Learning Factory
Industry
Learning Factory
Project duration:
6 months
Employees
>15
Connected Machines
10+ machines and systems
Machine type
CNC, electrical saw, metal stamping, different IT Systems
The Digital Capability Center in Venice, Italy is a learning factory that offers capability building programs to help leaders understand, pilot, and scale successful Launched as a capability-building center for lean, the center in Venice was transformed to a full digital experience center in 2017.
Since that time, professionals can learn and experience the digital transformation in a realistic environment.
Initial situation and implementation
The center demonstrates realistic manufacturing processes using a model company with products, back-office environments and employees. It shows how integrating technology into operations can have a positive impact. Recently, the Venice center was expanded to 3000 square meters.
We introduced the United Manufacturing Hub as a foundation for linking information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). For this purpose, we have connected a heterogeneous fleet of machines to our Data Hub either directly via a PLC or by retrofitting the machines with sensors. In addition, we have also connected several IoT solutions and other software components.
In order to secure the network we have set up a "demilitarized zone" around each production as an additional layer of security, to better protect each asset from malicious access attempts.
Result
The United Manufacturing Hub provides an interface for connected software applications and programs. It enables a real-time overview of the production machines and the production process, which is visualized in a dashboard.
The setup of the infrastructure enables the realization of IIoT solutions such as a digital product shadow as well as condition-based and predictive maintenance. The infrastructure can be set up so that machines communicate with each other to optimize processes.
All of this is done in an environment that protects the valuable machines and data from external threats through multiple layers of security.
The result for the Digital Capability Center is a flexible and secure foundation for easy deployment and demonstration of various IIoT and AI solutions.
