Case Study: Komatsu achieves expanded production visibility and improved factory productivity with Microsoft Power BI

Smart factory base KOM-MICS visualizes and improves wider production sites with Azure

Komatsu Limited, a global construction machinery manufacturer, needed to scale and secure its KOM-MICS smart-factory platform to visualize and optimize production across its mother factory, partner sites, and overseas bases. To handle 20–30 GB of data per machine per year and meet GDPR and security requirements, Komatsu adopted Microsoft Azure services and used Power BI (Microsoft Power BI) alongside Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and Azure Storage.

Working with Microsoft, Komatsu migrated KOM-MICS to Azure, using PaaS storage and databases and Power BI for visualization, which delivered instant scalability, stronger disaster recovery, and rapid partner/onshore and overseas rollouts. By March 2019 the system connected about 700 machine tools and 350 welding robots (adding 100–200 machines per year), expanded to Thailand and Indonesia, improved operational visibility and partner adoption through assured security, and set the stage for AI-driven quality and predictive maintenance using Microsoft Power BI.

Komatsu

Keisuke Tsuboi

Numerical Controller Team Advanced Technology Promotion Office Manufacturing Engineering Development Center