In a smart factory, a rigid standard for intelligent manufacturing upgrade is whether the equipment meets the standards of smart manufacturing, that is, whether the equipment can achieve automation and information integration. In a brand-new smart factory intelligent production line, equipment transformation is not an obvious issue. However, in existing factories, especially small and medium-sized manufacturing factories, how to carry out smart factory upgrade faces the challenge of old equipment transformation.

1. Two Major Difficulties of Equipment Transformation
An important standard for equipment intelligence in smart factories is equipment networking and intelligent collection of daily production data, timely grasp of equipment operation status, timely detection of equipment failures, shortening equipment downtime, etc., to improve production efficiency, achieve lean production through production transparency, and ultimately realize smart factory intelligent manufacturing.
Regarding equipment transformation, there are two issues: first, whether the enterprise is willing to upgrade. Some old equipment transformation requires huge costs and complex processes, and most business owners will choose to maintain the current production status; second, whether upgrading is possible, because old equipment has non-uniform standards and data interface issues, making it likely difficult to upgrade. Facing these two issues, the best direction for “old transformation” is to find a low-cost, easy-to-implement, and highly compatible equipment transformation solution.
2. Equipment Status Monitoring System: A Smart Factory Solution
The ALSI equipment status monitoring system upgrades existing old production line equipment intelligently by using sensors to collect the display signals of factory three-color lights, thereby gathering the status of production line equipment, gaining real-time awareness of equipment operation, reducing the failure rate of old equipment, simultaneously improving production capacity and quality, lowering usage and maintenance costs, and achieving production line digitalization at low cost.
The ALSI equipment status monitoring system consists of the intelligent data collector TS-10, the intelligent gateway TG-10, and the Lighthouse application system. It utilizes the Andon system commonly found in most factories, installing the intelligent data collection terminal TS-10 on the equipment's three-color lights to collect three-color light data in real time, promptly notify production line responsible persons, upload to the Lighthouse application system or management systems such as MES, to serve production management. The ALSI equipment status monitoring system connects production equipment and management systems together, achieving full monitoring of the production line process, rapid response, and full-cycle data statistical analysis.
3. Three Major Advantages of Equipment Status Monitoring System in Old Equipment Transformation
The ALSI equipment status monitoring system is a production equipment intelligent management solution independently developed by Alps System Integration (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as “ALSI”) and applied to manufacturing sites. The system can collect and transmit data through a unique external terminal to manage equipment operation status. It is not an Andon system; its advantage lies in quickly integrating with equipment three-color lights to achieve automatic collection, recording, and analysis of Andon system data. In addition, its application advantages for old equipment are unique:
· Easy Transformation: The intelligent data collector TS-10 of the ALSI equipment status monitoring system is plug-and-play, installed on the original three-color lights, requiring no replacement of equipment or three-color lights, no downtime, no modification, and zero impact on production.
· High Compatibility: Compatible with equipment of any brand and any era, achieving integrated management; adaptable to almost all three-color lights; unified aggregation and management of various data from equipment and production lines.
· Low Cost: The price of the intelligent terminal collector is only one-third of PLC; and no need to replace original equipment or three-color lights, old equipment directly connects to the network.
The equipment status monitoring system is one of the smart factory solutions of ALSI Dalian deeply engaged in the manufacturing field. It mainly focuses on intelligent management of production equipment, solving common problems in existing factories such as difficulty in network access, production scheduling, unification, and data entry. Alps System Integration (Dalian) Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alps System Integration Co., Ltd. (ALSI). ALSI Dalian's smart factory solutions go deep into manufacturing sites, empowering smart factory intelligent manufacturing with “data”, and can be widely applied in more than ten industry fields such as electronics, electrical appliances, automobiles, mechanical equipment, mechanical processing, and electrical.