Since April 2017, Baumüller has been networking its drive solutions using the BAUDIS IoT solution in the Open Telekom Cloud – and also offers the system to its customers in two variants: as a retrofittable solution for brownfield applications, i.e. for existing applications, and as an integrated system for new greenfield applications. A hardware box or industrial PC uses external sensors, the controller, the inverter, the motor, or other components to collect information, depending on the application, such as temperature, runtime, or load changes. These are transmitted to the cloud via WiFi, LAN, or LTE. This enables companies to monitor their production robots, ship engines, wind turbines, etc. from any location and analyze their performance to identify possible improvements and potential faults before they occur. This is thanks to the fact that BAUDIS IoT reports and warns as soon as a machine exceeds its standard values.
However, it’s not just Baumüller's customers that can reduce costs with the new solution. Baumüller itself also benefits from BAUDIS IoT. Its own plants are already networked with the public cloud and are constantly being upgraded. "With BAUDIS IoT we are improving the running times of the machines," says Süß. "In many cases, technicians no longer have to be sent in as we are already using the cloud to manage a lot of things flexibly - which ultimately saves time and money and enables employees to be deployed optimally.”
A strong partner for data security and protection was crucial for our IT solution.
Baumüller already introduced the BAUDIS diagnostic system back in 1998, so that machines could be monitored centrally around the clock. The system uses an industrial PC to keep a constant eye on certain parameters, such as lag and motor current, especially for printing presses. Companies that use it to monitor their machinery can always intervene immediately if a machine shows unusual values and thus avoid breakdowns before they occur. In addition, machines are not only serviced via a secure internet connection, but can also be reset and errors rectified.
In the 1990s, the Nuremberg-based company was ahead of its time with this system. Today, smart manufacturing and predictive maintenance are important drivers in the industry: almost 80 percent of companies assume that production will become more efficient through predictive maintenance. This is the finding of a study conducted by the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) together with management consultancy Roland Berger.
With BAUDIS, Baumüller showed that it had already recognized this over 20 years ago. At the time, there was a special focus on equipping larger systems, such as newspaper printing plants. The new BAUDIS IoT system was developed on the basis of this experience and it is continuously being developed further - today, many machines worldwide are equipped with this system. It should also be cost-efficiently applicable for smaller systems so as to be able to serve serial production customers in mechanical engineering. At the same time, the system should optimize processes: in a project with a textile manufacturer, for example, machines overseas were to be monitored from Germany. Baumüller was therefore looking for a way to monitor machines - regardless of manufacturer or year of manufacture - not just with a local industrial PC, but from any company location.
The solution: Networking using the Open Telekom Cloud. "We were looking for a strong partner for data protection and data security," says Norbert Süß, project leader for BAUDIS IoT at Baumüller. "We opted for Deutsche Telekom's public cloud solution at the 2017 Hannover Messe.”
It was a solution that corresponded to the Baumüller IT expert’s ideas: for example, the Open Telekom Cloud is certified in accordance with the Trusted Cloud Data Protection Profile (TCDP) 1.0, which means it offers companies the technical prerequisites necessary to meet the requirements of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Various other certificates also confirm the high level of security. However, this alone was not enough for Norbert Süß. He also visited one of the highly secure data centers in Munich and there he was personally convinced by the company’s security concept. And the overall impression is convincing.
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Baumüller is a leading manufacturer of electrical automation and drive systems. This global company works on smart system solutions at 40 branches. Its in-house systems company, Baumüller Anlagen-Systemtechnik, supplies suitable hardware and software components for operation. In 1998, this global player developed the BAUDIS diagnostic system, which allows companies to monitor their machines and detect impending errors on time, even before they lead to outages.
