Finland-based
Zyfra, an industrial digitalisation leader, has successfully completed two projects in the country to remotely implement an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) system at the industrial facilities of Koncentra Pistons, a manufacturer of large bore pistons for medium-speed diesel engines.
As a part of the project, the factory’s equipment has been connected to Zyfra's MDCplus real-time machine monitoring and manufacturing data collection system which is designed to track machine operation, personnel productivity and tracking of parts that moves across various manufacturing stages on the shopfloor.
With improved reliability of data, its tailored reports and charts benefit the organisation in evaluating and eliminate unreasonable downtime, overall equipment efficiency (OEE) improvement and reduction of production costs. On average, equipment monitoring increases production efficiency by 20%.
Through the equipment monitoring system each machine automatically transfers data about its own performance into a single digital system.
Data about the equipment’s condition, workload and its operating mode are sent from the machines to computers and other devices, making it possible to promptly eliminate downtime, as well as providing an objective evaluation of the quality of machine operators’ work in real-time.
Tommy Rönnskog, R&D Director of Koncentra Pistons, said: “Developments in the field of Industry 4.0 allow Finnish companies today to create an economic effect without huge investments in modernisation of production.
“The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with traditional digitalisation solutions based on the Industrial Internet of things (IIoT), such as equipment monitoring systems, will contribute not only to increasing production efficiency, but also to the competitiveness of Finnish industry globally.
“Zyfra has provided us with an enormous support with the installation and set-up of the equipment. Zyfra provided us with enormous support for the equipment support and installation to make the remote implementation successful.”
Vitaly Tuyev, product owner at Zyfra, said: “To connect a machine to the monitoring system, it has to be integrated into the local internal network of an enterprise. It takes just a few steps to connect the machine to the system remotely and to start collecting data with its help.
“Continuous improvement of the system is particularly necessary in context of the high alert on account of the coronavirus pandemic. It also helps accelerate integration of monitoring in production.”
Aleksandr Zadorozhnyi, international sales director at Zyfra, said: “The Zyfra’s MDCplus real-time machine monitoring and manufacturing data collection system boosts efficiency of 330 plants world-wide, so we are ready to share best practices with our Finnish colleagues. By 2021 we are looking at more than 100 MDCplus installations in Finland."
Zyfra has connected 10,000 CNC Machines to its MDCplus system. The projects have been implemented in Bulgaria, China, Finland, France, India, Turkey and Singapore.
This is the third project for Zyfra in Finland. In 2019, the company has connected more than 10 computerised numerical control (CNC) machines to MDCplus at different facilities owned by HT Laser, systems and components supplier for global machine building companies.
The integrated package of equipment was supplied, installed and configured by Zyfra, which is also supporting in the monitoring system maintenance and its operation, along with user training support for a period of one year.
According to Markus Lehti, vice president of HT Laser, machine tools productivity has increased significantly already.
In 2020, Zyfra has also started machine monitoring project at the facilities of Camtronic, a subcontracting company offering services in the design, machining and assembly for precision mechanics.
MDCplus comes with a power consumption monitoring option which helps to carry out precise and objective data collection of energy loss from machines in various modes and conditions. It supports the analysis of the quality indicators of the power supply system based on the in-built power consumption data register.
In addition, the automated service and repair support helps to reduce repair times and increase the lifespan of the equipment through optimal-speed and optimal-quality preventative servicing works. Also, with the in-built predictive analytics, the system can predict equipment breakdowns and control tool consumption.