Cognex Introduces Edge Intelligence Platform
The expansion of Industry 4.0 through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) focuses on improving industrial and manufacturing operations by collecting and analyzing data from a wide range of sensors on production lines. This information enables factories to generate and implement valuable efficiency enhancements.
Typically, data generated by IIoT sensors transmits via a gateway to centralized cloud applications such as a manufacturing execution system (MES), enterprise resources planning (ERP), and a wide range of other line-of-business and operational software. Distributing all that data, modeling it, and then running analytics requires a lot of computing power in a centralized system.
But as devices on the factory floor have become smarter and more robust, they both generate more data and are more capable of analyzing that data themselves. Moving processing closer to the devices gathering data, or ‘the edge,’ eliminates delays caused by sending data up to the cloud and back (latency), reduces network congestion, and increases reliability.
Used properly, these new capabilities can move many operational decisions back to the production line, where they were before the rise of centralized applications and cloud computing. It will provide controls engineers with real-time visibility into the operations of the production line, allowing for improvements in overall equipment efficiency (OEE).
This will not replace those centralized systems, but will increase their capabilities, while increasing decision speed and decreasing network load. Organized, cleaned, and analyzed data about line performance and detected incidents goes up to the cloud to be combined with data from other lines and departments. The result is a comprehensive operational understanding, and a clear picture at an organizational level.
Cognex Corporation has introduced Cognex Edge Intelligence (EI). The platform provides barcode reading performance monitoring and device management to help customers prevent downtime and boost productivity of manufacturing and logistics operations.
Improving speed and productivity requires greater visibility into what is happening on the line in real time. The Cognex Edge Intelligence (EI) platform provides that visibility to the controls engineer. EI transforms big data into smart data to improve overall efficiency and throughput.
It is fully integrated with Cognex devices to streamline device management, and uses the data generated to provide an industry-specific visual dashboard of system performance so operators can identify and resolve issues quickly.
“Cognex’s machine vision tools and barcode reading systems produce insight-rich data across manufacturing and logistics facilities,” said Carl Gerst, EVP, Products and Platforms. “With EI’s powerful visualization and diagnostics tools, our customers can now use that data to identify performance issues and take corrective action faster.”
Within just a few minutes of installation, Cognex’s EI software begins securely collecting critical device data and displaying the results in visual dashboards. Customers can use this data to analyze performance trends, monitor configuration changes, and capture no-read and failed validation images for further analysis.
The platform can monitor multiple devices and lines within a single site as well as deploying configurations and firmware updates simultaneously to large number of connected devices. It also includes audit trail capabilities that track and report any changes to device settings and connectivity features for easy integration with other Industry 4.0 solutions.
Cognex EI is designed to help improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and increase throughput across a range of industries.
For more information: www.cognex.com/edge-intelligence
