Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 57 No. 3 (September 2020)
1Proposal for “Manufacturing Solutions” through Digital
Transformation (DX)HIDEAKI YAMAMOTO*1

To continue to sustainably help customers and society by providing machine tools, it isnecessary for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd. to transform itself into acompany that can continuously change and grow while having the capability of responding torecent technological innovations and rapid changes in the social environment, etc.
In the world of business, the conventional trade of “tangibles” has been gradually takenover by that of “intangibles.” With a view to sustainable change and growth, our company
promotes digital transformation (DX) and offers, in relation to around machine tools,“manufacturing solutions” that enable us to coexist, live and create together with our customers,
thereby shifting the business focus to so-called “intangibles.” This report presents the details.

|1. Introduction
The environment surrounding us is changing rapidly, as represented by a decrease in thenumber of skilled engineers in Japan as they age and digital technology innovations such as IoT, AIand 5G. Under such circumstances, in addition to providing products (“tangibles”) such as machine
tools, demand for the offering of solutions (“intangibles”) such as “machining a raw material toproduce a product”—which is the purpose of introducing a machine tool in the first place—israpidly increasing.
Having been engaged in trading “tangibles” by selling machine tools and aftersales services,
we consider that we also need to focus more on providing “intangibles.” Specifically, it isnecessary to offer customers “manufacturing solutions” built around machine tools, which enable
us to coexist, live and create together with them.

|2. Business shift to delivering “intangibles” through digitaltransformation
When it comes to how to proceed with providing around machine tool-based “manufacturingsolutions” for coexistence, living and creation with customers, one approach is to promote digitaltransformation (DX).
DX represents the concept of “creating new value through the use of various digitaltechnologies such as IoT, AI and 5G to bring innovations to business,” which is the very challenge
we need to undertake to shift our business focus to providing “intangibles” (Figure 1). DX is the“revolution of data” by which large quantities of data are turned into a valuable asset. This indeed
coincides with the change in the direction of our business for offering “manufacturing solutions” as“intangibles” based on various types of data and information.
As described earlier, the environment surrounding us is changing rapidly. Under suchcircumstances with the rapidly increasing demand for “intangibles,” we promote and undertake thechallenge for DX and will further grow as a provider of “intangibles” (i.e., “manufacturingsolutions”) so that customers can benefit from a variety of services at every stage of production*1

Engineering Manager, Engineering Development Department, Engineering Headquarters, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Machine Tool Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 57 No. 3 (September 2020)2

activities (Figure 2).

Figure 1

Concept of digital transformation

Figure 2 “Manufacturing solutions” for coexistence, living and creation with customers
through DX|3.“Manufacturing solutions” for coexistence, living and creation
with customers
Figure 3 outlines our “manufacturing solutions” for coexistence, living and creation withcustomers. Since 2016, we have offered DIASCOPE® – a platform for IoT or AI, through whichmachine data are stored for use to deliver various services to customers as “manufacturingsolutions.” We are thus developing our business as a provider of “intangibles.”Figure 3 “Manufacturing solutions” for coexistence, living and creation with customers

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These “manufacturing solutions” include the following major system services: (1)
DIASCOPE® (remote monitoring and operation monitoring), (2) web portal, (3) machining
network, (4) e-Service (service support system) and (5) maintenance support. Based on the machinedata stored through DIASCOPE®, we help our customers with their production activities at allstages.

|4.“Manufacturing solutions” platform
Illustrated in Figure 4 is the platform used to provide “manufacturing solutions.” The major
system services such as DIASCOPE® and the web portal are configured in an integrated manner
within Microsoft’s cloud platform Microsoft Azure.

Figure 4 “Manufacturing solutions” platform

All the data about machine tools are stored in the cloud through DIASCOPE® and are linked
among the major system services. As shown in Figure 2, digital twinning is realized by seamlesslyinterrelating physical space and cyberspace. Consequently, it has become possible to use data incyberspace more efficiently and effectively, allowing us to optimally deliver a variety of services tocustomers in an integrated manner. In other words, with this platform being built to realize“Connected Industries,” we have established a system to help customers with multiple aspects of
their production activities. The service details will be given later in Section 6.

|5. IoT platform “DIASCOPE®”
The IoT platform required to provide “manufacturing solutions” is described below.
DIASCOPE® has been built as an IoT platform to support customers in optimizing their production
activities, the five features of which are (1) connecting, (2) monitoring, (3) diagnosis/prediction, (4)controll/Autnomous and (5) linking/optimization. Figure 5 shows the road map for DIASCOPE®.
As the functions associated with (1) connecting and (2) monitoring, “remote monitoring” and“operation monitoring” have been rolled out in the market. These two functions have been included
as standard in all shipped large machine tools, gear cutting machines, and micro milling machinessince April 2020. We have thus established a system by which “remote monitoring” and “operationmonitoring” services can be offered to all customers. Accordingly, the infrastructure to deliver“manufacturing solutions” through DX has been constructed.
In regard to the functions associated with (3) diagnosis/prediction, we are proceeding withthe test operation of “facility health monitoring,” “tool monitoring” and “machining qualitymonitoring.” These will be made available to customers accordingly.

