Introduction
We are on the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, riding a transformative wave that is reshaping the manufacturing landscape and ushering in what we now know as "smart factories." These advanced production environments leverage the power of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing practices that are poised to revolutionise industrial operations.
No longer a futuristic concept, smart factories are a reality today, having a significant impact on the performance, quality, and sustainability of the manufacturing sector.
Equans is redefining production processes with its Smart Factory solution, harnessing the full power of AI, robotics, IoT, data analytics and self-learning technology to address modern manufacturing challenges. This integrated innovative approach focuses on enhancing production through continuous improvement, securing asset knowledge, and enabling more efficient operations even with reduced workforce sizes.
Entering the Smart Factory Era
At its core, a smart factory represents the pinnacle of industrial innovation, integrating the Internet of Things (IoT), predictive maintenance, and renewable energy sources. These factories are characterised by their ability to self-optimise production processes, adapt to changing demands, and significantly reduce operational downtime. Through the seamless integration of digital technologies, smart factories mark a pivotal shift in the way industries approach manufacturing, embodying the essence of Industry 4.0.
The Benefits of Being Smart
The advent of smart factories heralds a new era of operational optimisation, higher quality, and environmental sustainability. By adopting predictive maintenance, these factories can anticipate and mitigate potential equipment failures before they disrupt production, ensuring more streamlined and safer operations. The precise monitoring and analysis capabilities afforded by smart manufacturing technologies guarantee consistently superior product quality. Moreover, smart factories stand at the forefront of sustainability, minimizing carbon footprints and operational costs through the efficient use of resources and the integration of renewable energies.
Smart Buildings: The Energy Efficiency Pillar of Smart Factories
Smart buildings play a key role in improving the energy efficiency of smart factories. Equipped with the latest digital technology, these buildings are designed to serve sustainable development goals by optimising building operations, improving occupant well-being, and providing customised services. As interconnected and communicative entities, smart buildings embody the seamless integration of systems that are interoperable and service-oriented, in line with the Zero Carbon Initiative.
The synergy between smart buildings and smart factories runs deep. By reducing energy consumption in both construction and operation phases, pooling networks, and equipment, and combating system obsolescence, smart buildings ensure a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of manufacturing processes.
Equans’ honed expertise in BIM and its comprehensive suite of services—ranging from automation, cybersecurity, information and business applications—further facilitate this integration, fostering an environment where smart factories thrive on the principles of sustainability, positive employee experience and efficiency.
This proactive, predictive approach to managing energy consumption, system obsolescence, and facility operations not only powers the smart factories but also feeds into the larger connected territories infrastructure, enabling the transition towards a zero-carbon environment. Equans' expertise in smart buildings as part of the Smart Buildings Alliance drives the evolution of smart factories into holistic, energy efficient hubs that are integral to the smart territories of the future.
Equans Pioneering Smart Factory Solutions
Equans, a leader in energy efficient digital services, is at the forefront of transforming industrial operations with its innovative solutions. Using AI to detect defects in continuous production processes and texture recognition, Equans improves the quality and effectiveness of manufacturing. Our anomaly detection systems ensure reliability in the production of small metal parts, while advanced robotic palletisers and augmented reality technologies enable precise product handling, real-time process monitoring and prevention of production deviations.
Equans Smart Factory: Continuous Improvement across the Board
Equans Smart Factory integrates an MES/SCADA/PLC software platform, in line with Industry 4.0 standards to support recipe-driven manufacturers. This solution increases productivity, covering every stage from raw material reception to packaging and loading. Implemented in numerous food and feed production facilities, Equans Smart Factory demonstrates end-to-end control of the entire production process.
What especially sets this platform apart is its suite of advanced tools, featuring planning and scheduling capabilities, business intelligence, and a self-learning optimisation algorithm, FMath, designed to increase capacity, quality, and reliability while curbing energy consumption. Its user-friendly software simplifies operations, optimisation, and management, making it a data-driven beacon of continuous improvement. Compatible with all major automation platforms and backed by a secure, regularly updated cyber platform, Equans Smart Factory is a testament to standardised, efficient manufacturing practices across the globe.
