Outcomes, Insights, and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds: Track & Trace Testbed
This article gathers information from Industrial Internet Consortium’s (IIC) Track and Trace
Testbed. The information and insights described in the subsequent paragraphs were captured in
an interview conducted by Joseph Fontaine, VP of Testbed Programs at IIC, with Michael Dietz,
Product Manager SAP Internet of Things at SAP SE, Andreas Mueller, Product Owner Intralogistics
Solutions at Robert Bosch GmbH and Dirk Slama, Vice President at Bosch Software Innovations
and Steering Committee Member of the IIC.
there is no acceleration, the tool is not used,
and vice versa. Sometimes it is necessary to
drill deeper and access the native APIs of the
tool to obtain information about how the
tools were used. In the case of tightening
tools, the objective is to achieve a tightening
curve that contains a certain top and angle
for each tightening process. The testbed
team has also deployed specialized sensors
that provide information about the
localization of the tools and assets in use.
Now, the testbed team has expanded this
from process tools to include tools used in
logistics – i.e., forklifts. The team is also
currently analyzing robotic systems for
autonomous transports in factories.
T ESTBED P ROFILE
The Track and Trace Testbed was the first
testbed approved by the IIC, kicking off the
now-robust testbed program on December
5, 2014. The basic idea of the Track and Trace
Testbed was to optimize a number of
different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
for industrial use cases. The initial focus was
on manufacturing, in particular, the use of
process tools. The testbed has been working
with tightening tools, drilling tools,
measurement tools, welding, riveting, etc.
The KPIs most heavily scrutinized were those
related to equipment efficiency on one side,
but also process performance, process
quality, and other. The original idea behind
the testbed was to discover what data could
be obtained from different sensors that
were already built into tools, or attached
externally in a retrofit style, in addition to
retrieving tool performance data. The
objective was and continues to be to gather
data from the sensors or from the tools
themselves to help optimize processes.
To further clarify the primary categories of
the Track and Trace Testbed: Tracking is
related to localization; Tracing is related to
the usage of the tools. The testbed team also
evaluates the combination of the two,
analyzing data when a tool is being used with
a specific configuration and calibration only
in a designated area.
Process Tools Use Case - Tracing
The Track and Trace Testbed is solving the
problem of finding the tools that are in use,
then ensuring their use for the work each is
programed to do, in the locale in which each
tool is permitted. For example, Program 87
is installed on a tightening tool, and Program
Sometimes, the data gathering is not
straightforward. For example, in the case of
an acceleration sensor, this sensor
technology can be used to derive
information about the usage of the tool. If
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June 2017