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Figure 5

DIASCOPE® road map|6. Details of “manufacturing solutions” services
This section describes the services and functions to be provided as “manufacturingsolutions.”

6.1

Machining support through the web portal (machining network site)

In addition to conventional machining support, we will actively work on online support
through the web portal. To fully support customers in machining, the portal will contain a varietyof contents, so that customers can obtain necessary information whenever in need, and eventually aglobal support system for machining can be constructed.
Specifically, the portal services will include (1) the ability to download manuals and 3D data,(2) Web-NC school, (3) machining technique hotpline and (4) a machining conditions database.
These features will not only be available through the web browser of a computer, but in due course
will also become operable/browsable on the control panel of the latest machine models. Finally, as
noted in (5), everything will be offered online through the portal, including NC training course
application, to further improve the usability for customers.

6.2

Production improvement support through DIASCOPE®

With the use of DIASCOPE® operation monitoring, machine operation data can be obtainedin real time, and the machine status is browsable through the web browser. As the operation
monitoring screen is accessible from a smartphone or tablet if an internet connection is available,
the operational status of machines in a factory can be checked at any time (Figure 6).
The multi-angle analysis of data stored through operation monitoring can be used to improve
productivity or optimize facility operation. As an example of problem solving using DIASCOPE®,
we have a customer who wanted to shorten the time until the delivery of their products, but had nomeans to understand the detailed machine operational status or real-time progress in the production
process. With DIASCOPE® in use, however, it has become possible to understand the daily
operation rates and real-time progress in the construction through Gantt charts, successfully
reducing the time until delivery (Figure 7).

Figure 6

DIASCOPE® operation monitoringMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 57 No. 3 (September 2020)
5Figure 7

6.3

Real-time display of production process

Troubleshooting support with the use of DIASCOPE® (contact support service)

With DIASCOPE® remote monitoring in use, once notification of the occurrence of aproblem is made by the customer, we can remotely access the machine with the problem andprecisely advise the customer how to handle the situation based on the actual data of the machine,
thereby helping to reduce downtime (Figure 8).

Figure 8

6.4

DIASCOPE® remote monitoring

Troubleshooting support through the web portalAlthough we currently receive the customer inquiries for troubleshooting mainly by
telephone through our service support system e-Service, we will gradually proceed with automating
customer support services including FAQs and chatbots through the web portal. Further
improvement of customer satisfaction will be attempted by enhancing service quality during thenight and public holidays and improving the global service system. The data for the FAQs andchatbots will be augmented by learning based on the service information stored in e-Service, so that
more intelligent advice can be provided.
By presenting the portal contents that make it possible to manage the information of ourservice history and that of a customer’s maintenance history in an integrated manner, our proposal
for support in cooperation with the customer will be fine-tuned in terms of quality and will be easy
to adopt.

6.5

Inspection/repair support through the web portal

In addition to troubleshooting support, we will also help customers to carry out inspections
and repairs on their own. Specifically, the portal contents will include (1) alarm search (search for
how to respond at the time of alarm), (2) maintenance videos to search/view and (3) maintenanceinformation for browsing. The contents will not only be available through the web browser of acomputer, but will also become operable/browsable on the control panel of machines that will be
newly launched.

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66.6

Maintenance support inspection and repair support

While IoT and DX are introduced widely, old machine models are often incompatible. As
some customers prefer maintenance inspection by experts from the machine’s manufacturer, wealso offer a maintenance support service that is a machine tool version of a thorough medical
check-up. By allowing us to conduct maintenance support work (regular inspection), it will become
possible to detect abnormalities at an early stage and prevent the occurrence of machine tool
shutdown due to sudden failures, thereby helping customers to operate their facilities in a stablemanner. Online registration will be available through the web portal, including requests for themaintenance support service and the purchase of service parts.

|7. Conclusion
Since April 2020, DIASCOPE® has been included as a standard feature. Building this system
to collect data from machine tools, we now have the infrastructure to deliver “manufacturingsolutions” through DX. Our business as a provider of “manufacturing solutions” through DX has
just begun.
By continuously providing tailored, more effective “manufacturing solutions” over the whole
life cycle such as productivity improvement and machining , trouble support, maintenance support
based on the data stored through DIASCOPE®, we help customers to optimize their production
activities and work toward our goal to coexist, live and create with them.
The product information available at:https://www.mhi-machinetool.com/support/diascope.html
DIASCOPE is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd.
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Corporation of the U.S. in the United States and other countries.