Apple this week held its first Smart Manufacturing Forum for SMBs event in South Korea at the Apple Manufacturing R&D Support Center. It’s not only an education and research hub, it also builds smart process related equipment, potentially for use across Apple’s supply chain.
The special event underscores the company’s focus on Industry 4.0 at the heart of its APAC manufacturing chain in South Korea.
Apple’s Industry 4.0 research center
The event took place at the $55 million research and training hub in Pohang that Apple was forced to build in 2021 to settle a case with South Korea’s FTC. This facility was designed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) learn about Apple’s manufacturing techniques, while also serving as an innovation hub for developers.
Apple promised that the center would, “provide training for using advanced smart technologies well aligned with environment protection.”
Subsequent reports indicate this is the world’s first such center created by Apple.
Bridging the smart industry gap
The Smart Manufacturing Forum was opened by Priya Balasubramaniam, an Apple vice president from the operations team. “Not many companies have bridged the gap between conventional and smart manufacturing,” she said, according to The Korea Herald. “Many, especially small and medium-scale enterprises, don’t know where to begin. At Apple, we believe that we can help bridge this gap. And we saw an opportunity to work toward that mission here,”
Participants were given the chance to learn about the latest manufacturing technologies. They heard lectures from Apple officials, academics, and women leaders in the manufacturing arena. Speakers included people Postech, SMBs, and thought leaders from AI and machine learning.
World Economic Forum Lighthouse companies also took part, including Posco, LG Electronics, LS Electric, and Kenvue, all of which discussed what they know about smart manufacturing. Those on hand also got experience with smart manufacturing processes.
How Apple thinks about smart industry
The sessions were arranged across three primary pillars: Smart Data, Smart Process, and Smart Quality, and explored real-life applications of Apple’s machine vision intelligence in manufacturing and predictive maintenance.
This likely shows us both the importance of applied machine vision intelligence in the company’s products, as well as its outlook for future implementation of such sophisticated tech in the future.
The Machine Learning With Vision track for example, included:
An explanation of vision-based algorithms and their practical applications;
How to use the Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) framework for image inspection;
How to use vision to detect issues in sample products;
The scope and power of ML models;
How to build an ML model with Create ML to identify defects
in nuts and bolts;
Part identification using an ML model.
Of course, these kinds of industrial solutions aren’t unique…
2023-07-02 14:24:03
Source from www.computerworld.com rnrn