GE and IIT-Madras have signed an agreement to build an Industrial Internet Centre of Excellence at the Institute for research into manufacturing analytics in aluminium smelting plants.

Industrial Internet helps people and machines interact with each other using data and analytics to improve plant’s efficiency, productivity and operational excellence.

Multi-year pact

It will be a multi-year agreement with GE initially providing ₹3 crore for the first six months and increasing it to ₹30 crore in the next five years, Azeez Mohammed, President and CEO, GE Power Services, Middle East and Africa, told newspersons.

To begin with, 15 members, including students and faculty, will be part of the Centre, which will work closely with GE Global Research, GE Power Services Engineering and GE Digital teams at GE’s John F Welch Technology Centre in Bengaluru, he said. GE will provide domain experts and Predix, a Cloud-based operating system, said Mohammed.

Every day, nearly 20 terabytes of data is generated from a single asset, which could be a turbine or a pot where aluminium is melted. These data can be used for predictive analysis on issues like power failure or repair of a machinery to help enhance the productivity of the smelter, which is used to extract aluminium from aluminium oxide.

Rise in productivity

A mere 1 per cent increase in productivity through the application of Industrial Internet solutions can contribute to 20 per cent potential increase in performance for customers, he said.

Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said that by using data science and predictive analysis, one can save energy and get more out of the machines. The institute is working with a new approach to encourage students do dual degree in new areas such as data science, industrial robotics and water supply, he said.

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