Plethora IIoT and Xilinx lead IIC testbed that accelerates machine learning for predictive maintenance in high-volume manufacturing

NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Industrial Internet Consortium® (IIC™), the worlds leading organization transforming business and society by accelerating the adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), today announced the Smart Factory Machine Learning for Predictive Maintenance Testbed. The testbed is led by two companies, Plethora IIoT, a company, designing and developing cutting-edge answers for Industry 4.0, and Xilinx, the leading provider of All Programmable technology.

This innovative testbed explores machine-learning techniques and evaluates algorithmic approaches for time-critical predictive maintenance. This knowledge leads to actionable insight enabling companies to move away from traditional preventative maintenance to predictive maintenance, which minimizes unplanned downtime and optimizes system operation. This would ultimately help manufacturers increase availability, improve energy efficiency and extend the lifespan of high-volume CNC manufacturing production systems.

"Testbeds are the major focus and activity of the IIC and its members. We provide the opportunity for both small and large companies to collaborate and help solve problems that will drive the adoption of IoT applications in many industries", said IIC Executive Director Dr. Richard Mark Soley. "The smart factory of the future will require advanced analytics, like those this testbed aims to provide, to identify system degradation before system failure. This type of machine learning and predictive maintenance could extend beyond the manufacturing floor to have a broader impact to other industrial applications."

"Downtime costs some manufacturers as much as $22k per minute. Therefore, unexpected failures are one of the main players in maintenance costs because of their negative impact due to reactive and unplanned maintenance action. Being able to predict system degradation before failure has a strong positive impact on machine availability: increasing productivity and decreasing downtime, breakdowns and maintenance costs," said Plethora IIoT Team Leader Javier Diaz. "Were excited to lead this testbed with Xilinx and work alongside some of the leading players in IIoT technologies. This is a unique opportunity to test together machine learning technologies with those involved in the testbed at different development levels starting from the lab through production environments, where a real deployment solution is utilized. As a result, from these experiences, we can significantly reduce the time-to-market of Plethora IIoT solutions oriented to maximize smart factory competitiveness."

"Xilinx is committed to providing the Industrial IoT industry with our latest All Programmable SoC and MPSoC platforms - ideal for sensor fusion, real-time, high-performance processing, and machine learning from the edge to the cloud," stated Dan Isaacs, Director of Corporate Strategic Marketing and Market Development for IIoT and Machine Learning at Xilinx. "The combination of these highly configurable capabilities drives the intelligence of the smart factory."

Additional IIC member companies participating in this testbed are: Bosch, Microsoft, National Instruments, RTI, System View, GlobalSign, Aicas, Thingswise, Titanium Industrial Security, and iVeia. They provide technologies to enable the Smart Factory Machine Learning testbed, including:

Factory automation
OT and IT security
Edge to cloud machine learning and analytics
Time-sensitive networking (TSN)
Data acquisition
Smart sensor technology
Design implementation
Embedded programmable SoC technology
Secure authentication
Plethora IIoT and Xilinx will provide more information on this testbed at the EMO 2017 trade show, from 18-23 September in Hannover, Germany. They can be found in Hall 25 at Stand B60, in the Industry 4.0 area.

IIC testbeds are where the innovation and opportunities of the Industrial Internet - new technologies, new applications, new products, new services, new processes - can be initiated, thought through, and rigorously tested to ascertain their usefulness and viability before coming to market.

About the Industrial Internet Consortium

The Industrial Internet Consortium is the worlds leading membership program transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IIC delivers a trustworthy IIoT in which the worlds systems and devices are securely connected and controlled to deliver transformational outcomes. The Industrial Internet Consortium is a program of the Object Management Group (OMG). For more information, visit www.iiconsortium.org.

About Plethora IIoT

Plethora IIoT is a company that is part of the Etxe-Tar industrial group, designing and developing cutting-edge answers for the Industrial IoT/Industry 4.0. We solve real industrial problems, enhancing competitiveness at both product and process levels. Being part of the Etxe-Tar Group, bolstered by its long industrial trajectory, gives us deeper knowledge of industrial enterprises and their challenges. Etxe-Tar Group works with leading worldwide companies. www.plethoraiiot.com

About Xilinx

Xilinx is a leading provider of All Programmable semiconductor products, including FPGAs, SoCs, MPSoCs, RFSoCs, and 3D ICs. Xilinx uniquely enables applications that are both software defined and hardware optimized - powering industry advancements in Cloud Computing, 5G Wireless, Embedded Vision, and Industrial IoT. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

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