Improving Small & Medium Manufacturer Productivity with IoT Driven Smart Manufacturing

Project Lead: Advanced Manufacturing International
Partners: LECS Energy, Tech Solve, Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC), Manufacturers Resource Center, Polysciences, Highwood, Nolte Precise Manufacturing 

Member % Cost Share: 50%
CESMII % Cost Share: 50%
Duration: 6 Months

Problem Statement

Improving Supply Chain resiliency and overall manufacturing impact will only occur if Small and Medium Manufacturers (SMMs) adopt Smart Manufacturing (SM). However, most SMMs are challenged to adopt SM technology because of 1) high costs; 2) lack of capability to implement and sustain SM solutions, and 3) inability to manage real or perceived security risks.

Project Goal

Demonstrate how a low cost, easy to implement, and secure IoT platform based on open standards can enable 3 diverse SMMs to adopt SM technology. Combined with linkages to the CESMII platform, we will show how to enable smart manufacturing in SMMs with diverse processes but similar needs, namely, to use real time data to maximize throughput and quality. This will provide fast financial benefit and a foundation for future value. 

Technical Approach

Implement an open-standards based IoT edge gateway to provide productivity analytics directly to the plant floor. Leverage SM Profiles, MT Connect adapters and the CESMII SMIP to transfer that data to the cloud platform to bring real time visibility and improved decision making to the SMM management teams. Create SM profiles for the IoT device as well as the SMM processes.

Key Tasks & Milestones

  • Implement LIMS IoT edge device at
    • Polysciences tube filling process
    • Highwood LLC CNC table process
    • Nolte Precise Manufacturing CNC milling machine
  • CESMII SM profile for the LIMS edge device
  • CESMII SM profile for at least one of the end manufacturing processes
  • Financial impact evaluation for each SMM and identification of future opportunities

Potential Impact

  • $300K+ direct impact from these implementations; each SMM should have at least 3X additional
    opportunity within their factories
  • Demonstration of lighthouse SMMs to SMM community and MEP’s

Benefits

  • SM profile for edge device and demonstrated integration with CESMII SMIP platform
  • SM profile for at least one of the SMM processes; develop same for other two if time and budget permit
  • Demonstration of generic applicability of SMIP to SMM community

Project Selection & Announcements

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