Hitachi Vantara Expands Digital Manufacturing Solutions to Help Accelerate Manufacturing 4.0 Initiatives

  • Hitachi Vantara today announced an expanded set of offerings to help manufacturers accelerate Manufacturing 4.0 initiatives and to assist with safely restarting production in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • New Manufacturing Practice Delivers Digital Solutions, Services and Consulting To Address Operational and Worker Safety Challenges Presented by COVID-19.

  • Hitachi Vantara Expands Lumada Manufacturing Insights Solutions To Address Health, Safety, Environmental and Supply-Chain Challenges.


Hitachi Vantara, the digital infrastructure and solutions subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., today announced an expanded set of offerings to help manufacturers accelerate Manufacturing 4.0 initiatives and to assist with safely restarting production in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many manufacturers, the pandemic has not only affected worker health and safety, it has impacted demand, interrupted production, exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains, and driven an urgent need to modernize operations.

Read more: Mettler Toledo to Showcase Its Latest Manufacturing Innovations Through a Virtual Exhibition

Dramatic variations in production capacity and demand illustrate the new stresses being placed on manufacturing supply chains and production planning: after the onset of COVID-19, industrial production in the United States experienced the steepest decline since 1946, yet daily U.S. e-commerce sales jumped 49%.

Hitachi Vantara's new manufacturing practice and its expanded portfolio of digital manufacturing solutions, services and consulting services aims to help manufacturers adapt to these immediate challenges. It also promises to help manufacturers lay the foundations for the digitalization of health, safety and environment (HS&E), asset insights, predictive quality, and operations optimization.

The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing a litany of challenges for manufacturers that highlight how important unlocking data and digital industrial innovation is to the industry's future. With our powerful IT and OT experience, Hitachi Vantara can uniquely inspire, envision, architect and accelerate digital transformation that solves today's challenges and prepares manufacturers for the challenges of tomorrow.

- James Destro, general manager, Manufacturing Practice, Hitachi Vantara


New Lumada Video Analytics Solutions for Smart Spaces Address a Top Priority: A Safe Return to Production

Worker health and safety are primary concerns for manufacturers restarting their operations during COVID-19. The expanded portfolio of digital solutions for manufacturing from Hitachi Vantara includes health, safety and environment solutions leveraging Lumada Video Insights technologies which can be configured for applications such as elevated body temperature identification and hand-washing detection.

Practice Helps Manufacturers Lay Foundations for Digital Transformation

COVID-19 has revealed many manufacturers' overreliance on manual processes and operations, and the lack of visibility that many manufacturing line managers and executives have into their supply chains. Both hinder manufacturers' ability to respond dynamically during times of uncertain demand.

Modernizing and digitalizing such capabilities will be essential for manufacturers to recover from the pandemic quickly, and to create the more agile and resilient manufacturing operations needed in the future. This is another focus of Hitachi Vantara's new manufacturing practice.

Hitachi Vantara Expands Lumada Manufacturing Insights Portfolio

Hitachi Vantara today also announced the expansion of Lumada Manufacturing Insights solutions with new domains that help manufacturers address health, safety and environment, supply chain optimization, asset insights, predictive quality, and operations optimization.

Lumada Manufacturing Insights is a portfolio of industrial internet-of-things (IoT) solutions that empowers manufacturers to improve operations through data-driven insights. The portfolio delivers benefits such as improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), superior operations efficiency, and product quality optimization through predictive and prescriptive insights.

Read more: Volkswagen Uses Automated Operations Planning to Increase Manufacturing Volume

About Hitachi Vantara:

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., guides our customers from what's now to what's next by solving their digital challenges. Working alongside each customer, we apply our unmatched industrial and digital capabilities to their data and applications to benefit both business and society. More than 80% of the Fortune 100 trust Hitachi Vantara to help them develop new revenue streams, unlock competitive advantages, lower costs, enhance customer experiences, and deliver social and environmental value.

About Hitachi, Ltd.:

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is focusing on Social Innovation Business combining its operational technology, information technology and products. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2018 (ended March 31, 2019) totaled 9,480.6 billion yen ($85.4 billion), and the company has approximately 296,000 employees worldwide. Hitachi delivers digital solutions utilizing Lumada in five sectors including Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy and IT, to increase our customer's social, environmental and economic value.

