Electronics manufacturers worldwide are advancing their industrial digitalisation efforts using a new, comprehensive reference workflow that combines Nvidia technologies for generative AI, 3D collaboration, simulation and autonomous machines.
Supported by an expansive partner network, the workflow helps manufacturers plan, build, operate and optimize their factories with an array of Nvidia technologies. These include: Nvidia Omniverse, which connects top computer-aided design apps, as well as APIs and cutting-edge frameworks for generative AI; the Nvidia Isaac Sim application for simulating and testing robots; and the Nvidia Metropolis vision AI framework, now enabled for automated optical inspection.
At Computex, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang showcased a demo of an entirely digitalised smart factory.
“The world’s largest industries make physical things. Building them digitally first can save enormous costs,” says Huang. “Nvidia makes it easy for electronics makers to build and operate virtual factories, digitalise their manufacturing and inspection workflows, and greatly improve quality and safety while reducing costly last-minute surprises and delays.”
The new reference workflow is being used by Foxconn Industrial Internet, Innodisk, Pegatron, Quanta and Wistron as they work to optimise their workcell and assembly line operations while lowering production costs.
Nvidia is working with several leading manufacturing-tools and service providers to build a full-stack, single architecture with each at every workflow level.
At the systems level, NVIDIA IGX Orin provides an all-in-one edge AI platform, combining industrial-grade hardware with enterprise-level software and support. IGX meets the unique durability and low-power-consumption requirements of edge computing, while delivering the high performance needed for developing and running AI applications.
Manufacturer partners ADLINK, Advantech, Aetina, Dedicated Computing, Onyx, Prodrive Technologies and Yuan are developing IGX-powered systems to serve the industrial and medical markets. These systems allow the benefits of digitalisation to be realized during physical production.
At the platform level, Omniverse connects the world’s leading 3D, simulation and generative AI providers. The open development platform, for example, lets teams build interoperability between their favorite applications — such as those from Adobe, Autodesk and Siemens.
At the application level, Isaac Sim allows companies to build and optimally deploy AI-based robots. Manufacturers can work with industrial automation company Ready Robotics to program their robot tasks in simulation before deploying in the real world. Simulation technology partners like SoftServe and FS Studio shorten development timelines for customers by building digital twin-based simulations.
Also at the application level, Nvidia Metropolis includes a collection of factory-automation AI workflows that enable industrial solution providers and manufacturers to develop, deploy and manage customised quality-control solutions that save cost and improve production throughput. A large partner ecosystem — including ADLINK, Aetina, Deloitte, Quantiphi and Siemens — is helping to bring these solutions to market.