Equans Data and AI Solutions for Smart Factories
A smart factory, powered by data and AI, means that every piece of data becomes an opportunity to optimise every bit of actionable insight and move one step closer to a sustainable and resilient manufacturing process.
In the smart manufacturing space, Equans has developed a sophisticated suite of data and AI solutions that aim to change the way factories operate and interact with data, thus transforming traditional manufacturing into smart factories. By leveraging these technologies, manufacturers can achieve greater productivity but also greater sustainability and agility in their operations. With a focus on self-learning platforms, these data-driven and AI-powered solutions are designed to streamline industrial processes, from production to predictive maintenance.
IoT and Data-Driven Smart Factories: The Heartbeat of Industry 4.0
The essence of smart factories lies in their ability to harness data for continuous improvement. By collecting and analysing vast amounts of production data, these factories can optimise operations, reduce waste, and improve product quality. The integration of IoT devices plays a crucial role in this process, providing real-time insights that facilitate predictive maintenance and operational decision-making. This data-driven approach not only improves efficiency but also drives the manufacturing industry towards a more sustainable and innovative future.
Equans Digital: The Driving Force of Industry 4.0
in 2022, Equans Digital is at the forefront of digital transformation in industry, offering a comprehensive suite of data and AI-driven technologies that can refine complex industrial processes and meet the diverse needs of smart factories, regardless of scale.
With advanced monitoring and bespoke hypervision solutions, computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS), 3D BIM, digital twins, connected video surveillance, AI, robotics and exploratory data analytics (EDA), Equans Digital creates targeted packages for a range of sectors including Industry 4.0, energy and transport, enabling agile development practices, streamlined processes and continuous improvement.
Our extensive data management and governance framework encompasses data collection, storage, aggregation and preparation, supported by descriptive and correlational analytics to provide the foundation for advanced applications.
All of these initiatives are overseen by a dedicated team of field experts, data engineers, data scientists, and DevOps, underpinning a sophisticated development, operational, and security infrastructure that is essential for running today’s Industry 4.0 and anticipating tomorrow’s Industry 5.0.
From Data Collection to Data Intelligence
Equans Digital's journey starts with data collection, using Industrial IoT sensors, hardware and IT infrastructure to capture data. This data is then transported, stored, organised and prepared for use, demonstrating our robust data management capabilities.
The process then moves into the realm of data science, where Equans Digital uses modelling to analyse and interpret the data, a crucial step towards gaining actionable insights. The move from data science to data exploitation indicates a shift towards practical application, ensuring that the insights gained from the data are implemented to optimise and improve operations.
Advanced Data Analytics and AI
With a strong emphasis on machine learning and AI, Equans uses self-learning platforms that provide critical insights into all parameters of the production process, offering advice to operators and improving overall effectiveness and energy consumption. Advanced data analytics are applied to dissect complex industrial processes. This ensures that factories are not only efficient but also adaptable to new challenges and demands.
Correlation and Descriptive Analysis
Equans’ solutions include correlation and descriptive analysis tools that can uncover patterns such as seasonal effects or anomalies in systems such as fire sprinklers. These insights allow factories to pre-emptively address issues and maintain continuous operation without unforeseen downtimes.
Energy Efficiency and Predictive Maintenance
Key to Equans' Smart Factory is the emphasis on energy efficiency and predictive maintenance. By anticipating failures and optimising the performance of machines, our solutions can significantly reduce energy consumption and prevent costly breakdowns. In a cement plant, for example, AI and machine learning can simulate and predict yields, analyse root causes, and enhance furnace performance by creating dashboards and calculating KPIs, helping factories to become more profitable and sustainable.
