FAQ - Data and AI Platform for Manufacturing

The data collection process consists of three stages:

1. Acquisition of data from various sources throughout industrial operations.
2. Transformation of data into the required API formats.
3. Uploading data to the management layer on a local cluster or in the cloud.

There are various data configuration options:

Data can be collected and sent directly to the cloud. This option is recommended when the data is available, authorized and the industry needs access to the data in real time.

A central plant gateway communicates directly with the machines, offering modest real-time data accessibility.

The data can also pass through a local data collection application, which is installed alongside the edge devices for collection and pre-processing, offering a real-time view of the performance operations of the plant's machines. In this scenario, product updates and the acquisition of new KPIs will require a local "change-request".

Getting started with the Crave Platform is simple and doesn't require a huge amount of time or human resources. We start by working with you to:

Identify a potential list of projects.

Understand the data sources we will be working with, including machines, databases and systems, processes and human activities to be digitized.

Confirm the KPIs and specific information that stakeholders - executives, operations managers and the quality control and maintenance manager.

Customer resources generally include a manufacturing point of contact and an IT point of contact. Their responsibilities are mainly during integration and only to facilitate troubleshooting. Crave Industry provides a relationship manager, an automation engineer and a software engineer. Although other Crave Industry resources may be called upon during implementation, once the system is up and running, these are your main points of contact for commercial and technical issues.

No. As Crave Platform integration takes place in parallel with the control systems and MES platforms, it can be done without interruption to factory operations.

Our aim is to get Crave Platform up and running so that you can have access to the shop floor as quickly as possible. Although the complexity of the project can vary, our initial deployment target is generally 60 days after kick-off.

The Crave Platform is an open platform for data collection. Data sources supported by its infrastructure include: PLC terminals, inspection systems, maintenance systems, quality equipment, Excel spreadsheets, local data historians, MES, ERPs and digitization of parallel activities. The platform's plug-in architecture allows for the development of customized adapters to fit additional data sources/formats, ensuring that all the necessary information can be collected in an accurate and clean quality.

We understand that protecting private information is a priority for most installations. Crave Platform offers customers the option of configuring their platform to run in a private cloud. In addition, the solution offers and maintains a provisioned virtual private cloud to provide additional security.

Crave Platform offers a variety of KPIs, including uptime, OEE, performance, quality, maintenance, main types of defects, main reasons for machine downtime, average cycle time, deficiency notes and performance between shifts.

By collecting, classifying and understanding previously unseen data, the Crave Platform helps you achieve faster and more accurate visualization of root cause analysis, statistical process control, anomaly detection and other process and time-related problems. Although data collection is a necessary step, generating and storing data is not enough to create information. In order to transform data into information, it is necessary to process it, and this often requires statistical techniques and specific knowledge so that the database can be transformed into pattern and trend recognition. To do this, applications of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence make up the architecture of the solution, providing an intuitive dashboard with analyses that are more complex and assertive.

Yes. Crave Platform's alert functionality provides configuration tolerances for pre-specified measurements and machine data.

The Crave Platform is architected to handle data at the speed you need. The platform is designed to provide real-time feedback, so operations managers can identify and resolve any inefficiencies across the shop floor as soon as they occur. With updating processed at the edge with sub-second response times and KPIs aggregated into micro-batches at a pre-defined time, information can be consolidated and ready for analysis quickly.

No. The Crave Platform does not require additional software development for a fully functional solution. Unlike other IIoT platforms, the Crave Platform is a complete solution that runs on existing systems and software.

When the Internet service to an industry is interrupted, Crave Platform continues to collect and store data remotely. Once the connection is restored, the dashboards will be updated. Any closed-loop or on-site functionality will continue to work, even without cloud connectivity.

The Crave Platform has a very low IT load and post-implementation support is limited to maintaining network connectivity with the devices, and giving access to any new data sources that need integration.

Data security is a priority for Crave Platform, we understand that security is one of the concerns for our customers. To this end, our architecture is made up of authentication, authorization and encryption pillars which ensure that all data collected from the shop floor is and remains private, including:

1.All endpoints are on a secure VPN

2. all changes within the web interface are logged to create an audit trail

3. password and authentication management can be made to comply with your IT policies to ensure consistency and avoid additional work for your IT teams

You own all the data. If, for any reason, you stop working with Crave Platform, you can export all your data and we will no longer have access to any of your company's information.