The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

109 MANU FAC TUR I NG & R E SOUR C E S learning algorithms for its machine inspection processes with Azure cloud services. Meanwhile in Switzerland, industrial equip- ment manufacturer Bühler Group developed its Bühler Insights platform which uses Microsoft Azure Data Explorer to drive ambitious sus- tainability targets through its customers’ value chains. Customers connect their industrial equipment and automation software to the plat- form, enabling the daily transmission of millions of telemetry messages. They can then access and explore their technology data at a granular level using microservice application programming interfaces (APIs), with key performance indica- tors and benchmarks to help them to optimise production processes. As well as supplying the data its customers need to do their jobs better, the company can leverage data from across the world for advanced analytics, data science solutions, benchmarking and reference points. Using dashboards tailored to each person’s role, customers can achieve transparency into each of their production arms and focus on specific points in their processes, so they can see how and where to make improvements. Smartmanufacturing isnot just about connecting people and systems. Leading Microsoft partners are helping manufacturers to harness advanced MR technologies that connect virtual and physical worlds, bringing new possibilities for collabora- tion, skills development and safe, productive work. “Whole new realms of product development effi- ciency become possible when companies imple- ment the latest digital twin solutions and MR like Microsoft HoloLens,” says Masson. “This allows manufacturers to interact with their prototypes in dramatic new ways – at scale and in the context of the eventual customer use case. With this contex- tual view, they can more quickly move products from concept to completion. They can edit digital twins on the spot, share them with stakeholders via video calls or augmented reality, and quickly incorporate real-time feedback to accelerate the iterative development process.” Theorem Solutions helps companies to visual- ise and share 3D product data in MR, using companies’ existing computer aided design (CAD) and product lifecycle management assets. Theorem has taken its years of knowledge and experience of working with 3D CAD and visual- isation assets to leverage these in MR, creating a suite of visualisation solutions for engineer- ing and manufacturing running on Microsoft’s HoloLens. These experiences enable users to upload 3D CAD data into HoloLens quickly and easily, allowing engineers and designers to expe- rience their 3D data spatially, at full scale and in context, working collaboratively to undertake a