MicroAI, a provider of edge-native artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning software, recently announced the general availability of its MicroAI Factory software suite. According to the company, the integrated manufacturing software leverages edge-native AI to collect manufacturing floor data from existing systems and sensors, in order to improve overall equipment effectiveness, real-time cycle-time analysis and predictive maintenance.
Based in Dallas, Texas, MicroAI provides solutions intended to automate the management of machines, enable them to self-monitor and self-report, and provide information regarding machine health. The company’s software is deployed within edge appliances aggregating data from multiple machines, as well as embedded on microcontrollers and microprocessors within individual machines. MicroAI’s software is used by manufacturing and industrial processing companies, original equipment manufacturers, and asset owners to predict failures, identify security issues, and improve life-cycle management and overall equipment effectiveness.
Deployed locally within an industrial computing appliance at a manufacturing or industrial site, MicroAI Factory ingests data from programmable logic controllers and sensors associated with machinery or humans within a production site. MicroAI explains. It then uses an edge-native AI engine to auto-develop cycle-time analysis and behavioral models that provide operational insights. This modeling provides real-time analysis of performance, productivity and uptime, the company adds, while detecting operating anomalies and enabling alarms, ticketing and maintenance scheduling from preset thresholds.
“MicroAI Factory improves overall equipment effectiveness for manufacturers by providing a holistic, real-time cycle-time analysis of operations and providing advanced, early anomaly detection to predict potential failures and performance issues,” said Yasser Khan, MicroAI’s CEO. “Ultimately, MicroAI Factory will transform equipment from human-managed to self-managed.”
“In addition to innovating with AI on the shop floor, MicroAI doesn’t create any additional work to maintain the application onsite, thereby significantly lowering the cost of ownership for predictive maintenance applications,” said Philippe Cases, the CEO of Topio Networks, an industry catalyst that tracks Industry 4.0 and the hyperconnected world. “MicroAI is the first hassle-free manufacturing software company.”
MicroAI Factory is deployed at the edge within a small-form-factor computing appliance and is connected to PLCs and sensor systems within a factory or industrial facility. All processing, analysis and storage of data occurs on premises, the company notes, thereby eliminating the data-security and connection reliability challenges often associated with cloud computing.
Operation management is provided via a single point of command and control, while dashboards can be accessed within a facility via a local area network, or offsite via the Internet. Servers can be networked across multiple facilities to share insight without exposing data. The company says MicroAI Factory can be deployed as a point solution within a single facility, or at multiple sites that operate independently but federate insights while maintaining data integrity at each individual location.