Kepware Technologies, a software development company acquired by PTC® (Nasdaq: PTC) in January 2016, today announced that Faurecia, one of the world’s largest automotive equipment suppliers, has implemented Kepware’s IoT Gateway for KEPServerEX® to improve parts traceability throughout the entire manufacturing process—satisfying the needs of customers and internal stakeholders.

The new IoT implementation began with requirements from leading automotive OEMs to improve traceability for the parts Faurecia was producing and to make that production data available on demand. To meet these requirements, Faurecia needed a solution that could connect the various PLCs on the factory floor to IJ Core, its proprietary parts fabrication and Manufacturing Execution System (MES). After careful research, Kepware’s KEPServerEX connectivity platform with the IoT Gateway was selected.

Since implementing the IoT Gateway, Faurecia is able to provide customers with the product traceability they require. Increased supply chain visibility enables the world’s largest automotive OEMs to satisfy regulatory requirements and improve overall product quality for consumers.

Internal Faurecia stakeholders are benefiting as well. Operators on the machine floor note that communications are much faster, and the Quality Assurance department has the industrial data they need in order to analyze production quality. Additionally, executives in Faurecia’s boardroom can now access and leverage Operations data to boost efficiencies across the organization.

Given the ease of implementation and overall success of the Porto Real, Brazil pilot, Faurecia plans to standardize on Kepware in its North American, Asian, and European factories in 2016.

“We see huge potential with the IoT Gateway and are excited to deploy it across the 34 countries we operate in,” said Rafael Unruh, Competence Center Manager, Faurecia. “We’re seeing benefits from this implementation from the boardroom down to the shop floor, and only expect them to increase as more locations utilize it. We’re able to be smarter and more nimble in our decision making, which leads to better products and services for our customers.”

Every company is dependent on some type of asset that keeps the business in business – be it a computer, a centrifuge, or a megawatt transformer. In a large enterprise, reducing costs related to asset maintenance, repair, and ultimate replacement is at the top of management concerns. Downtime in any network, manufacturing, or computer system ultimately results not only in high repair costs, but in customer dissatisfaction and lower potential sales. In response to these concerns, this paper presents a methodology for creating a real-time Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) solution with the OSIsoft PI System. It provides valuable guidelines for planning an enterprise system that monitors critical maintenance processes and assets. This paper provides answers to many high priority CBM questions including:

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“The elimination of manual operations for the measurement of OEE parameters has resulted into significant cycle time reduction. Based on the results achieved with this solution, we are considering its extension to other countries outside Europe.”
Stuttgart and Munich, Germany— BSH Boschund Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, a joint venture between Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart and Siemens AG in Munich since 1967, is a global group with approximately 9 billion Euro turnover in 2010. With a worldwide network of agencies and customer service companies, BSH currently includes 70 companies in 46 countries, employing over 43,000 people. BSH is the biggest household appliance manufacturer in Germany and Europe, and one of the industry leaders worldwide. Besides the main brands Bosch and Siemens, the BSH portfolio encompasses large and small household appliances, floor cleaning equipment and water heaters. Business management and development are driven by a clear strategic focus on quality and innovation. BSH offers well crafted products and the added value they bring to customers in terms of performance, comfort and ease of use. With this approach, the company promotes long-term customer satisfaction and trust in BSH brands.

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AQUALGAE is a Spanish company specialized in integral solutions for microalgae production, including design and manufacture of photobioreactors, supply of microalgae strains and culture media. Microalgae play a key role in aquaculture, food and feed industry, and may prove to be outstanding for better biofuels, food and pharmaceuticals, and water/wastewater treatments.

AQUALGAE soon turned to InduSoft Web Studio to create flexible and robust SCADA/HMI systems that could grow with advancing technology in the increasingly important microalgae production industry.

With InduSoft Web Studio, AQUALGAE has been able to meet the shifting requirements of customers who require a robust and highly flexible SCADA/HMI system to control and monitor photobioreactor plants.

Microalgae are microscopic algae typically found in freshwater and marine systems. They have a very high photosynthetic efficiency and may be found in all habitats of our planet. Microalgae are the main primary producers and contribute to the major capture of CO2 from the atmosphere, with its concomitant O2 release. There is a tremendous biotechnology potential over microalgae still to be explored.

With climate change recognized as one of the top threats to our planet, microalgae may prove to be key for CO2 mitigation, creating biofuels, developing food and pharmaceuticals, and water/wastewater treatments. The vast array of products that can be produced through microalgae cultivation include everything from industrial applications to health and food supplements.

AQUALGAE is a company specialized in integral solutions for microalgae production, from small-scale labs to pilot-scale and large scale projects. The company designs, manufactures, and installs different type of photobioreactors, as well as offering microalgae starter cultures, culture media, and auxiliary equipment.

Due to the rapid growth in the industry, scalability is critical to new systems developed by AQUALGAE. When they discovered that their original SCADA software platform was not flexible enough to handle the growing demands of customers. AQUALGAE soon turned to InduSoft Web Studio to create flexible and robust SCADA/HMI systems that could scale easily with advancing technology.

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