Leonardo 27 December 2016
The fourth industrial revolution is a worldwide phenomenon that will probably change the production processes of the entire manufacturing sector. The new technologies, as part of an evolutionary pioneering vision, will transform the way we design, build and deliver products, connecting on the network semi-finished products, machines, factories and finished products, which are becoming intelligent thanks to sensors and devices. Product customers, via internet, mobile applications and social networks, will come into this extended interactive space. Through computerisation, automation and interconnection of resources (facilities, data and people) both within the main production and along the supply chain, a new "digital thread" in the whole industrial chain can be created, which will allow to automatically organise and manage the business through the collection and analysis of large amounts of information, usually referred to as Big Data.
| Leonardo's approach to Industry 4.0 |
In its dual role as a manufacturing company and solutions and services provider, Leonardo holds a privileged position in Industry 4.0, being a qualified partner for all customers who need to start the transformation of their design, production and maintenance processes. Leonardo provides its customers with an integrated offer, bringing together an increasingly focused approach to modularity and complementarity of its technologies, solutions and experiences belonging to different production assets (from Cloud Computing to Cyber Security to management of manufacturing processes) and the extensive use of new i4.0 enabling technologies, including the Industrial Internet of Things, Industrial Analytics and Cloud Manufacturing.
| Predictive Analytics |
Leonardo's new value proposition, in full synergy with the needs of Industry 4.0, includes a suite of Predictive Analytics solutions and services a powerful system that correlates and processes the enormous amount of data coming from the production plants and transforms them into useful information to support the manufacturing companies in their strategic and tactical decisions. The reprocessed data, in fact, allow the creation of a more efficient production system, able to match the market changes and continually improve the product quality. An optimised maintenance work and maximised plant availability are enabled as well. Through the predictive analytics, data provided by the production machines that have become intelligent permit the creation of value, i.e. obtaining a competitive advantage more based on preventive actions and less on corrective actions, or actions solely based on statistical data collected in the past.
| A concrete example: the new model for the maintenance of a radar system |
High standards of safety, reliability and operational continuity are key elements for Leonardo's products and services. Our radar systems production, in particular, did need to streamline the equipment maintenance process, in order to ensure the high quality standards required by our customers. This is the reason why the project “Secure Intelligence Maintenance” had its start, within Leonardo and in cooperation with SAP Labs in Italy and Europe, based on the predictive analytics applied to pilot radar operation data.
Leveraging the SAP Hana powerful platform and SAP Predictive Analytics tools and algorithms, the "predictive model" achieved through the project is able to evaluate the remaining useful life of a radar, the more important causes of its general failure, cause-and-effect relations between breakdowns and which are the key variables mainly influencing the system operation.
The adoption of this innovative solution offers some significant benefits , including fewer service operations and therefore a significant cost reduction. The adoption of this new Industry 4.0 maintenance model represents a true change, a transition from reactive to proactive, from scheduled to predictive maintenance.