By Henry Chen, project-management engineer, Phison Electronics Corporation
When it comes to data storage and processing speed and performance, Industry 4.0 technology has some serious demands. The traditional hard-disk drives of yesterday are not even close to capable of supporting the heavy-duty requirements of technologies such as the IoT, data analytics, 5G networking and AI and machine learning. They’re also bigger, bulkier, prone to mechanical failure and ultimately cause more waste.
Some Industry 4.0 technologies, such as AI, machine learning and data analytics, require huge volumes of data to deliver valuable, real-time insights to a manufacturing organization. Other technologies, such as the IoT, generate lots and lots of data that needs to be stored and then later accessed and processed by AI, machine learning and data analytics applications.
More manufacturers than ever are turning to NAND flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs)—as well as embedded UFS and eMMC solutions—to get the fast and responsive data storage they need to get the most out of their Industry 4.0 solutions.
When choosing SSDs for your Industry 4.0 solutions, be sure to look for those that can deliver:
● Capacity and speed: SSDs deliver the bandwidth and speeds needed for fast, real-time data access and processing.
● Reliability and endurance: Many manufacturers run their machinery and equipment 24/7, which requires an SSD that can stand up to longtime, continuous use without failing. Reliability is critical to these operations, especially in harsh environments with extreme temperatures, vibration, electrostatic charges, dust and other particulates and moisture. Industrial-grade storage devices such as SSDs are built to withstand these environments without sacrificing performance.
● Customization: Manufacturing operations can vary significantly, and many have unique one-of-a-kind processes or machinery that need reliable, high-performance data storage. Some manufacturers require data encryption while others don’t, for instance. And some face other challenges that require special considerations such as ruggedized housing, heat-dissipation capabilities and resistance to vibration, moisture or dust. Many SSDs can be customized to your specific applications to help streamline your operations.
● Condition monitoring: Some SSDs can monitor their own remaining life, erase count and other factors to alert you to any potential issues so you can replace them before they become corrupted and cause equipment to malfunction.
● Compliance with industry standards: Manufacturers are subject to a wide range of governmental and industry regulations and can face substantial penalties if they don’t comply. That’s why it’s important to choose SSDs from manufacturers with quality-control systems in place that conform to industry standards such as ISO 9001, IEC 60529 (water- and dustproof) and others.
Industry 4.0 technology can revolutionize manufacturing, but only if an enterprise’s data storage and SSDs deliver the performance and capacity to support those technologies. As Industry 4.0 forms a strong foundation for today’s manufacturers to build upon, NAND flash SSDs meet high-quality standards, are ideal to accommodate unique data-storage needs and are designed for enterprise or ruggedized for industrial use.
