Optimum separation instead of repair: GEA takes the next step in data utilisation with Industrial Analytics from Weidmüller
With Weidmüller's new Automated Machine Learning Software, GEA intends to expand and enhance its range of services in terms of systems and plants. A corresponding “pilot” has been initiated at GEA's Oelde site.
Industry 4.0 as a challenge and great opportunity
Digital technologies and the topic of Industry 4.0 pose great challenges for companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector, but also offer completely new opportunities: Production plants must be individually adaptable to individual products and customer requirements. The service business is becoming increasingly interesting.
“We have been dealing with the topic of condition monitoring and condition monitoring of machines and have set up threshold value analyses for quite some time. But we were aware that the potential of this topic is much greater,” explains Kerstin Altenseuer, Head of Service Development at GEA. “In the long term, the aim was to map processes or to be able to optimise applications together with our customers. And of course also to establish new business models and areas of application such as leasing or subscription models for our machines“.
Making algorithm know-how available
GEA, with over 125 years of expertise in the manufacture of separators and decanters for the separation of liquids, benefits enormously from this experience. These plants are used in various industries such as the food industry, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, energy, shipping and environmental technology. With new business models or applications, the company intends to open up new sources of revenue. “However, we realised relatively quickly that we needed the expertise and help of data experts for this project. It is not easy to identify and recruit the appropriate experts, i.e. data scientists, even if a company like GEA would in principle have good cards. But we would have needed several, which doesn't make things any easier,” says Kerstin Altenseuer.
Together instead of alone
So how can you build up expertise with appropriate experts? In its search for a solution to this problem, GEA became aware of Weidmüller and the company's expertise in the field of industrial analytics through the “It's OWL” excellence cluster. The goal: to think differently about the service offering for customers and establish smart services. At the same time, the quality and performance of the machines was to be improved and the basis for developing new business models created in order to position GEA competitively in the market.
Transforming process engineers' findings into algorithms
Gea and Weidmüller first worked on how the project could be set up and what the central goal would be.
“It quickly became clear that we would first prove the feasibility in a proof of concept and then enable Gea to develop and operate ML models independently. “, explains Tobias Gaukstern, Business Unit Head of Industrial Analytics at Weidmüller.
With the help of the Automated Machine Learning Software Service, the experts at GEA should be able to train machine learning algorithms and statistical models independently.
Mechanical engineers often face the problem that their design, automation and process experts cannot easily transfer their knowledge into machine learning solutions. How do you bundle this application knowledge in software or even in an algorithm?
“The solution was very interesting for us because we have many process engineers who know the machines very well and can interpret the data to a certain extent. With Weidmüller's help we can now transfer this knowledge into an algorithm,” explains Matthias Heinrich, Manager Digital Solutions at GEA. A proof of concept (PoC) with historical data was carried out in Oelde to check how the theoretical considerations can be applied on site in the production environment at GEA. The aim was to automatically detect anomalies in the behaviour of separators in the dairy industry.
Further rollout planned
The applications were used in connection with an existing IoT scenario for condition monitoring at GEA. “Everyone is talking about digitisation. But in the end, we want to provide added value. We want to take the next step with Weidmüller's solution,” says Kerstin Altenseuer. Until then, a number of tasks still need to be completed, such as improving data connectivity and data quality, before we can get started. “So far we have connected 500 machines in the existing portal and we want to transfer Weidmüller's solution to these machines as quickly as possible,” explains Kerstin Altenseuer. And she looks to the future: “I also see great potential for transferring the new technology to other areas at GEA.”
Weidmüller UK
- +44 1162 823470
- http://www.weidmueller.com
- Klippon House, Centurion Court Office Park, Meridian East, Meridian Business Park Leicester, Leicestershire LE19 1TP GB
About us
Be it automobile manufacturing, electricity production or water management - hardly any of today’s industries can do without electronics and electrical connectivity. In this internationalised, technologically changing world, the complexity of requirements is rapidly increasing due to the emergence of new markets. New, more varied challenges have to be overcome, and the solutions to them will not be found in high-tech products alone. Connectivity is the key, whether it involves power, signals and data, demands and solutions or theory and practice. Industrial Connectivity needs connections. And that’s precisely what we stand for.
Our Industries
Our industrial environment is full of connections that need to be connected, controlled and optimised. We are absolutely committed to always providing the best connection possible. This is not only demonstrated in our products but also in the human connections we maintain: We develop solutions in close cooperation with our customers which meet the full measure of all requirements of their particular industrial environment.
Industry 4.0 and Digitalisation
In the light of Industry 4.0, customised, highly flexible and self-controlling production units often still seem to be a vision of the future. As a progressive thinker and trailblazer, Weidmüller already offers concrete solutions that allow producing companies to prepare themselves for the “Industrial Internet of Things” and for safe production control from the Cloud - without the need to modernise their entire range of machinery.
Where we supply to
UK Ireland
Industries we supply to
Chemicals, Energy and Power, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Water and Wastewater
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