In another case, to stabilise and optimise the steam output of incinerators, AI and machine learning techniques are used to analyse and reduce the standard deviation and variability of steam flow, measured in tonnes per hour. Using a simulation based on a year’s worth of historical data, these technologies enable the development and live deployment of advanced control mechanisms on the incinerator line for the dashboard operators. This approach not only ensures more consistent steam production, but also optimises energy recovery and the operation of the electric turbine through intelligent steam flow.
Generative AI is another innovative tool in Equans' arsenal, used to optimise complex project management. It can reduce costs and carbon footprint by generating multiple optimised plans, which are then linked to 3D BIM for practical application.
Equans also emphasises the security of its data and AI framework, ensuring that the Smart Factory solutions are protected against cyber threats. This commitment to cybersecurity is evident in the secure design and regular updates of our systems.
Specifically, Equans has developed ICAROS+, a comprehensive system that integrates facility management and security into a single platform. By consolidating and correlating data from different sources, alarms and potential threats can be managed quickly. Such integration enables rapid response to security issues and effective operation of the plant.
This ecosystem, where every component—from facility management to security — converges into a centralised intelligent platform not only ensures security and operational efficiency, but also improves communication and collaboration across all processes and strengthens the overall reliability of the system.
By integrating these elements—IoT, data collection, storage and science, and specialist digital services—Equans Digital orchestrates a cohesive strategy that empowers businesses to achieve their digital transformation goals, from the initial data collection to the application of advanced AI and machine learning techniques for predictive analytics and process optimisation. This holistic approach is key to creating smart factories that are not only connected and intelligent but also able to adapt to the rapidly evolving industrial landscape.
The self-learning technology at the heart of our platforms, whether for smart energy, infrastructure or data management, is a leap forward in process visualisation and optimisation. It allows to evaluate multiple parameters that influence process quality and performance, helping to extend machine life and enhance energy efficiency. These platforms are not just analytical tools; they are equipped to provide actionable intelligence and concrete operational advice, to ensure optimal performance at every stage.
Our self-learning systems not only visualise but also fine-tune industrial operations. This means going beyond simple analytics by providing actionable insights and concrete advice to operators, ensuring that every aspect of the production process is optimised. From improving machine life to improving energy efficiency, our technology delivers nuanced information that supports better decision-making.
Equans Digital’s data and AI solutions are an integral part of building smart factories that are efficient, safe, and sustainable. With advanced analytics, predictive maintenance, and AI-driven self-learning optimisation, Equans equips manufacturers with the tools they need to thrive in the Industry 4.0 era. By integrating these technologies, smart factories can not only improve their operations, but also, more broadly, contribute to the sustainability goals of the industrial sector and the urban environment in which they operate.
Smart factories are not only revolutionising the manufacturing landscape but also seamlessly integrating into the broader vision of smart cities. With their emphasis on efficiency, sustainability, and digitalisation, smart factories perfectly complement the smart city model which aims to improve urban life through technology. Equans extends its expertise in the industrial sector to urban management, contributing significantly to the energy, digital, and industrial transformation of cities and territories.
This synergy improves public services, reduces operating costs, and supports the environmental transition of urban areas. Equans' role in smart cities covers a wide range of services, including the optimisation of public buildings, lighting, telecommunications networks, and transport infrastructure, in particular through electric vehicle charging stations. By embedding smart factories within the smart city infrastructure, Equans not only optimises production processes but also facilitates a more connected, efficient, and sustainable urban ecosystem. This holistic approach ensures that the advances in the manufacturing sector directly contribute to the overall quality of life and sustainability of smart cities.
Conclusion
Smart factories represent a significant leap forward in the manufacturing sector, driven by the integration of digital technologies, AI, and sustainable practices. Companies like Equans are instrumental in this transformation, providing cutting-edge solutions that enable industries to reach new heights of efficiency and quality. As we continue to navigate the complexities of Industry 4.0, the evolution of smart factories promises to redefine our vision of what is possible in manufacturing, leading us to a more efficient, sustainable, and innovative 5.0 future.