-first”, in coming blogs, and if at all possible, make sure that you come to see OML in action, at SMT Nuremberg, from the 16th to the 18th of May 2017.
