Apple is serious about Industry 4.0

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457 Views - 04/07/2023

Apple this week hosted the "First Smart Manufacturing Forum" event for SMBs in Korea at the Apple Manufacturing R&D Support Center.

Apple is serious about Industry 4.0

Apple knows its products are used throughout the manufacturing industry; This week, they held a special event dedicated to Industry 4.0 at the heart of the APAC production chain in Korea.

Not only is it a hub for education and research, it's also building smart process-related devices that are usable in Apple's supply chain.

This special event highlights the company's focus on Industry 4.0 at the heart of the APAC production chain in Korea.

1. Apple Industry 4.0 Research Center
The event took place at the $55 million research and training center in Pohang that Apple was forced to build in 2021 to settle a lawsuit with South Korea's FTC. The facility is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) learn about Apple's manufacturing techniques, and serves as an innovation hub for developers.

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Apple promises that the center will "provide training to use advanced smart technologies in accordance with environmental protection".

Subsequent reports showed that this was the world's first center created by Apple.

2. Bridging the smart industry gap
The Smart Manufacturing Forum was opened by Priya Balasubramaniam, Apple's vice president from the operations team. "Not many companies bridge the gap between conventional and smart manufacturing," she said, according to The Korea Herald. "Many people, especially SMEs, don't know where to start. At Apple, we believe we can help close this gap. And we saw an opportunity to do so. working towards that mission here."

Participants had the opportunity to learn about the latest production technologies. They heard lectures from Apple officials, academics, and female leaders in manufacturing. Speakers include Postech people, SMBs, and thought leaders from AI and machine learning.

World Economic Forum Lighthouse companies also participated, including Posco, LG Electronics, LS Electric and Kenvue, all of whom discussed what they know about smart manufacturing. The people at hand also have experience with smart manufacturing processes.

3. What does Apple think about the smart industry?
The sessions are organized on three key pillars: Intelligent Data, Intelligent Process, and Smart Quality, and explore real-world applications of Apple's machine vision intelligence in manufacturing and maintenance. keep predicting.

This could show us both the importance of machine vision intelligence being applied to the company's products, as well as the prospect of implementing such sophisticated technology in the future.

For example, follow Machine Learning With Vision, including:

Explanation of vision-based algorithms and their practical applications;
How to use the Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) framework to inspect images;
How to use vision to spot problems in prototypes;
Range and power of ML models;
How to build an ML model with Create ML to identify defects in nuts and bolts;
Part identification using ML model.

Of course, these types of industrial solutions are not unique to Apple. They are already used on production lines today, and Apple clearly hopes to unlock innovation in intelligent industrial processes. You can anticipate widespread use of any great idea that emerges from the research center to spread across Apple's supply chain and diversify across factories and other locations.

4. Produce as a product
This is important, because while Apple's adventure in Industry 4.0 isn't the first thing most of us think of when thinking about the company that invented the iPod, the reality is how it works. The company's dynamics mean it's deeply immersed in production design. Its specialists not only develop products, they also build manufacturing processes for those products in cooperation with third-party suppliers. Why doesn't the company explore how to improve, or even monetize, some of what it learns?

It's easy to imagine part of Apple's work in smart industry development would involve unlocking more eco-friendly manufacturing processes and adopting renewable energy sources. With a view towards carbon goals and continuing to work to convince third party suppliers to become carbon neutral, a research center to identify technology solutions to enable this empowers for core business goals.