FOCUS ON DIGITALISATION
Digital twin in production
Mercedes-Benz is developing new production techniques with NVIDIA . The company is harnessing its competence in platforms , data and artificial intelligence ( AI ). For the plant expansion at the Hungarian site in Kecskemét , Mercedes-Benz has created a completely digital depiction of the entire hall for the first time . For this , the company relies on NVIDIA Omniverse , a platform for developing Universal Scene Description ( OpenUSD ) applications for industrial digitalisation , such as digital twins .
The digital twin includes the entire building and the infrastructure in it as well as break areas and changing rooms for the employees . With the digital twin for production , assembly areas can be planned , retooled and inspected virtually while taking into account the need for short distances , sufficiently wide aisles and even fire protection . The virtual ramp-up guarantees the increased speed , transparency and flexibility of production processes without the obligation to use cost-intensive hardware . In simulation runs , savings can be made .
“ By leveraging Omniverse , we can interact directly with our suppliers and reduce coordination processes by 50 %. Using a digital twin doubles the speed for converting or constructing an assembly hall , while improving the quality of the processes . With the data collected in the virtual world , assembly processes can be optimised even faster and potential errors can be detected at an early stage — without ‘ real world ’ interference ,” explained Mercedes-Benz .
Efficiency through AI
In addition , the introduction of Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) unlocks new energy and cost savings . The Rastatt plant is being used to pioneer digital production in the paint shop .
Mercedes-Benz watches the virtual factory using NVIDIA Omniverse .
AI helped to create efficiency gains in topcoat booths , where vehicle chassis get their paint and protection layers .
“ Instead of a conventional programmable logic controller ( PLC ), AI took over the
The introduction of Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) unlocks new energy and cost savings
monitoring of the relevant sub-processes in the pilot testing which led to energy savings of 20 % when compared to conventional PLC control . In addition , AI has enormously reduced the time required to boot the process . The successful application of AI-controlled process engineering is an important step in the digitalisation of production and is now being rolled out to other plants ,” outlined Mercedes- Benz .
Last May , Mercedes-Benz launched a ChatGPT project within the production digital ecosystem MO360 to optimise production processes and accelerate the identification of defects . With the “ democratisation of data ”, important production data can be retrieved by many employees . This allows them to evaluate processes and data in real-time .
The Mercedes-Benz Operating System ( MB . OS ), developed on a chipto-cloud architecture , will be used in series production for the first time .
“ MB . OS in the vehicle and the technologies in production derived from it enable ten times faster software updates than before , while simultaneously increasing the amount of data . Due to the direct link of production to the Mercedes Intelligent Cloud ( MIC ), all vehicles leave production ‘ always up-to-date .’ Software optimisations can be rolled out globally within just a few hours , which significantly increases the safety and quality of the vehicles and ensures compliance with increased certification requirements ,” concluded Mercedes-Benz .
The MIC is directly connected to the MO360 Data Platform within the development , production and fleet operations network . The MIC is responsible for software update packages and installation processes . Both are linked via an intelligent analysis interface so that every employee can read and analyse the current software status of any vehicle in the network using the MO360 Data Platform . This is supported by an app for intelligent defect diagnosis ( predictive failure prevention ). The app detects potential errors at an early stage and uses an intelligent algorithm during the production process to provide instructions for quality assurance . n
Artificial intelligence ( AI ) improves efficiency in paint shops . The Rastatt plant achieves energy savings of 20 % in the energy-intensive topcoat process . https :// group . mercedesbenz . com / en /
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