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PsiQuantum, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mitsubishi Chemical Announce Partnership to Design Energy-Efficient Materials on PsiQuantum’s

PsiQuantum | January 30, 2024

PsiQuantum and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced that they are beginning work with Mitsubishi Chemical Group on a joint project to simulate excited states of photochromic molecules which have widespread industrial and residential potential applications such as the development of smart windows, energy-efficient data storage, solar energy storage and solar cells, and other photoswitching use cases. Qlimate, a PsiQuantum-led initiative that includes MUFG as a partner, focuses on using fault-tolerant quantum computing to crack the most challenging computational problems and accelerate the development of scalable breakthroughs across climate technologies, including more energy-efficient materials. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is committed to supporting the world’s transition to a sustainable future, and to encourage industry access to the most promising breakthrough technologies. By pioneering PsiQuantum’s Qlimate solutions with industry leader Mitsubishi Chemical, MUFG is at the forefront of quantum computing for sustainability. This joint project will determine whether high-accuracy estimates of excited state properties are feasible on early-generation fault-tolerant quantum computers, specifically focusing on diarylethenes used for energy-efficient photoswitching applications. The project will allow Mitsubishi Chemical to gain early insights into how and when fault-tolerant quantum computing can be deployed in support of critical, scalable, sustainable materials. Because predicting the optical properties of materials requires complex analysis of excited states, standard algorithmic techniques for simulating these molecules (such as the Density Functional Theory, or DFT) often produce qualitatively incorrect results. The project will bring together Mitsubishi Chemical’s deep experience of computational chemistry and PsiQuantum’s leading expertise in fault-tolerant quantum computing to push the boundaries of approaching the complex physics in these systems and pave the way to developing new, more powerful energy-efficient photonic materials. Philipp Ernst, Head of Solutions at PsiQuantum, said: “PsiQuantum has dedicated teams who identify, describe and solve complex problem sets with best-in-class quantum algorithms. These are designed specifically to run on fault-tolerant quantum computers and will tackle previously-impossible computational challenges. This partnership will leverage our team’s unique know-how and Mitsubishi Chemical’s expertise in photochromic materials. We are grateful for MUFG’s visionary support in our mission to deploy high-impact quantum computing solutions to fight climate change.” Suguru Azegami, Managing Director, Sustainable Business Division, MUFG said: “We are excited to partner with PsiQuantum and Mitsubishi Chemical on our journey to explore possibilities of quantum computing technologies to solve the imminent global challenge. PsiQuantum’s vision to develop the first utility scale quantum computer before the end of the decade has inspired us, which led our initiative to participate in the Qlimate partnership as the first and sole member from Japan. Mitsubishi Chemical is leading efforts to use the cutting-edge technology to develop next generation materials and we are honored to support the company as its long term financial partner.” Qi Gao, Senior Chief Scientist, Mitsubishi Chemical said: “We are pleased to be part of the partnership and are grateful for MUFG’s support. Mitsubishi Chemical’s over 40 years background in computational chemistry and PsiQuantum’s domain specific knowledge for quantum control is a great fit with the collaboration effort of improving calculation accuracy on quantum device. We hope the partnership will accelerate the innovation of revolutionizing computational studies in chemistry and materials science.” About PsiQuantum PsiQuantum is a private company, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The company’s only mission is to build and deploy the world’s first useful, large-scale quantum computer. Many teams around the world today have demonstrated prototype quantum computing systems, but it is widely accepted that much larger systems are necessary in order to unlock transformational applications across drug discovery, climate technologies, finance, transportation, security & defense and beyond. PsiQuantum’s photonic approach enables rapid scaling via direct leverage of high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and cryogenic infrastructure. The company is partnered with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and Sci-Tech Daresbury in the United Kingdom. About Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world’s leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with approximately 2,000 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has about 160,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to “be the world’s most trusted financial group” through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges. About the Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation (TSE: 4188) is a specialty materials group with an unwavering commitment to lead with innovative solutions to achieve KAITEKI, the well-being of people and the planet. We bring deep expertise and material science leadership in core market segments such as mobility, digital, medical and food. In this way, we enable industry transformation, technology breakthroughs, and longer, more fruitful lives for us all. Together, around 70,000 employees worldwide provide advanced chemistry-based solutions to deliver the core elements of our slogan — “Science. Value. Life.”

