SPARKL® Ensures Quality Assurance for GSK with Intel-based Sensors
Managing the behavior of distributed, heterogeneous machines in manufacturing environments is often encumbered by a “black box” approach to system development.
Managing the behavior of distributed, heterogeneous machines in manufacturing environments is often encumbered by a “black box” approach to system development whereby devices are designed to perform a static set of tasks – and those tasks only. This is the case in the pharmaceutical industry, where manufacturing processes can be outdated, but cost, complexity, and regulatory constraints restrict process modernization and equipment upgrades.
In an effort to adopt Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) manufacturing practices, British pharma company GSK loaded SPARKL finite state machines (FSMs) onto wirelessly enabled Intel® Arduino and Edison boards to create digital profiles of physical assets. The clones, connected to real-world system components and each other, then monitored system performance and transmitted the data across an IT network – all without disturbing the installed equipment.
In a white paper based on the GSK and SPARKL proof of concept (PoC), manufacturing automation and quality assurance professionals will learn:
- How FSM technology and detection algorithms can be used to represent and control execution flows for individual asset events
- How SPARKL’s FSM technology can be integrated with Cisco Spark and the EVRYTHNG platform to notify administrators of anomalous events or behavior
- How the solution was integrated into GSK’s pharmaceutical manufacturing environment to eliminate unnecessary tasks, predict failures, and extend equipment lifetime