Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing are now popular terms being discussed in the manufacturing industry, but when companies start their journey in digital manufacturing, many of them look for best practices and how they could reference such practices in their factories.

Mitsubishi Electric has a 100-year history of supporting manufacturers, plus a prolific track record for achieving factory automation at its own and other manufacturers’ facilities. The approach embodies the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen that is now recognized worldwide. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitsubishi Electric’s factories in Nagoya and Fukuyama, Japan, attracted thousands of visitors from around the world interested to learn how the factory automation manufacturer leverages digital manufacturing and its e-F@ctory approach to make their own products.

Although it may still be difficult to travel across borders easily, Mitsubishi Electric’s Virtual Factory Tour, now available through online videos, overcomes these restrictions allowing visitors to walk through the various technologies and solutions behind the manufacture of its FA products. What’s more, the online factory tour can be accessed from a PC or smartphone at any time, from anywhere.

Mitsubishi Electric has also renewed its Online Mechatronics Solution Center, where visitors can learn about Mitsubishi Electric’s range of processing machines, computerized numerical controllers (CNCs) and other machine tools in a virtual showroom.

Virtual Factory Tours available online:

1. Programmable Controller (PLC) production

The first tour will show how Mitsubishi Electric’s factory automation (FA) controller products are made at its Nagoya Works – a factory that has experience and know-how in manufacturing for nearly 100 years. Programmable controllers (PLCs) are devices that automatically control machines and processes in factories, and the MELSEC brand PLC is so extremely popular that it has become an industry standard in Japan. The tour will provide examples of some of the actual work processes in the factory, demonstrating how Mitsubishi Electric FA products provide the latest manufacturing technologies.

2. Production of power monitoring/distribution products

The second factory tour will introduce the production lines at Mitsubishi Electric’s Fukuyama Works, which utilize the integrated FA-IT solution »e-F@ctory» to achieve digital manufacturing. Fukuyama Works develops and manufactures a variety of devices surrounding electricity, from power distribution and protection devices to measurement and control devices, which are essential to industries, society and people’s lives.

The tour of Fukuyama Works will walk you through its office building, the circuit breaker line and the printed circuit board line. The tour highlights how processes were improved using artificial intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge technologies in digital manufacturing.

About Mitsubishi Electric Factory Automation Business Group

Offering a vast range of automation and processing technologies, including controllers, drive products, power distribution and control products, electrical discharge machines, laser processing machines, computerized numerical controllers, and industrial robots, Mitsubishi Electric helps bring higher productivity – and quality – to the factory floor. In addition, our extensive service networks around the globe provide direct communication and comprehensive support to customers.

About Factory Automation EMEA

Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., Factory Automation EMEA has its European headquarters in Ratingen near Dusseldorf, Germany. It is a part of Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. that has been represented in Germany since 1978, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan.

The role of Factory Automation EMEA is to manage sales, service and support across its network of local branches and distributors throughout the EMEA region.

For more information, please visit: emea.mitsubishielectric.com/fa

About e-F@ctory

e-F@ctory is Mitsubishi Electric’s integrated concept to build reliable and flexible manufacturing systems that enable users to achieve many of their high speed, information driven manufacturing aspirations.

Through its partner solution activity, the e-F@ctory Alliance, and its work with open network associations such as The CC-Link Partners Association (CLPA), users can build comprehensive solutions based on a wide ranging "best in class" principle.

In summary, e-F@ctory and the e-F@ctory Alliance enable customers to achieve integrated manufacturing but still retain the ability to choose the most optimal suppliers and solutions.