PowerArena Held Seminar on Smart Factory Application
On Nov. 12, 2020, over 70 industry leaders gathered at Garage+ Incubation Center to participate in “Seminar: The Most Efficient Smart Manufacturing Post COVID-19”, co-hosted by Start-Up Company PowerArena and Garage+, a start-up community founded by Epoch. The guest speakers of the Seminar included Benjamin Chang, Vice President of Global Smart Manufacturing of Wistron Corporation, and Ben Cheng, Business Development Director of ADLINK Technology.
In the post COVID-19 era, many manufacturing sites have established a stronger demand in digital transformation after resuming their operations, how to utilize data to unlock the success in digital transformation has been a key for businesses in smart manufacturing. “Think big, start small, act fast, and ask more.” Said Chang, sharing his insights with the participants based on his experience with smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 over the years.
In the recent years, Wistron Corporation has been using image recognition tools to improve its line productively. Through deployed cameras, they are able to identify workers’ actions, analyze and calculate production cycle time to further achieve line balancing, and this application is also PowerArena’s specialty. “In Industry 4.0, data-driven strategies have become a crucial element.” mentioned Ken Law, Co-Founder and CEO of PowerArena. “However, in most of the manufacturing plants, operators are still indispensable. How to master the production data and practice Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has become the key for companies in production management.” Through elaborate data, Law touched base on the importance of collected data in production. Wei-Chien Hung, Sales Manager of PowerArena, also presented a few case studies and touched base on how businesses successfully achieve a significant improvement Units Produced per Hour (UPH) using the company’s tool.
PowerArena also took the opportunity to launch its latest product, Build Your Own AI (BYOAI). BYOAI enables users to easily and quickly establish an AI model that belongs to their production line exclusively, despite not having a team of data scientists of their own. The tool can be at factory personnel’s disposal in real-time to manage its operation, quickly deployed for plants to collect data and ensure SOP compliance. “A simple and easy-to-use dashboard,” introduced Harold Cheng, Business Development Manager of PowerArena. “factory managers will not need to type a single code; they just need to input reverent information of their workstations to operate.”
ADLINK Technology got to try BYOAI at first hand. At the seminar, Ben Cheng, the company’s Business Development Director, spoke on the importance and key to lean manufacturing, the subject of on-site decision making as well as the criticality of human-machine ratio, line balancing and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) when realizing lean production. “Digitalization with lean production can prompt to real-time visual management, efficiently eliminate wastes and a simple and smooth production.” Said Director Cheng, who also mentioned BYOAI’s capability in carrying out AI models created based on production line’s SOP, and utilizing AI to analyze its workstations, helping Industrial Engineers in identifying the bottlenecks within its lines, achieving line balancing and UPH improvement. “Whether or not it can be carried out, is a critical factor in achieving lean manufacturing.” Added Director Cheng.
A demonstration room was also set up at the event, enabling participants to not only learn more on BYOAI but to experience and try PowerArena’s tool themselves to reach a better understanding of its application. “Through Wistron’s presentation on its plan and application for Industry 4.0 within its factories, I learned that smart manufacturing is not achieved easily.” Mentioned one of the participants after the seminar, Vice President of a Taiwanese public listed company. “It takes a lot of effort as well as support from the higher up to successfully carry out the project. Rome was not built in a day.”
Seminar Speakers:
Benjamin Chang: Vice President of Global Smart Manufacturing, Wistron Corporation
Ben Chang: Director of Business Development of Information System Technology, ADLINK Technology
Ken Law: Co-Founder and CEO, PowerArena
Harold Cheng: Business Development Manager, PowerArena
WeiChien Hung: Sales Manager, PowerArena
About PowerArena: Human performance AI enhanced. PowerArena is the computer vision platform that identifies costly production line bottlenecks, enhances SOP compliance and delivers superior QC.
About Garage+: Founded by Epoch Foundation, a renowned non- profit organization based in Taipei, Taiwan, Garage+ doesn’t just provide a space for incubation but also fosters a thriving startup ecosystem supported by experienced and successful entrepreneurs.
