TNO-led consortium receives Eureka award for high tech data science

The ITEA project Reflexion, led by TNO-ESI, has received the Eureka award. The award recognizes the impact, potential for improving competitiveness and successful collaboration between small-, medium- and large-sized companies. The Reflexion partners from the Netherlands (Axini, Océ, Philips, Synerscope en TNO-ESI) and Belgium (Barco, Siemens Industry Software and Yazzoom) have succeeded in converting operational user data from industry into information in real time, thereby gaining better control over production processes, product usage and future design. This creates a so-called ‘digital loop’ in which data is fed back to the ecosystem.

Thanks to the emergence of cheap sensors and affordable large-scale data storage, terabytes of data are acquired daily from complex systems that are characteristic of the high tech industry. The trick is to filter the data in such a way that only relevant, valuable information remains that can be used to create overviews and insights. The Reflexion partners have developed a data analysis methodology that is applied throughout the entire production process.

Applying data science in manufacturing is new; the focus is usually on engineering and mechatronics. In the course of the project, the partners have already proven in practice the added value of their methodology. They gained insights that provide industry with considerable time and economic gain. For example, data resulting from maintenance inspections provides not only an opportunity for accelerated troubleshooting and trouble-solving (and therefore a shorter production stop) but also input for improving product design.