OMRON Corporation announced that it has agreed to invest in Japan-based SALTYSTER, Inc. and in its embedded high-speed data integration technology. Specifically, OMRON agreed to take 48% as equity stake in the investment. The investment is scheduled to be completed in Nov. 2023.

Lately, a higher economic value, such as quality and production efficiency, is required from the manufacturing industry. At the same time, it is also necessary to increase the industry’s social value. These include energy productivity and job satisfaction of its workforce. These have complicated the issues that customers face. Accordingly, to carry out production that achieves both economic value and social value, it is necessary to visualize data from the manufacturing site. These data changes at intervals as small as one-thousandth of a second. Also, it is necessary to optimize control across multiple facilities.

Digital transformation in the manufacturing industry progresses toward solving these issues. Thus, there is a growing need to collect, integrate, and analyze enormous amounts of data quickly.

Over the years, OMRON has been creating and providing a variety of control applications that utilize high-speed, high-precision control technologies. Specifically, these technologies collect and analyze customer site data and resolve issues.

Specifically, SALTYSTER has a high-speed data integration technology. It enables high-speed time-series integration of equipment data related to manufacturing facilities. In addition, OMRON has expertise in control equipment and other manufacturing sites and embedded technology in various facilities.

Through this investment, control data generated from OMRON’s high-speed, high-precision control technology and SALTYSTER’s high-speed data integration technology are fine-tuned together in a high-level manner. By quickly integrating data on customers’ manufacturing sites in a time-synchronized way and collecting information on other companies’ control equipment, people, energy, etc., it is possible to integrate and analyze on-site data. In the past, this had been separated by different data cycles and formats for each facility at high speed.

The results of the analysis are fed back to the equipment parameters in real-time. After that, they will realize solutions for on-site issues linked to increasingly complex customer management goals. Among these issues are, “realization of a manufacturing line that does not produce defective products” and “improvement of energy productivity” throughout the manufacturing site. For example, energy consumption is optimized by grasping changes in the state of equipment and workpieces throughout the entire line. Also, adjusting the equipment parameters or a production line that does not produce defective products is realized is also an example. These contribute to reducing waste plastics and improving energy productivity.

Through OMRON’s investment in SALTYSTER, it aims to further enhance its corporate value. It can contribute to the preservation of the global environment while maintaining production efficiency and quality at customers’ manufacturing sites. It will develop value propositions by leveraging the strengths of both companies.

Motohiro Yamanishi, President of Industrial Automation Company, OMRON Corporation, stated the following: “Collecting and analyzing all kinds of data from manufacturing sites is becoming increasingly important to solve customers’ complex problems. However, it has been challenging in the past to align and integrate various equipment at manufacturing sites with the correct time horizon. This is because of the high-speed operation of various equipment at manufacturing sites and the different data acquisition cycles. SALTYSTER is unique because it possesses database technology that enables high-speed data integration. Also, it has extensive experience in control equipment at manufacturing sites. By combining the technologies of the two companies, we are delighted to solve needs that have been difficult to achieve. “

Shoichi Iwai, CEO of SALTYSTER, stated the following: “Data processing, which is the core technology of all systems, is an eternal standard technology. We are conducting a distributed research and development in Okinawa, Nagano, Shiojiri, and Tokyo. We are pleased to be involved in developing the world’s fastest, high-performance, high-precision products through close collaboration between our high-speed, real-time analysis and extensibility database technology and OMRON’s high-speed, high-precision control technology. Also, we will further strengthen connectivity with various sensors, communications, equipment, and system technologies and aim to develop databases and IoT products that can compete globally. “