All articles on "Solutions"

Basics of Site Improvement - The True Nature and Elimination of "Muri," "Muda," and "Mura" Lurking in Smart Factories

Money is being spent to promote the shift to smart factories. Despite this fact, production efficiency is not increasing as much as expected. "Muri" (Unreasonableness), "Muda" (Waste), and "Mura" (Inconsistencies) may be lurking in those processes. Why do unreasonableness, waste, and inconsistencies occur in smart factories, and why can't they be discovered? This article explains the reasons and countermeasures to deal with this problem.

• Smart Factory
• m-FLIP

Supporting the Transition away from Fossil Fuels with the Power of Electronic Components

Microgrids: Promoting Local Production for Local Consumption of Renewable Energy

We explain here the underlying technologies necessary to build microgrids, which are power systems to effectively utilize renewable energy. We also describe the relationship with smart grids, which have a similar but different technological concept.

• Carbon neutrality
• Renewable energy
• RE100
• Microgrid
• Smart grid
• ESS

Turning Offices with Hot Desking into the Ideal Space - Case Study of Hot Desking Using the Pifaa Seating Management System

With the rise of working from home and staggered working hours, the way people use offices is becoming more diverse. At Murata Manufacturing we employ our own proprietary Pifaa Seating Management System to realize hot desking in the company in a way that can meet the diverse needs of our employees. In this article, we speak to the staff who were involved in the design, development, and implementation of the system about its introduction and operation, and their future goals.

• Developer Interview

Making Use of Sensor Fusion in Smart Factories

Sensor fusion refers to technology that combines data obtained from multiple sensors in order to extract more useful information. Today, the wave of sensor fusion technology is indispensable to the advancement of the manufacturing industry, particularly smart factories. This article describes the utilization of sensor fusion in smart factories.

• Sensors
• Smart Factory
• m-FLIP

Ideal State of Equipment Maintenance: Technology That Realizes Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is considered the ideal form of equipment maintenance, which has evolved from breakdown maintenance to preventive maintenance. However, it is also true that there is currently no established method that realizes predictive maintenance. Accordingly, we will now explain how to utilize sensor fusion, AI, and edge AI to provide hints to realizing predictive maintenance based on basic knowledge of equipment maintenance.

• Maintenance
• IIoT
• IoT
• DX
• m-FLIP

Report on Murata's Participation in the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2023

Murata Manufacturing participated in the Automotive Engineering Exposition. This is an automobile technology exhibition that was held in Yokohama from May 24 to 26, 2023 and in Nagoya from July 5 to 7, 2023. We now introduce here the solutions we have proposed for the electrification, automation, connectivity, and otherwise of automobiles with a focus on the exhibition at the Nagoya venue.

• Electric Vehicle (EV)
• Battery
• ADAS
• Automated Driving
• CASE
• Sensors
• Communication Module
• RFID products
• Thermistors
• Capacitor
• MF100 Fatigue Stress Meter

Pitfalls in the Conversion of Regular Factories into Smart Factories Seen in Data

We conducted a questionnaire with 500 people involved in promoting the conversion of regular factories into smart factories. We introduce here the issues we found from the questionnaire results and the solutions aimed at resolving those issues.

• Smart Factory
• DX
• IoT
• IIoT
• m-FLIP

DX×Murata: The future of manufacturing that is evolving through DX

Digital Transformation Viewed From the Challenge of Business Model Reform

Mr. Horibe, who is involved in solution development, and Mr. Higuchi, who supports problem-solving from a data science perspective, introduce the topic of business model reform through digital transformation (DX) based on an example of cooperation in wireless sensing solutions using wireless sensor networks (WSN).

• DX

“PIECLEX”, the Electricity-Generating Fibers: Untold Development Story (Applications and Outlook)

In the last issue “Technology and Challenges,” we introduced the advantages of PIECLEX, the inspiration behind its development, and the technical challenges on the road to productization. In this issue titled “Applications and Outlook,” we asked the developers about the potentials and future prospect of PIECLEX as well its social impact concerning the environmental issues.

• Developer Interview
• Antimicrobial
• Carbon neutrality
• Recycling
• Piezoelectricity
• Fibers

“PIECLEX”, the Electricity-Generating Fibers: Untold Development Story (Technology and Challenges)

“PIECLEX” is a type of fabric based on the completely new concept of “Stretch-driven Antimicrobial” that was developed by PIECLEX Co., Ltd., a company that was jointly launched by Murata Manufacturing and Teijin Frontier. We spoke with Mr. Shiomi and Mr. Takumi, two developers at PIECLEX, about the behind-the-scenes development of this new fabric. In this “Technology Explainer Section,” we introduce the advantages of PIECLEX, the inspiration behind its development, and the technical challenges on the road to productization.

• Developer Interview
• Antimicrobial
• Carbon neutrality
• Recycling
• Piezoelectricity
• Fibers