DAC 2021_12

November/December 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com 10 n NEWS IBM AND BOSTON DYMANICS HAVE formed an alliance to deliver data analysis at the edge to help industrial companies improve worker safety, optimise field operations, and boost maintenance productivity in environments such as factories, power plants and warehouses. They plan to transform Boston Dynamic’s robot “dog” Spot into an intelligent roaming edge device, giving industrial staff more flexibility to inspect and monitor their equipment. According to IBM, most existing edge and IoT devices are stationary, inflexible and often incapable of responding to rapidly changing environments. IBM’s Consulting business will use AI and hybrid cloud innovations from IBM Research to develop edge payloads that integrate with Spot. IBM will apply its tools and expertise in edge, 5G, security and hybrid cloud. The partners argue that industrial users will benefit from the collaboration in several important ways: n the mobile robots will help address safety concerns for inspections in hard-to-reach or hazardous areas; n operations managers will get near-real-time insights into their equipment health so they can initiate actions that improve performance and uptime; and n the improved productivity will allow operators to spend less time on inspection, instead using Spot to conduct inspections consistently and frequently, and freeing up the team to focus on higher value work. The new sensing capabilities will scale across multiple sites and many types of equipment. A key to this scaling will be integration with client asset management systems, such as IBM’s Maximo Application Suite which helps companies to monitor, manage and maintain their assets. National Grid, a US electric and gas utility that serves Massachusetts and New York, has been testing the new technology. Spot is conducting regular autonomous inspections at National Grid sites, with IBM’s AI adding a layer of actionable intelligence by processing the data into meaningful insights that will allow faster response times if issues are detected. The three companies are working together to field-test a near-real-time inferencing capability that incorporates thermovisual analysis of inspection data collected by Spot. This analysis should help to identify hotspots and other problems with components that, if not corrected, could cause serious equipment failures and power outages. National Grid plans to use edge data processing to detect issues immediately, automatically notifying its maintenance staff even before the robot completes a round. In future, the three firms aim to add new capabilities such as the ability to generate automated work orders or send alerts to initiate corrective actions. https://www.ibm.com/consulting https://www.bostondynamics.com IBM and Boston Dynamics team up to deploy edge analytics on mobile robots Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 8–10 February, 2022 Farnborough International Exhibition Centre Farnborough will again be the venue for this showcase of new technology for machinery, production equipment, electronic production and assembly, tooling and components, as well as subcontract services. The organisers are expecting 800 exhibitors and 9,000 visitors. https://www.industrysouth.co.uk Mach 2022 4–8 April 2022 NEC, Birmingham The exhibition, organised by the Manufacturing Technologies Association, will be part of part of the UK’s largest showcase for advanced engineering and manufacturing, which includes the Drives & Controls Show. New for 2022 are extended IT for Manufacturing Zone and 3D Printing Zones. www.machexhibition.com Drives & Controls 2022 05 - 07 April, 2022 NEC, Birmingham, UK The Drives & Controls exhibition and co- located events return to the NEC covering areas including automation, robotics, drives, machine safety, energy efficiency and motion control. A live robotic demonstration area will reflect this dynamic sector. Running alongside the Drives exhibition will be the Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, Smart Industry Expo and Plant & Asset Management exhibitions, as well as the Mach show. www.drives-expo.com Hannover Messe 25–29 April, 2022 Hannover, Germany As the industrial mega-show returns as a face-to-face physical event in 2022, the key topics will be digitalisation and sustainability. Under the overarching theme of industrial transformation, leading global companies will show show how to shift successfully to digitalised, resource-efficient and climate-neutral production. The partner country for 2022 is Portugal. https://www.hannovermesse.de/en Pilot trials of IBM and Boston Dynamics’mobile edge technology are underway at National Grid sites SIEMENS IS spinning off its large drives applications (LDA) business into a separate legal entity, before possibly selling the operation or forming a partnership with another company. According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt , the creation of LDA as a separate entity could be the first step towards divestiture. The operation is one of several businesses that Siemens has said it wants to improve or sell off. A Siemens spokesman told Handelsblatt that LDA has “performed very well in recent months” and that making it a separate entity will give it “additional autonomy and entrepreneurial freedom so that it can focus even better on its markets and customers”. LDA supplies heavy-duty drives systems for applications such as mines, rolling mills, cement production and ships. Its portfolio includes high- and medium-voltage motors and converters in ratings up to 100MW or more, as well as generators, non-standard low-voltage motors (including flameproof and water-cooled types) and related services. The business employs more than 7,000 people worldwide, including around 2,200 in Germany. Some 700 work at the Dynamowerk plant in Berlin which dates back to 1906, making it the oldest manufacturing plant in Siemensstadt. The plant produces HV motors up to 70MW, generators up to 75MVA and special machines weighing up to 650 tonnes with outputs up to 100MW. Is Siemens planning to sell off its large drives business?