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Manufacturing Technology

MaxLinear Launches Product Design Kit for Active Electrical Cables Using Keystone PAM4 DSP

MaxLinear | February 02, 2024

MaxLinear, Inc. a leading provider of high-speed interconnect ICs enabling data center, metro, and wireless transport networks, announced the availability of a comprehensive product design kit (PDK) to optimize performance and accelerate the time to market for high-speed Active Electrical Cables (AEC) using MaxLinear’s 5nm PAM4 DSP, Keystone. The PDK is a cost-cutting and time-saving tool for cable manufacturers who want to quickly integrate Keystone into their active electrical cables. MaxLinear’s Keystone PAM4 DSP offers a significant power advantage in AEC applications, which is increasingly becoming a critical factor for hyperscale data centers. The use of 5nm CMOS technology enables designers and manufacturers to build high-speed cables that meet the need for low power, highly integrated, high performance interconnect solutions that will drive the next generation of hyperscale cloud networks. Manufacturers taking advantage of MaxLinear’s PDK to optimize cable designs using Keystone PAM4 DSP will gain a distinct advantage over competitor solutions when trying to maximize reach and minimize power consumption. The PDK makes Keystone easy to integrate with strong applications support, multiple tools to optimize and monitor performance, and reference designs (SW and HW) to accelerate integration. Sophisticated software allows for quick design optimization for the lowest possible power consumption and maximizing cable reach. Cable designers can constantly monitor performance, route signals from any port to any port, and take advantage of hitless firmware upgrades. “MaxLinear is focused on providing not only industry-leading interconnect technologies but also a comprehensive suite of tools to support our manufacturing and design partners,” said Drew Guckenberger, Vice President of High Speed Interconnect at MaxLinear. “Our development kit for our Keystone products provides them with a path to take products to market more quickly and more cost-effectively.” Active electrical cables (AECs) are revolutionizing data center connections. Unlike passive cables, they actively boost signals, allowing for longer distances (up to 7 meters for 400G), higher bandwidth, and thinner, lighter cables. This makes them ideal for high-speed applications like top-of-rack connections (connecting switches to servers within the same rack); direct digital control (enabling flexible interconnectivity within racks and across rows); and breakout solutions (splitting high-speed connections into multiple lower-speed channels). The high-speed interconnect market – which includes active optical cables, active electrical cables, direct attach copper cables, and others – is expected to grow to $17.1B by 2028, up from $10.7B in 2021 according to a market forecast report from The Insight Partners. The Keystone Family The Keystone 5nm DSP family caters to 400G and 800G applications, featuring a groundbreaking 106.25Gbps host side electrical I/O, aligning with the line side interface rate. Available variants support single-mode optics (EML and SiPh), multimode optics and Active Electrical Cables (AECs), offering comprehensive solutions with companion TIAs. Host side interfaces cover ethernet rates of 25G, 50G, and 100G per lane over C2M, MR, and LR host channels. The line side interfaces, tailored for 100G/λ DR, FR, and LR applications, also support these rates. These devices boast extensive DSP functionality, encompassing line-side transmitter DPD, TX FIR, receiver FFE, and DFE. With exceptional performance and signal integrity, these DSPs occupy a compact footprint (12mm x 13mm), ideal for next-gen module form-factors like QSFP-DD800 and OSFP800. Additionally, they are available as Known Good Die (KGD) for denser applications, such as OSFP-XD. About MaxLinear, Inc. MaxLinear, Inc. is a leading provider of radio frequency (RF), analog, digital, and mixed-signal integrated circuits for access and connectivity, wired and wireless infrastructure, and industrial and multimarket applications. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. MaxLinear, the MaxLinear logo, any other MaxLinear trademarks are all property of MaxLinear, Inc. or one of MaxLinear's subsidiaries in the U.S.A. and other countries. All rights reserved.

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Additive Manufacturing

Teledyne Relays Unveils Innovative Multi-Function Timer Series

Teledyne Relays, Inc. | January 29, 2024

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