Renault Sport Formula One Team announces relationship with Plataine

Renault Sport Formula One Team has announced a new relationship with Industrial Internet of Things (Industrial IoT) software firm Plataine (Waltham, MA, US).

Plataine’s Industrial IoT-based solutions will be deployed to improve the team’s composite manufacturing operations in support of the goal to become a championship contender by 2020. Plataine was selected due to its proficiency in the latest Industrial IoT and Artificial Intelligence technologies applied to composites manufacturing.

Plataine brings strong expertise in the field of digitizing and optimizing complex manufacturing processes using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based algorithms. This will improve the production of ultra-strong lightweight composite race car parts to assure safety, quality and performance. Plataine’s solution involves digitization of production facilities with factory and work piece sensors to collect data for analysis in real-time, with AI-based Digital Assistants to provide actionable insights and recommendations to improve efficiency of the composites production process.

Most components in a Formula On car have a limited service life to allow optimized performance of lightweight structures operating in extreme conditions of high loads, extreme heat and fatigue due to vibration, all caused by racing at high speeds – often over 220 miles per hour. At times, with just a week between races, teams work relentlessly to deploy performance improvement to the twenty-one race tracks around the globe.

This intense innovation cycle means components are often superseded even before the end of their natural service life. As a consequence, the composites department at Renault Sport Formula One Team is required to manufacture parts to new designs within a few days.

Plataine’s Industrial IoT solution, based on Artificial Intelligence algorithms, allows automated tracking of time-sensitive material expiration date and exposure time, allowing better inventory control, avoiding waste and reducing risk of error.

The digital transformation with Plataine will improve quality, lead-time and traceability in composite production at Renault Sport Formula One Team. Paperless production ensures part traceability of the digital thread from raw material to end-product and reduces risk of human error.  Reduced manual paperwork processes will free up manpower time for other tasks. Plataine’s technology is agile to respond in real-time to sudden changes in design and production scheduling.

Bob Bell, CTO at Renault Sport Formula One Team says, “Our composites production team must deal with huge amounts of design, raw-material and manufacturing data in real time. To ensure right-first-time production, we’ve decided to enhance our operation with Plataine’s Industrial IoT-based solution. Plataine’s technology will allow us to digitize and streamline our composites manufacturing processes, an important step to reach the competitive edge we need to meet our goal of winning the Formula One World Championship.”

Avner Ben-Bassat, president and CEO of Plataine, adds, “The dynamics of Formula One racing require the highest levels of production efficiencies, flexibility and quality to stay ahead of the pack. This can be achieved by digitizing and automating manufacturing processes while relying on advanced Industrial IoT and AI-based optimization technologies. Plataine is proud to be at the heart of this process that turns production facilities into smart digital factories.” Plataine is showcasing its Industrial IoT solutions at JEC World 2018 Hall 5, booth #E58.