The partners said the alliance will work to ensure stable communications in smart manufacturing environments where various wireless systems coexist
A group of companies and research institutions in Japan have formed the Flexible Factory Partner Alliance (FFPA) in order to encourage the use of IoT in smart manufacturing use cases.
Vendors NEC, Fujitsu, Omron, Sanritz Automation and Murata Machinery have joined with the Kyoto-based Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and the Tokyo-based National Institute of Information and Communications Technology to promote new standards for coordination control technology for smart manufacturing, also a major focus in Europe.
The partners said the new alliance will work to ensure stable communications in an environment where various wireless systems coexist, as well as to promote their use and further accelerate the adoption of wireless systems in smart manufacturing facilities. The partners will also seek to spread the use of IoT in manufacturing facilities.
The partners said that a major issue in wireless communications in factories where various wireless systems coexist is communication instability due to interference between wireless systems and the impact that it has on equipment operation.
The member entities already have proposals for smart manufacturing coordination control technology that provide the necessary stability, controlling independent wireless systems for each piece of equipment, with specific use cases in actual manufacturing facilities.
With the formation of the new alliance, they can now promote the formulation of standards for coordination control technology. The alliance also says that it intends to develop specifications relating to the technology to stabilize various wireless systems with coordination control. It will also pursue various activities to standardize these specifications and to promote the application of wireless communications in manufacturing factories.
