THE AVIO AERO

PEOPLE’S MAGAZINE

Collaboration, common purpose, synergy. It might sound like the premise for a Coelho novel but in reality it's what features the relationship between Avio Aero and AWS. These two companies are from two different worlds, but both base their business on advanced technologies. Indeed, as we have already mentioned, the famous Seattle-based company has its own business division - Amazon Web Services(AWS) - which supports other companies through Cloud computing technology.

These companies include Avio Aero, which wanted to further increase what in technical jargon is called the IIOT (Industrial Internet Of Things) paradigm. As Matteo Longo, Software Architect at Avio Aero, explained: “the IIOT paradigm is the production machinery ecosystem, digitally connected to the net and able to provide real-time data and information about how the same assets operate and on the progress of manufacturing processes. The data continuously transmitted in this way (and with a certain sampling frequency) are then used by the receiving systems downstream to create a non-stop machine monitoring system and to calculate a series of indicators of productivity of the machinery itself."

Matteo Longo during the live digital event.

"I was amazed by the level of attention given to our case and grateful for the opportunity to talk about it during one of the prestigious sessions, to extend this process to hundreds of connected production machines at all our plants

This state-of-the-art may already seem pioneering for those who are unaware of such issues, but not for Avio Aero. Mr. Longo said: "In the last year, we identified opportunities for improvement. The most pressing need was to improve data transmission speed from the machine to the cloud. So, we decided to start a pilot project, choosing AWS technologies to launch and test new architecture to meet the redefined targets."

This technological solution aims to increase data transmission speed from minutes to seconds. This academic best practice impressed AWS so much that Matteo Longo, who followed implementation of the new system at Avio Aero together with the team (Matteo Buscicchio, Gian Mario Perlo, Diego Vogogna and Luca Cerri), has been officially invited to present the project to the Amazon re:Invent conference, considered the top cloud learning event worldwide.

Antonio Aga Rossi during the live digital event.

"re:Invent is an annual conference designed for a global community interested in learning and finding out about Cloud Computing technologies, with more than 500 sessions on the most relevant topics of the moment, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Analytics, IoT or Edge Computing" 

Antonio Aga Rossi, AWS Principal Solutions Architect for Avio Aero, explained: "re:Invent is an annual conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, designed for a global community interested in learning, exchanging experiences and finding out about Cloud Computing technologies. This year the conference will take place online, free of charge, from November 30 through December 18 (the ticket for the offline edition costs €1,500, ed). There are several keynote speeches, more than 500 sessions on the most relevant topics of the moment, such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Analytics, IoT, Edge Computing and much more. Some of these sessions were in Italian, to cover cases of use that we consider important for Italy and beyond."

Longo and Aga Rossi described Avio Aero’s experience at re:Invent. Longo said they left with a feeling of both satisfaction and amazement: "I was amazed by the level of attention given to our case and grateful for the opportunity to talk about it during one of the prestigious sessions.  I am proud to play an active part in this revolution and to have had the opportunity to illustrate our project to a community of this magnitude."

The AWS Platform is not monolithic, but composed of many individual services that can be combined to offer the best solution for customers. Indeed, at the moment there are many initiatives underway that see AWS working together with Avio Aero on some fronts: a panorama that will continue to evolve in the future, even in the context of the IIOT.

Longo concluded: "AWS technologies are winning, and Avio Aero's intention is to extend this process of rapid data transmission to the entire production system. The challenge here is huge: we are talking about hundreds of connected production machines at all our plants. As always, I’m convinced that collaboration and expertise (our own as well as that of our partners, AWS first), are crucial to achieving the goals we have set ourselves: technological selection is fundamental, but to me, it’s the right team that makes the real difference.”

At this point, we just have to wait for the next chapter of this intriguing story of high digitization!

_{Images in this story are courtesy of Amazon Web Services}