The Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award (MIMA), organized by Microsoft Germany and the management consultancy company Roland Berger, honors companies that are making a valuable contribution to the future of industry through innovative ideas and solutions. Prizes are awarded in five categories. There is also an overall prize for the company that impresses the jury across all categories. This year, Dürr Systems was named the overall winner for its DXQanalyze software products. “Winning the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award not only makes us very proud, but also strengthens us in our vision of a fully digitized paint shop,” says Dr. Jochen Weyrauch, CEO of Dürr Systems AG, pleased with the outstanding performance.
Gather, evaluate, predict
The products from the DXQanalyze family gather available machine and plant data, like process and workpiece information, and evaluates it. Possible quality defects in workpieces as well as imminent wear on plant components can be identified at the point of origin, and appropriate actions can be defined. The data is visualized and can be historically evaluated over long periods of time, in some cases in real time. In combination with machine learning, large amounts of data including historical data can be used to continuously make accurate forecasts for the future. This is where the application DXQequipment.analytics comes in. DXQplant.analytics analyzes the data and the documented workpiece quality on a superordinate level, and in this way can draw conclusions about the operation of individual systems along the value chain. Historical data on workpiece quality is used as a basis for defining patterns and establishing correlations to machine and system states. In this way it is possible to adjust the plant operation at an early stage in order to increase the painting quality in production.
Machine learning ensures greater transparency
Using machine learning methods, the software products can identify and predict wear on components and anomalies in production systems on the basis of rules and data. This takes transparency about the operating behavior of machines and systems to a whole new level. DXQanalyze provides information based on specific systems and uses, enabling it, for example, to forecast the remaining service life of system components or establish links between quality results and machining processes.
Contribution to digitization impresses jury across all categories
The award focuses on products that offer pioneering solutions for industrial production. In a selection process consisting of several stages, DXQanalyze impressed the jury across all categories: “What is impressive about the Dürr solution is the level of maturity already demonstrated by the AI and the forecasting of anomalies. This technological development will permit enormous cost savings. Production plant failures will be reduced as well as material rejects,” says jury member Prof. Dr. Oliver Niggemann of the Institute of Automation Technology at the Helmut Schmidt University / University of the German Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, in praising the smart software.
The software can be used in new and existing systems, depending on the application. Installation on individual systems (on edge), in a company’s internal network (on premise), or in a cloud environment is supported. The software can be integrated in different IT systems and adapted to customers’ different architectural requirements.
