Famiel Confectionery Co., Ltd., a confectionery manufacturer in Japan, has implemented energy management and demand monitoring at its main factory after introducing Mitsubishi Electric's energy saving data collection server "EcoWebServerIII". In addition to allowing Famiel to lower the contracted power supply level, the expansion of energy saving activities through real time visualization of electricity, gas, and water consumption led to a significant reduction of the overall utility costs – a total of some 10 million yen (approximately EUR 70,000 with exchange rate at 0.00696) over 5 years.

The innovative data science tool, MELSOFT MaiLab (Mitsubishi Electric AI Laboratory) helps companies drive productivity improvements on manufacturing lines. The new solution offers an intuitive, operator-centric platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically optimise operations while maximising equipment monitoring, visibility and diagnostics.

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells are at the core of global electrification strategies, helping to meet ambitious net zero emission targets. To address the fast-growing demand for these products, LIB cell manufacturers need to ramp up production, delivering products of high quality with limited environmental footprints and short lead times. These goals are becoming easier to reach when adopting data-driven, automated solutions.

The COVID pandemic has made a drastic impact on society, not only on our health but if we look at the industrial aspects, it has pushed the ‘digital’ revolution forward, from how we have business meetings to the way we learn to operate factories. This sudden digital shift, together with the latest developments in 5G communication is stimulating a need for more cloud-based and online solutions, which in-turn is motivating huge investments in IT infrastructure such as data centres. In this article, Hiroki Nishiyama, global manager of data centre marketing at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, explains further about the challenges facing this important rising industry.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) is launching “Automating the World” as the global slogan for its Factory Automation Systems business from 7th November, with worldwide commercial use starting on 8th November.