Over the past few years, new technologies such as Big Data or Artificial Intelligence (AI) have come to stay and help us to improve our production processes. These tools are useful to help us face one of the great challenges of today’s foundries: the efficient production organization. For this purpose, to automate and program processes are essential so they will allow us to have as much information as possible at the right time, in order to facilitate decision-making as well doing it more quickly and efficiently.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to see the real importance of being at the forefront of the latest technologies. Overnight, we have had to limit the access to our workplaces, apply new safety protocols, and completely change our mind about how to work.
Here at AMV Soluciones, we want to help foundries to be up to date with the latest technologies. That is why we are continuously incorporating the most important advances into our system ALEA.
- Big Data: Heat after heat, foundries are generating large volumes of information, which are not being exploited. With ALEA, this information is stored, and then processed through different statistical and Machin Learning methods, obtaining useful information for foundries to make decisions in the purchase of raw materials, materials’ chemistries, or real recoveries in the furnace, among others.
- Artificial Intelligence: In the above data analysis, ALEA also applies AI algorithms to optimize processes and predict behaviour based on the data recorded by the system. This technology is also being applied in the optimal scheduling of heats, and even of all the work carried out on the production processes (heat treatments, abrasive blasting, casting assembly…), by means of the Genetic Algorithms application.
In the same way, working with a collaborating company, we are developing the Digital Twin for the foundries, i.e. a simulation of our entire production plan, where any possible situation can be tested and which will help us to anticipate in our real foundry based on the obtained results. - Automation: Our system ALEA allows a total control in real time of our foundries, any external device can be connected (scales, furnaces, spectrometers, pyrometers, ERP…), allowing a complete control of the production process, making immediately adjustments, avoiding human error.
The application of these techniques is essential not only to optimize processes, but as well to reduce the production parameters variability, having greater quality control and, as consequence, minimizing rejection. In addition, our team achievements are always targeting the total control, from part of the foundry, of what happens in the production area. That control ends up leading to significant savings in time, raw materials and energy, leading to the increase of productivity and other greater benefits that will allow future investments.
