Omron attended the Weichai Group Intelligent Manufacturing Promotion Conference as a partner of Weichai

Recently, Weichai Group's first Intelligent Manufacturing Promotion Conference was successfully held in Weifang. The conference was themed "Independent Innovation, Intelligent Manufacturing Upgrade". More than 300 people from Weichai Group's subsidiaries and middle and senior management came to visit and exchange ideas. Omron Automation (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Omron") participated in the exhibition as a key partner of Weichai.

About Weichai Group

Weichai is an international company that operates across fields and industries. It has business segments such as power systems, automotive business, engineering machinery, intelligent logistics, agricultural equipment, and marine transportation equipment around the world. At the end of 2019, the results of the selection of intelligent manufacturing benchmark enterprises (first batch) guided by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology were announced. Weichai Power was successfully selected and became one of the first eight intelligent manufacturing benchmark enterprises.

In recent years, Weichai has built a relatively comprehensive R&D, production, and operation and maintenance system through the overall strategic layout of intelligent manufacturing. Based on Weichai's unique WPS system, it promotes continuous improvement of the company and deepens the implementation of intelligent manufacturing; with user experience as the core, it applies new technologies such as Internet of Vehicles, image recognition, augmented reality, mobile positioning, and remote services to gradually realize intelligent services.

Omron's value creation concept i-Automation! Helps upgrade smart manufacturing

At present, the market demand for cutting-edge automation technologies such as AI/IoT/Robotics is increasing. In response to the changing demands for "products and processes", "production locations" and "producers" at the manufacturing site, Omron has proposed the unique concept of i-Automation!, namely "integrated (control evolution)", "intelligent (intelligence)", and "interactive (new human-machine collaboration)", to solve these issues at the manufacturing site through innovation.

Weichai Group invited many well-known companies and partners in the industry to participate in the Smart Manufacturing Promotion Conference. Omron Automation (China) Co., Ltd. participated in this conference as a key partner of Weichai. Omron connected with customers through i-Automation! and demonstrated the results produced under the concept of i-Automation!, such as AI sensory inspection, AI omen protection, Robot and other cutting-edge technologies and applications.

Demonstration of technology to solve customer issues

1. AI sensory inspection

Customer Project: Visual Detection of Sand Mold Defects in Metal Hot Castings

In the past, image inspections, such as judging scratches of various colors and sizes, and determining defects when the products themselves have great differences, still rely more on the sensibility and experience of skilled workers.

AI sensory inspection can realize the experience judgment of skilled technicians and detect defects in uncertain backgrounds, such as scratches on brushed surfaces and scratches on frosted (sandblasted) metal surfaces. It is not defined by color or brightness, but uses AI to extract the scratches themselves. This makes stable detection possible.

2. AI realizes predictive maintenance of equipment

Customer topic: Monitor equipment anomalies and reduce downtime

With the rapid development of the manufacturing industry, product manufacturing has become increasingly complex, and the global labor force is becoming increasingly low, resulting in a lack of corresponding skilled workers. Omron uses AI/IoT technology at the device level in the production site to transform the implicit knowledge such as the intuition and experience of skilled workers into explicit knowledge, realizing intelligent production.

By detecting "abnormal" conditions that occur instantaneously on the device at ultra-high speed and high precision and reflecting them in real time to the control, it is possible not only to monitor trends at the device level but also to prevent quality problems that occur instantaneously during high-speed production.

▲Loading and unloading belt monitoring

During use, problems such as wear, tear, and loosening may occur. The AI ​​algorithm can effectively determine the operating status of the conveyor belt and remind users to replace deteriorated belts in time.

▲Ball screw monitoring

During the use of ball screws, the balls may wear, crack, fall off, the sliders may be damaged, and the tracks may be damaged. If they are not replaced in time, the equipment will stop. AI algorithms can effectively detect these faults and remind you to replace them.

▲Cylinder monitoring

The cylinder is the most commonly used moving part in our industrial field, and it is also one of the parts that is most easily damaged. By using AI to detect the movement state of the cylinder, we can effectively detect faults such as air leakage, piston damage, and seal damage.

3. TM collaborative robot

Customer Project: 3D Grasping of Metal Structures, TM Landmark Application

OmronTM collaborative robots are versatile and can adapt to a variety of tasks. Their safety and mobility, as well as their built-in vision software and camera features, ensure that this robot can be quickly started and quickly converted to application scenarios.

When the robot arrives at a new work scene, it can easily complete accurate spatial 3D positioning using the TM Landmark function with built-in vision, and can immediately perform the work without additional settings.

Omron's evolving i-Automation! concept and cutting-edge technology will accelerate the intelligent upgrade of manufacturing sites. Taking this conference as an opportunity, Omron and Weichai Group conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on product development, process development and production site personnel, especially direct exploration and communication on customer site topics. The two sides further deepened their various cooperative relationships and jointly explored new development directions and solutions for intelligent manufacturing to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.