Digital Transformation of Essex Furukawa with Sight Machine
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning
- Functional Applications - Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
Applicable Industries
- Electrical Grids
- Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Visual Quality Detection
Services
- Testing & Certification
The Customer
Essex Furukawa
About The Customer
Essex Furukawa is the world’s largest manufacturer of magnet wire/winding wire, which powers motors, including the motors that power electric vehicles. As global automakers began rapidly shifting their production to focus on electric power, Essex Furukawa faced significantly increased demand. To maintain its position as market leader, Essex Furukawa leadership sought to digitally transform its manufacturing plants to increase throughput and uptime while delivering the high-quality products for which they are known. The company's growth depended on the ability to increase production without affecting quality.
The Challenge
Essex Furukawa, the world’s largest manufacturer of magnet wire/winding wire, faced a significant increase in demand due to the rapid shift of global automakers towards electric power. The company needed to maintain its market leadership by increasing throughput and uptime while delivering high-quality products. The challenge was to meet the growing demands without compromising the quality of their products. The magnet wire they produce for electric vehicle motors must meet exacting standards to withstand years of severe stress, including high heat, high electrical current, and fast switching frequencies. Essex Furukawa leadership recognized the need for a digital transformation of their manufacturing plants to collect and analyze production data for predictive maintenance and continuous operational optimization.
The Solution
Essex Furukawa partnered with Sight Machine to begin the digital transformation of their manufacturing plant in Torreon, Mexico. Sight Machine, a Microsoft partner, was chosen for its unique ability to turn all production data into a common data foundation for manufacturing operations and analysis. Essex Furukawa uses Microsoft Azure as its secure, intelligent, and scalable cloud platform. Sight Machine on Microsoft Azure provides Essex Furukawa with a single, trusted, and dynamically updated view of production, enabling them to track Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) across all plants and to greatly improve throughput with no impact on availability or quality. Sight Machine also developed analytics models focused on improving quality. The system recommends ways to improve quality and validates the magnitude of improvements to ensure worthwhile results. The model is continuously retrained using real-time streaming data for optimal effectiveness.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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