Rastek ID Collaborates with Advantech to Develop a Cost-Effective, AI-Powered Production Line Monitoring Solution

Rastek ID Collaborates with Advantech to Develop a Cost-Effective, AI-Powered Production Line Monitoring Solution.

Considering the existing facilities and end-customer requirements of a global electronic component and PCBA manufacturer based in Indonesia, Rastek ID and Advantech collaborated to develop a cost-effective, AI-powered solution for production line monitoring.

According to a 2020 survey conducted by Oxford Economics with 3,000 business executives from around the world, the three technologies that received the highest investment in the preceding three years were AI, IoT, and data analytics. However, Mr. Endro Sulistyo, Key Accounts Manager at Advantech Indonesia, pointed out that because of Indonesia’s conservative mindset, most businesses are hesitant to implement AI as part of their digital transformation. To date, only the transportation and manufacturing sectors have been receptive to adopting AI-powered solutions.

Nonetheless, M r. Sulistyo recently participated in a project to develop an AI powered video analytics inspection solution for a multinational manufacturer of electronic components and PCBAs. At the time of contact, the company did not have a means for maintaining accurate records of production line interruptions, and whether operators had been following the SOPs. The manufacturing company sought to improve the visibility of day-to-day operations in order to identify bottlenecks and conduct further analysis to ultimately optimize production efficiency.

Meeting the customer’s budget without compromising on AI video analytics

The manufacturer had consulted with another systems integrator that proposed a conventional video server combined with a high end GPU for conducting analytics. However, the total implementation cost far exceeded the company’s budget, and the analytics process was more complex than anticipated. With support from the Intel ecosystem, Rastek ID and Advantech were able to collaboratively deliver a substantially more cost-effective AI-powered solution.

Specializing in innovative AIoT and computer vision solutions, Rastek ID developed AI software based on the manufacturer’s requirements and existing facilities. After several months of proof of-concept (POC) testing, Advantech’s AIR-300 Edge AI inference system with VEGA-340 AI acceleration card was selected as the hardware platform for Rastek ID’s custom AI software. In consideration of budgetary restrictions, the AIR-300 system was connected to existing IP cameras, with new cameras only installed at critical workstations for real-time AI based analysis. The analysis, as well as data on staff and equipment status, would then be transmitted to the company’s backend database. This allows administrators to be notified of abnormal events in real time and take immediate action if required.

Powered by an Intel ® Xeon ®/Core™ i7 processor, AIR-300 offers high-performance real-time data processing power. The VEGA-340 Movidius™ vision processing unit (VPU) card can be used to accelerate AI by harnessing the host CPU, thereby ensuring scalability for edge applications that necessitate multiple cameras. The AIR-300 system was preloaded with Advantech’s Edge AI Suite, which integrates the Intel® OpenVINO™ toolkit. The Intel® OpenVINO™ toolkit allowed Rastek ID to quickly develop custom software and optimize the inference time for computer vision models.

Improving production efficiency and achieving ROI targets

The AI-powered production line monitoring solution has been in operation for approximately six months. Thus far, the time required for video analysis has declined from one month to one or two days, and the staffing requirements have been reduced 10 fold. Furthermore, the manufacturing company had an improved understanding of staff behaviors, including loitering and not wearing protective gloves or goggles, as well as production issues, such as calibration scheduling and machine status. The analysis reports helped the company identify issues, implement corrective action, and improve production efficiency. The reduced staffing requirements also allowed the factory supervisors to better allocate resources and manage capacity.

During POC testing, Raste k ID and Advantech were able to modify the system features and functionalities according to staff feedback. “It was a long process. But, because this project was the first AI-based project in Indonesia’s manufacturing sector, we believe it will become a benchmark for other manufacturers,” commented Mr. Sulistyo. The manufacturer was confident that their target ROI would be achieved within one year. Accordingly, the company decided to extend the solution to other production sites.

Rastek ID recently reported that two other manufacturers are interested in adopting the same solution for POC testing. This is another reason Advantech is very optimistic about the potential growth of AI applications in Indonesia.

Advantech’s Solutions and Application Benefits.

The AIR-300 with a VEGA-340 card offers high processing power and scalable performance for real-time production line monitoring applications. The Intel® OpenVINO™ toolkit allows system integrators to quickly develop custom solutions and optimize AI performance for computer vision models.

Source :

https://www.advantech.com/resources/case-study/rastek-id-collaborates-with-advantech-to-develop-a-cost-effective-ai-powered-production-line-monitoring-solution

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