Is Liveline right for your plant?

Our approach to factory automation is most beneficial in industrial settings where there is at least a minimal level of complexity. Often this means one or more of the following:

  • Multiple processing stages or pieces of equipment;

  • Multiple types of process physics (such as forming, heating, reactions, etc.);

  • Difficult tradeoffs with multiple constraints; and/or

  • Some degree of “art” required by experienced operators to keep the line running.

Usually, there is not a large benefit to automating a single piece of equipment with Liveline when more traditional technologies may be available.

Applicable process types

Liveline’s AI-based factory automation is currently targeted at process industries. This means continuous-flow or batch manufacturing, not discrete manufacturing or assembly. For example:

Some industries that need Liveline!

Polymer extrusion

Polymer calendarization

Aluminum extrusion

Wire & cable

Food and beverage

Thin film

Fiber optics

Paint and coatings

Membranes

Biopharmaceuticals

Brewing

Float glass

Textiles

Paper

Steel

Refining

Polymer extrusion line

A polymer extrusion line controlled by Liveline Technologies


Benefits

Why is factory automation (also known as Advanced Process Control) so useful in process industries? Because it can do several things that simpler controls like PIDs cannot. For example:

  • APC is designed to control multiple pieces of equipment simultaneously, and jointly optimize their settings to ensure desired outcomes from the process. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as a “supervisory system”.

  • APC can handle various constraints, such as equipment safety limits, and provide optimal outcomes while avoiding undesirable or infeasible conditions.

  • APC typically uses some sort of process model to predict the future based on current states, and these predictions are considered when optimizing equipment settings. See the note on Model Predictive Control.

Liveline’s AI-based approach to APC is ideally suited for plants that want:

  • less scrap and waste

  • less energy usage and a reduced environmental footprint

  • higher productivity

  • better product quality

  • to supplement technical talent that can be difficult to find

Contact us today to discuss your needs.