Case Study
Edge Computing in Manufacturing
Penguin Solutions and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Deliver Fault-Tolerant Warehouse Automation for Large Beverages Company
Overview
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), a leading Japanese manufacturer, tackled labor shortages and logistics inefficiencies by deploying an intelligent automated picking solution. Traditional server clusters fell short in availability and manageability for 24/7 operations. MHI chose the Stratus ztC Edge® platform from Penguin Solutions for its fault-tolerant reliability and simplified management, enabling continuous, automated warehouse performance.
Challenge
Solution
Benefits
• • • Warehouse operations for a large beverages company require continuous 24-hour availability of picking systems
• •
Existing PC clusters lacked failover capabilities to support uninterrupted operations
Need to simplify system recovery and reduce need for specialized IT skills and administrator intervention
SynX WES (Warehouse Execution System)
SynX OPT (Optimization Software)
• • Stratus ztC Edge platform from Penguin Solutions in dual node configuration
SynX WCS (Warehouse Control System)
Modernize computing infrastructure for 24/7 operations
Streamlined troubleshooting protocols
Reduced administrative workload associated with operational management
Optimized total cost performance, yielding a favorable return on investment
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries founded in 1884, is one of Japan’s leading comprehensive heavy industrial manufacturers, with expertise spanning aerospace, energy systems, defense, and industrial machinery. Grounded in “monozukuri”—the craft of manufacturing—MHI continually contributes to both its workforce and society.
In 2024, MHI, in partnership with a large beverages company, jointly demonstrated an automated picking system leveraging MHI’s Σ SynX technology. By December of that year, this solution was deployed. The core of this deployment was automated and intelligent picking processes, developed in direct response to the mounting challenge of labor shortages driven by a declining birthrate and aging population.
Facing these operational demands, MHI required a computing platform capable of delivering uninterrupted, fault-tolerant performance for its mission-critical logistics application. After evaluating traditional cluster configurations—which lacked seamless failover and increased maintenance complexity—MHI selected the Stratus ztC Edge platform from Penguin Solutions.
This choice enabled zero-touch operation, continuous availability, and streamlined maintenance, ultimately providing superior total cost of ownership and ensuring the stability and efficiency essential for automated warehouse operations. previously managed by manual labor and manned forklifts.
The success of this sophisticated automation hinged on operational continuity. The initial plan to use a cluster configuration of PC servers presented significant problems. These clusters could not assure immediate failover, leading to system downtime during a server failure. Additionally, the PC servers lacked virtualization capabilities required for efficient workload consolidation, which meant that more physical servers would be needed to support the solution. Furthermore, the warehouse environment lacked a dedicated server room, which would increase maintenance demands on any deployed hardware. A final critical requirement was that the system had to be manageable by administrators without specialized IT skills.
"We had used a cluster configuration in the past, but we had a lot of trouble when something went wrong," states Jun Nishida, Senior Manager, Solution Business Department, Logistics, Heating, & Drive Systems Domain at MHI. The company needed a reliable, cost-effective, and easy-to-manage computing platform that could eliminate unplanned downtime entirely.
The solution: Fault-tolerant, zero-touch edge computing
MHI selected the Stratus ztC Edge, a self-protecting, self-monitoring, and highly automated computing platform designed for mission-critical edge environments. By providing continuous availability for virtualized applications, the Stratus ztC Edge platform became the ideal foundation for the Σ SynX software suite.
"When we looked into it... we found there was a fault-tolerant server called the Stratus ztC Edge that met our requirements perfectly and that was also very cost-effective," says Nishida.
MHI selected Stratus ztC Edge based on a set of stringent requirements: uninterrupted availability, the ability to operate without administrator intervention—even in failure scenarios—costeffectiveness compared to traditional server clusters, and robust performance in challenging warehouse environments where dedicated server rooms are not feasible.
The platform is deployed in a dual-node configuration in which each node continuously monitors the other; in the event of a component or node failure, processing is instantly transferred to the healthy node, maintaining operations with no data loss or interruption.
This seamless failover design eliminates unplanned downtime and minimizes operational risk, while administrators benefit from streamlined maintenance—faulty nodes can be replaced without system shutdown, as the platform automatically synchronizes and restores redundancy. Supported by its rugged, compact construction, Stratus ztC Edge allows reliable deployment even in demanding, space-constrained logistics environments, ensuring maintenance demands remain low.
The Stratus ztC Edge platform provides a built-in virtualization environment that simplified the deployment of the three core components of MHI's Σ SynX system:
SynX WES (Warehouse Execution System): Manages picking information from the customer's Warehouse Management System (WMS) and visualizes the progress of picking operations.
SynX OPT (Optimization Software): Creates the most efficient work plan for transport equipment like Autonomous Guided Forklifts (AGFs) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs).
SynX WCS (Warehouse Control System): Controls and monitors the equipment based on the optimized plan, responding to any abnormalities in real-time.
These three systems were deployed as virtual machines (VMs) within the Stratus ztC Edge platform. This architecture ensures that the applications operate in tandem while isolating them, preventing failure in one from impacting the others.
Additional benefits of the Stratus ztC Edge platform include simplified security and increased flexibility. With restricted USB ports, secure communication protocols, and role-based access controls, MHI can ensure automated picking environments are protected from malicious and accidental threats.
The rugged and compact design of Stratus ztC Edge allows it to perform equally well in control rooms, panels, shop floors, or inside machines, eliminating the need for dedicated server space, one of the primary roadblocks for the company's initial PC cluster solution. In addition, all Stratus ztC Edge deployments include root cause problem determination and secure access to the Penguin Solutions self-serve portal.
Results: Superior stability and operational efficiency
The deployment of Stratus ztC Edge delivered the stability required to run MHI’s Σ SynX automated picking system, which orchestrates AGF and AGV solutions to avoid warehouse congestion and minimize idle time. The continuous availability of real-time data from the edge is critical for these autonomous systems to function as intended.
System tests included simulations of various server failures, such as power outages and hardware faults. In all cases, Stratus ztC Edge maintained uninterrupted operations, demonstrating its high reliability and ability to ensure continuous system availability under real-world and test conditions. The platform's performance in a live production environment has proven its value.
"The only interaction we have with our customers regarding Stratus ztC Edge is to confirm license management, which is pretty much non-existent," notes Nishida. "This shows how stable the system is."
MHI selected Stratus ztC Edge based on its 24-hour availability, streamlined management, robust suitability for logistics environments, and cost performance that surpasses redundant PC server configurations. The platform continues to deliver stable, reliable performance, validating the decision and earning strong satisfaction from MHI’s logistics team.
We decided to deploy Stratus ztC Edge because of its 24-hour availability, ease of management, suitability for logistics operations, and superior cost performance compared with redundant PC server configurations. We're very satisfied with the performance of Stratus ztC Edge to date, and we rate it highly.
Jun Nishida Senior Manager
Solution Business Department, Logistics, Heating, & Drive Systems Domain at MHI
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