OMRON to Launch Succession of AI-Equipped Controllers from Fiscal Year 2017

KYOTO, Japan, April 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OMRON Corporation has announced its plan to successively incorporate artificial intelligence (AI)/Internet of things (IoT) technologies into its factory automation (FA) equipment up to 2020 in a bid to offer solutions to the social issues facing many manufacturing businesses, such as the shortage of skilled engineers and rising labor costs.

By equipping FA equipment with optimal AI algorithms to replace the knowledge and intuition of skilled engineers with AI, OMRON supports manufacturing businesses that are troubled by the lack of engineering workers and surging labor costs, thus working to realize the "manufacturing floors of the future" in which "machines bring out human capabilities and creativity".

OMRON is the only FA equipment manufacturer in the world that has all of the necessary equipment for automating manufacturing sites under one umbrella, including sensors and other input devices, motors and other output devices, safety devices, and robots. So far, OMRON has constantly provided its customer businesses with a variety of benefits made possible by the world's cutting-edge information technology through such initiatives as renovation of programmable logic controllers' architecture into one that is software-based and suitable for informatization, and proactive use of EtherCAT, IO-Link and other open networks. Based on its many years of experience and knowhow in developing FA equipment to help its customers solve their manufacturing issues, OMRON believes that it is important to implement optimal AI algorithms that are carefully selected for each piece of equipment in order to replace experienced workers' skills with AI on manufacturing floors.

At present, OMRON is conducting demonstrations at its own and customers' factories in the Netherlands, China and Japan to determine how different types of FA equipment can be equipped with AI algorithms and how such equipment can be made IoT-capable.

Following its 2015 statement that it would make all of its 100,000 varieties of FA equipment IoT-capable, OMRON has begun releasing related equipment, while at the same time acquiring knowhow on AI-equipped mobile robots and other industrial robot types, as well as the world's finest motion control technology, and offering such technologies globally. This April saw the release of a temperature controller featuring AI, the first of its kind in the FA industry. By integrating the world's most extensive FA equipment line with AI, IoT, robotics and other state-of-the-art technologies, OMRON is enhancing its products and technologies that help solve issues on manufacturing floors.

Going forward, in a bid to turn IoT and AI technologies into handy "tools" on manufacturing floors, OMRON plans to equip sensors, as well as machine automation controllers, with optimal AI algorithms in order to complete its plan to make all of its FA equipment AI-/IoT-capable by 2020. OMRON will remain committed to realizing manufacturing processes that "produce no defects and do not stop" by using its original AI-equipped, IoT-capable devices to monitor the status of equipment and processes and assure product quality in its ongoing effort to resolve the social issues that trouble manufacturing businesses, including the shortage of skilled engineers and the rises in labor costs.

About OMRON Corporation

OMRON Corporation is a global leader in the field of automation based on its core technology of sensing and control+think. OMRON's business fields cover a broad spectrum, ranging from industrial automation and electronic components to automotive electronic components, social infrastructure systems, healthcare and environmental solutions. Established in 1933, OMRON has about 38,000 employees worldwide, working to provide products and services in more than 110 countries. In the field of industrial automation, OMRON supports manufacturing innovation by providing advanced automation technologies and products, as well as through extensive customer support, in order to help create a better society. For more information, visit OMRON's website: http://www.omron.com/

* EtherCAT (R) is a registered trademark and patented technology, licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Germany.

SOURCE OMRON Corporation

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