The Intelligent IoT: IoT Evolution Expo Brings Industrial IoT to the Head of the Class

The IoT Evolution Expo is coming up fast, and we recently interviewed our sponsors and exhibitors to get a bit of a preview of what to expect from them at the show, and some insights into their view on the IoT industry.

Here, we spoke to Rob Dolci, President, aizoOn USA, and IoT Evolution Speaker on the panel session on IOT, Machines and AI in the Industrial IoT Event track. The company will be at booth #1612 with OPERA MES.

Aizoon USA is part of an international technology service company that focuses on Smart Factory (Industry 4.0), Cyber Security and industrial automation. Aizoon is headquartered in Lewiston ME and has offices in Cambridge MA and Troy MI. Dolci is a recognized technology executive and helped Aizoon achieve the Cool Vendor Award from Gartner in 2016 for IoT. He has supported several customers improve productivity, asset utilization and cybersecurity, navigating large and small organization through change management programs. A believer of continuous education, Rob has recently obtained a professional certification in Cybersecurity from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) of MIT in Boston and teaches (remotely) at the PhD School of Turin Polytechnic.

The session will focus on two separate real life cases of Predictive Maintenance. In both cases, the speakers enabled industrial customers to improve the technical availability of their machines and robots. The presentation will detail steps and issues resolved in developing the Data Lake and the required Machine Learning algorithms that enable corrections and improvements to industrial controls. By combining traditional Engineering approach (FMEA, RCM and Kaizen) with the Machine Learning approach (full data set analytics and multivariate correlation analysis) a Digital Twin is developed. This impact the specific manufacturing process that is way more reliable and predictable than what could be done in the past just with the Engineering approach. As these approaches continue to develop AI becomes a reality.

To hear his talk, click here to register.

Here is a little preview of his thoughts:

How has the Evolution of IoT technology over the past 12 months helped the industry grow?
I believe Evolution IoT has done a great job in connecting the different providers of IoT technologies, in our specific case of Industrial IoT, and helped bring companies to experiment and eventually adopt this new paradigm. It is no exaggeration that Evolution IoT has helped companies learn and then embark on a path of digital transformation, and I can certainly attest that for manufacturing and distribution operations.

What does Digital Transformation mean to your business?
DT means re-thinking your ways of doing business in light of several technologies that have become so much cheaper and more accessible than in the past. Chief amongst others, INTEROPERABILITY has allowed the development of new ways of gathering data, elaborating insight and taking improvement actions, that before were not available. In fact, the newest generation of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) like the OperaMES we are showing at our booth this time, is proving way more flexible and rapid to implement than MES from prior generations.

What elements of the IoT are most relevant to your company?
We focus on the lowest level of Sensors (both physical and virtual), the MES/WES (Warehouse Execution System) layer where you coordinate all that happens on the manufacturing floor or warehouse, and finally the top AI level where we exploit Machine Learning to work out insight and intelligence that is just not humanly possible to see. In one example in Kansas where the customer has some 50 welding robots, working on these 3 elements allowed for gains in OEE (technical availability of the machines) and improvement in quality rates. Things that make your quest for ROI an easy activity.

Are you using IoT technologies and systems in your company’s operations? In what way? If not, why not?
As consulting company, we have developed several Proof of Concept test systems, and then we actively use ML on our SW development and cybersecurity protection.

What are the new IoT technologies that you’re most excited to explore in 2019?
AI enabled virtual sensors, AI enabled new material development (for additive manufacturing) and finally the ability to create a real “Avatar” of the operator on the shop-floor: one that guides, assists and teaches the human, are three IoT technologies set to make a huge impact in this and next year.

How has your outlook on security changed over the last year? What security strategies do you anticipate leveraging in 2019?
We have worked with MITRE and follow the NIST Cybersecurity framework, but more importantly have used our Machine Learning capabilities to create a specific solution called Aramis that helps detect anomalies even when there is no known footprint available.

Are you active in the Healthcare, LPWAN, Smart City, and/or Industrial IoT verticals? How so? Which are most exciting for you?
We are focused on the Industrial IoT and had occasional activities in Healthcare. Smart Mobility (more than City) is certainly a very promising area, developing fast.

Are Edge Technologies and IoT mesh networks taking a larger role in your operations and/or product offerings? How so, or why not?
We have partnered with Nebbiolo Technologies, whose developments on deterministic networks allowed for really effective fog nodes implemented on the shop-floor, physically on the robots. The issue of real-time communication and added needs for encryption and massive calculation for quasi real-time machine learning algorithms to run, is a complex one to tackle.

What will you have on display at your booth and why should attendees make it a point to visit you at your booth?
This year we focus on OperaMES and the added benefits of implementing a highly flexible Manufacturing Execution System to really reap the benefits of digital transformation in production companies.

What are you most looking forward to at IoT Evolution 2019?
I hope to see more product companies ready to invest in Industrial IoT and transform their business for the better.