Yaskawa: Empowering the next generation

By OEM Update Editorial December 1, 2020 5:11 pm IST

Transitioning of traditional Indian manufacturing into automated smart factory solutions will make processes far more speedy and accurate, saving energy and increasing efficiency.
Ajay Gurjar, COO-Robotics Division, Yaskawa India Pvt Ltd

Yaskawa’s I3-Mechatronics with Yaskawa Cockpit, a three-dimensional digital data solution; is a concept that has the potential to transform India’s entire supply-chain and manufacturing ecosystem, believes Ajay Gurjar, COO-Robotics Division, Yaskawa India Pvt Ltd.

How ‘smart factory’ will enable Indian manufacturers to compete in the future?
The business dynamics got changed abruptly in such a short time span due to COVID-19. But it has increased industry’s interest in industrial robots and artificial intelligence. Implementing robotic technologies in current situation going to make factories smart and automated that can easily help businesses to deal with massive staffing shortages in automotive, FMGC, manufacturing, and supply chains. At this time when there is a need to run company with safe measures and minimal human interaction industrial robot is the best solution with AI and Industry 4.0 as a smart factory solution which will become a game changer for India’s manufacturing hub.

Certainly, transitioning of traditional Indian manufacturing into automated smart factory solutions will make processes far more speedy and accurate, saving energy and increasing efficiency. At the same time, it will also enable Indian manufacturers compete in the future with more global companies investing in India in near times.

How smart factories can help India become a global manufacturing hub?

Broadly, the smart factory is a flexible system that can self-optimise operations across a wider network in real-time, and offers on-demand visibility into performance across the supply chain, refine processes and autonomously run entire production through advanced automation, offering flexible, adaptive, and proactive production, and lead to end-to-end integration with suppliers, OEMs and customers.

Indian enterprises have realised that the use of industrial robotics, automation, IoT, AI, Industry 4.0 and Machine Learning (ML) along with building the competence of the workforce is the only way forward for them in order to compete in a cut-throat global environment.

Yaskawa’s I3-Mechatronics with Yaskawa Cockpit, a three-dimensional digital data solution; is a concept that has the potential to transform India’s entire supply-chain and manufacturing ecosystem. The detailed theory of integrated, intelligent and innovative solution describes on how Yaskawa is empowering the next generation by synthesising its knowledge of mechatronics technology where industry is looking to work in future.

Relatively, smart factory is a capital-intensive and effort-intensive activity but a company that has embraced automation timely, would reap the benefits early – paving the way for achieving its goal of robust production processes with a zero-defect strategy and high utilisation rates and hence contributing towards India becoming a global manufacturing hub.

Please discuss on your most advanced smart factory solutions.
Yaskawa is amongst the top 100 innovative companies who have established its footprint in AI with the help of automation techniques developed by the company over more than half a century like servo motors, drives, robots, Yaskawa Cockpit and smart factory solution which help industry to maximise the productivity. It implies to AI in robotics with exposure of current industrial development of Industry 4.0 where Yaskawa has developed “i3- mechatronics” solution concept bringing together classical mechatronics, information and communication technology with digital solutions such as AI, Big Data and IoT which is demonstrated in Yaskawa Solution factory Iruma.

The “Yaskawa Solution Factory” (Smart Factory) at the Iruma Plant (Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture) is a next-generation production plant that will change manufacturing and business that commenced the full-fledged operations in December 2018. I am happy to share that dramatic productivity enhancement was achieved at the plan offering most advanced smart factory solutions to the industry. For instance, in the production of Σ-7 Series AC servo drives, the speed and efficiency are three times greater than that of conventional production and the lead time has been shortened to one-sixth the previous time.