Factory automation and industrial informatics shape the Tammerkoski rapids
The City of Tampere transformed into an industrial powerhouse back in the 1820s. The driving forces behind the transformation were the 18 metre high rapids that run through the city joining Lakes Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi and the effective road and rail network connecting Tampere with the Port of Kaskinen and Pori, Turku and St. Petersburg. The Tammerkoski rapids have since become a famous local landmark and an integral part of the cityscape. Tampere University of Technology (TUT) maintains a long-standing tradition whereby freshmen are dipped in the rapids while celebrating the 1st of May.
During the past few months, the Tammerkoski rapids have been reshaped to meet the current needs of the city and local industries. The project is undertaken by a company called FluidHouse and incorporates some of the latest advances in the field of automation and industrial informatics developed by the FAST-Lab at Tampere University of Technology (TUT).
“Our active research collaboration with the FAST-Lab, TUT’s graduates majoring in factory automation who represent a valuable workforce for our company, and our strong expertise in industrial informatics are the assets that have enabled us to tackle the project and tap into the latest developments in automation, security and visualization. Many of the solutions that we used were originally developed for factory environments, such as the 3D design simulation tool, the deployment of safety PLCs and remote monitoring applications. They turned out to be extremely valuable for this project”, says Otto Karhumäki, RTD Manager of FluidHouse.
“Over the years, the FAST-Lab has made a number of important contributions to the fields of factory automation and industrial informatics, many of those in cooperation with Finnish SMEs, such as FluidHouse. At the moment, we have partnered with FluidHouse to carry out one of our FP7 projects targeting future SCADA systems. The company is also the key use case provider for one of our ARTEMIS projects that strives to develop a concept for virtual control rooms. I’m very happy to see some of our research results incorporated into such an important part of the cityscape as the Tammerkoski rapids and that the talent of our former students has helped make it a reality,” says Prof. Jose Martinez Lastra, who oversees the FAST-Lab, serves as Associated Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics and is responsible for major studies in factory automation offered within the Degree Programme in Automation Technology at TUT.
Further information:
Prof. Jose L. Martinez Lastra, +358 40 779 4748, ">jose.lastra@tut.fi
Otto Karhumäki, Fluidhouse Oy, +358 400 884 160, ">otto.karhumaki@fluidhouse.fi