The Internet of Things (IoT) is now a big catalyst for digital transformation. More companies are embracing IoT solutions to transform their business models and drive productivity.

Omron – a world leader in industrial automation, IoT, AI and robotics – assists companies with their digital transformation to grow revenue and profitability.

Omron’s ground-breaking technology is being used to capture operational data from machines and instruments and push this to the Microsoft Azure platform. This gives companies end-to-end manufacturing visibility and improves efficiency through automation and robotics.

At Microsoft’s IoT in Action event in Sydney last week, Henry Zhou, Director and General Manager, Omron Oceania, gave visitors an insight into how IoT can add more customer value and increase profitability.

Microsoft IoT in Action is a global event designed to assist businesses in making a seamless digital transformation.

Mr Zhou was one of four expert speakers for a keynote presentation on Transforming Your Business. The event featured a showcase of latest IoT technologies, including Omron’s latest collaborative TM robot and display of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) automation solutions.

Revealing ‘hidden’ losses

Mr Zhou spoke during the Transforming Your Business session. He told visitors how Omron has assisted businesses in a broad range of industry sectors with their digital transformation.

Omron now offers 50,000 IoT device types designed and manufactured in its factories. The company aims to double that amount in the next few years.

Omron has itself been undergoing a digital transformation in its factories globally since 2014. Operational Technology (OT) – including robotics and automation – is developed by Omron, with information technology (IT) support from Microsoft.

Mr Zhou explained how Omron uses its IoT technology to visualise and analyse their factories and reveal “hidden” losses in three categories:

• Availability losses

• Performance losses

• Quality losses

“So naturally, the second step is to fix these issues,” said Mr Zhou. The benefits have been huge – delivering a massive return on investment (ROI).

“Omron now has a global synergy in its factories worldwide,” said Mr Zhou. “We can now share data among of our factories – and have also been able to share our know-how worldwide. As a result, productivity has improved dramatically.”

Improvement in product quality has also been a key benefit. 

Henry Zhou at Microsoft IoT in Action … ‘huge benefits’ for companies

“With our big data system, we have been able to automatically evaluate product quality,” said Mr Zhou. “We can collate six times more data and analyse it and control quality risks. This has reduced the defect rate to one part per million – one of the highest quality standards worldwide.”

Reduction in preventative maintenance

But perhaps the greatest benefit has been Production Efficiency improvement. Omron is now able to fix the root causes of any production line problems 600% faster than before.

As a result, there has been a 75% reduction in preventative maintenance and part replacement.

By maximising its production and profitability with IoT solutions, Omron has now turned its focus on assisting customers in their transformation.

“We have been able to unleash our full potential through IoT – and other companies can do the same,” said Mr Zhou.

“In Australia, we have been able to turn our success into our customers’ success.”

Omron has provided IoT solutions to a broad cross section of industry including:

• Food and commodities

• Infrastructure

• Metal and Mining

• Education

Mr Zhou said the key to IoT is successfully combining cutting edge IT and OT.

“Omron provides the leading OT platform (automation, sensing and robotics) – the widest platform in OT domain, while Microsoft has the leading IT platform, including the widest range of cloud solutions.

“When we work together seamlessly, the customer wins.”

Mr Zhou said IoT is unleashing the potential of Australian industries.

“Companies can now see tangible benefits with IoT. “It will also make Australian industry more competitive on the global stage and help to create high paid jobs in Australia.”

To learn more about Omron visit: www.omron.com.au