“System transparency is required in order for users to achieve noticeable savings while improving their product quality,” says Dökel. With a scalable modular system from WAGO, an intelligent monitoring system can be inexpensively retrofitted to the system and tailored to the customer’s needs. This also allows digitization of existing systems in brownfield projects. Data on production quantities, rejects, idle times and maintenance times is collected quickly and made available on the network through open IT interfaces. Error messages can also be passed directly to a built-in HTML5 visualization using any Internet browser and sent as SMS or email notifications. The operator can then quickly access the system remotely in the event of problems.
Digitization of Critical Assets
Pumps play a special role in industry – they are found in every kind of production, regardless of the specific sector. In the process industry, pumps are the driving force behind production flows and must be constantly monitored. “Because pumps are ubiquitous in the process industry, they require special attention. Intelligent pump monitoring forms the foundation for condition-based maintenance and opens the door to large potential savings, while also ensuring system availability,” emphasizes Dökel. Pumps in brownfield projects can also be digitized using WAGO’s prefabricated starter distribution boxes for production class IP54. Data for preventive diagnostics, analysis and process optimization is processed and prepared directly in the gateway for remote use. System-specific functions are modified in the e!COCKPIT development environment and visualized in HTML5.
Laboratory Automation
Even if laboratories are not the core of most processes, their importance within the process chain has increased steadily in recent years. Markets are demanding ever more tailored products, which R&D departments then have to develop. Quality assurance and documentation obligations are also increasing the level of automation and digitization in laboratories. Technical laboratory monitoring and intelligent asset management are common buzzwords here. “In the future, various groups of users will need to be able to access targeted laboratory information via the network, and measurement data will have to be directly linked into the documentation of a data logger. This is the only way that we can ensure that new products arrive on the market quickly while maintaining high quality,” says Dökel. The Multi Channel Process System (MCPS), PC-based data collection software developed by our partner CAD, handles these measurement and evaluation tasks. The process relies exclusively on parameter setting – no program required.
Variable Production
WAGO also helps users of large monolithic productions systems to produce more flexibly by integrating modular functional units. Making this module type package approach a reality and operating a modular system efficiently require decentralized control of the modules. Furthermore, WAGO also collects and provides very precise maintenance and optimization data. “One challenge in the MTP approach is the huge diversity of devices and components that need to be controlled and whose data needs to be provided to higher-level systems. When, that is implemented successfully with our help, our customers can achieve their goals and use their flexible production systems to react quickly to changing market conditions,” says Dökel, singing the praises of an adaptable production approach.
Hardware, Software and Humans
What links all these areas of digitization activity is that they make data available during operation, use it to shape information and provide it at the right points. “For us, this means consistently accompanying our customers on the paths they choose. For example, by 2023, Volkswagen plans to invest up to four billion euros into connecting 122 production sites to a new digital production platform in order to bundle the data from all their machines, devices and systems,” says Hempen, explaining WAGO’s strategy. However, this involves more than just having the right selection of hardware and offering software that is easy to use. Instead, what is crucial is “to work with customers, system integrators and technology partners to find tailored solutions, so we can realize the benefits of digitization together.”
