AI environment for predictive maintenance in a manufacturing scenario

Industries generate and collect a huge amount of data about their processes. Usually such data contain relevant information, which can be used to monitor and analyze the processes, but also improve them, applying optimization techniques that allow to enhance different aspects, such as machine maintenance scheduling, product quality, use of resources and so on and so forth. The Digital Twin (DT) concept has been recently applied in the context of Industry 4.0, to exploit this data, leveraging advanced physical modelling, data analysis, Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms for optimization and prediction, which are two key concepts in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Currently, the major challenge in this field is to make these techniques available for the industries and ensure their ease of use for the final users. This paper presents an holistic solution that combining two open-source software - i.e., REclaim oPtimization and simuLatIon Cooperation in digitAl twin (REPLICA) and Optimization Platform for Refurbishment and Re-manufacturing (OPR2) - provides a flexible, open and easy-to-use AI environment that allows data scientists to create, test, connect and deploy their algorithms and to optimize them. This work presents a first prototype of this solution, then describes how it has been tested and validated with real industry data and finally provides the results obtained with these tests.