Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, and Intel Jointly Propose IoT Testbed for the Manufacturing Industry at IIC, and Obtain Approval

Hitachi, Ltd. announced that along with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Intel K.K. (Japan), it proposed, and received approval for a Factory Automation Platform as a Service (FA PaaS) Testbed in the field of next-generation factories at the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC).

The goal of this testbed is to test open IoT platforms that integrate Factory Automation (FA) of manufacturing and Information Technologies (IT) that support management and operation, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric and Intel. Hitachi will incorporate the results of these tests into the IoT platform "Lumada", and create new solutions along with customers and partners.

In recent years, amid increasingly global competition in the manufacturing industry, there has been a growing demand for more rapid product development and market introduction, quality improvements, and shorter lead times in order to more quickly respond to the rapidly changing market and management environments through the introduction of new technologies and collaborations between companies. In this backdrop, there has been a growing expectation for overall optimization that uses data related to manufacturing in the increasingly global supply chain to connect manufacturing with management, suppliers, and customers. This in turn has given rise to a need for secure connections between a variety of devices in the FA environment and IT services, such as Big Data and the cloud, and for the accelerated development of applications in the field of next-generation factories.

These platforms include IoT data processing platforms that processes Big Data, IoT head end systems, and IoT gateways that connect the service platform layer with the FA environment, and FA edge devices that provide functions unique to FA applications, and which also enable communications with FA devices in the field of next-generation factories. In addition, the advantage of the IoT platform tested in this testbed is that it can help accelerate application development for the next-generation factories by making available an integrated environment between the FA environment and the service platform layer.

Hitachi is in charge of IT related products (IoT data processing platforms, IoT head end systems etc.), software which connects each devices in this testbed, and system integration of the testbed. Mitsubishi Electric is in charge of the FA environment (FA edge devices, applications, PLC, and drive units), and Intel is in charge of IoT gateways, and supportive coordination with IIC. Hereafter, under collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric and Intel, Hitachi will complete tests of secure connections between the FA environment and service platform layer, as well as tests of the effectiveness of testbed functions and the flow of operational data from the perspective of the front lines of manufacturing, by June 2017. After that, it will conduct "use case" tests with IIC member companies and customers.

Hitachi offers a  lineup of solutions that comprise products, services, consulting, and backbone operation systems, such as SCM and ERP, as well as frontline systems, such as MES and SCADA. These solutions are based on expertise in core operations cultivated through Collaborative Creation with customers in the manufacturing industry, along with security technologies, the Big Data analysis tool "Pentaho", and "Hitachi AI Technology/H" solutions, which utilize artificial intelligence (AI).

In May 2016, Hitachi began to provide the IoT platform "Lumada," which combines IT with Operational Technologies (OT) that have been developed over many years. Lumada comprises open and versatile systems, so it can be linked with other platforms and systems in the manufacturing industry, as well as a range of other applications and industries. Hitachi will incorporate the results of these tests into Lumada, and contribute to the manufacturing industry with partners, such as FA devices vendors and application providers by connecting data from manufacturing with management, suppliers, and customers. Hitachi will also work with a variety of partners in Japan and globally to submit joint proposals to proliferation agencies in addition to the IIC.

Keywords: Factory Automation Platform, FA PaaS, Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), IoT Platforms, Information Technologies (IT), Big Data, Cloud Computing, ARC Advisory Group.