We see a rise in material analyzers as part of factory automation, whether raw material testing, in-line testing, or IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things). This has been accelerated as the aging global population and reduced workforce, especially as manual labor (blue-collar workers), becomes a challenge for many businesses, with vacancies being hard to fill.
Many don’t necessarily realize that material analyzers are being developed to provide a solution to new customer demands to deliver more efficient, automated, and cleaner production and development processes.
Often the data has been stored on the instruments themselves without providing more comprehensive visibility of the analysis data, highlighting issues with raw materials, product quality, or processes. Today, many material analyzers come with connectivity enabled already. It’s just that many aren’t taking advantage of the features available already to increase yield, let alone realize what the future could look like.
Automation isn’t new
Automation has worked for years in industrial manufacturing but ensuring products meet specification, quality, and throughput has until now required employee intervention. But as markets change, so does technology. 5G, multi-site operations, and remote/hybrid working are becoming the norm, and proactive remote interventions are becoming more accepted. Material analyzers also need to adapt to changing circumstances.
The idea of fully integrated, connected, and flexible analysis equipment, that feeds smart factories with a constant stream of data is coming and is much closer than you may think. This data provides valuable information to your most precious resource, your workforce, enabling them to make the right decisions at the right time.
Why data matters
One of my favorite questions to ask customers when I visit them is what do you do with your analyzer's data? We’re living in an age where we need to utilize massive amounts of data worldwide to create new value as many businesses renovate themselves with digital technologies.
You might not be aware, but we’ve had data-enabled products since 2014. Whether XRF, LIBS, OES, or TA, the analyzer is just a means to get a job done. But what the analyzer does is provides a constant stream of data. Valuable data. And we know data is power.
You can get data from the shop floor or in-field without stopping production. You can build your analysis inline or into automation. And with the data that your material analyzers provide, you can reduce wastage and costs and improve production yield, throughput, and, crucially, your bottom line.
Shortly, all our instruments will be connected to ExTOPE Connect, our advanced data management solution in the cloud, with our handheld XRF and LIBS, OES, and LAB-X5000 benchtop XRF analyzer having this capability. But that’s not everything.
What is Lumada?
You may hear us talk more and more about Lumada. Coined from the words “illuminate” and “data,” the name Lumada embodies our goal of helping businesses shine a light on their data and illuminating the information it provides in such a way that we can extract new insights, thereby resolving our customers’ business issues and contributing to their growth.
We’re here to help our customers in their digital transformation for a better, cleaner society. By capturing changes in the world through data, we’re able to create new value by combining the ability to act flexibly with proven on-site knowledge to optimize manufacturing processes and storage inventory, for example.
Shaping the future together
We’re already seeing an increased number of customers with data management and analysis requirements. This was previously exclusive to large multinational companies, but we’re now seeing medium to small companies incorporating this into their process. Our position is to make this capability accessible to all customers.
Ultimately, through the data our analyzers can provide, we want to help decrease failure rates, how much money is being wasted in the manufacturing process, how much additional stock is sitting on shelves, and wasted energy, material, and labor due to product re-work.
By providing world-class material analysis solutions that are digitally enabled and embedded into your business, we want our customers to make fast, accurate decisions during their production process, whether from raw material sourcing to end-of-life disposal and recycling.
And the key to this all is the data from your material analyzer.
If you’d like to talk about your data management and analysis needs, contact one of our experts today for a chat.
You might also be interested in:
Blog: 2021 metals analysis outlook: Optimizing production through connectivity
Blog: How big data is revolutionizing metals analysis
On-Demand Webinar: ExTOPE Connect cloud-based data management for Hitachi instruments
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