Collecting data forms the groundwork for developed IoT solutions. We had the chance to discuss about data collection pilot with Jouni Vuorensivu and Janne Ouni (in the picture above) from Remion Oy. They have been working with ABB Porvoo Wiring Accessories on Remion created system that enhances the productivity of the factory with data utilisation.
Remion Oy is Tampere-based company specialised in industrial internet services, such as data collection, analytics and visualization using state-of-the-art technologies. The experienced company employs 23 people.
Piloting Big Data Collection
ABB Porvoo was looking for data collecting solutions and asked Remion to join the project. The solution was to collect, analyse and transfer production cell operation data into the cloud for further utilisation.
“Our PoC was a pilot concept, which aimed at building up experience of data collection. The main questions were what kind of information can be collected from the production cells and what can be developed of that data,” Janne explains.
Remion’s project with ABB Porvoo focused on big data collection. It was carried out with the service called Regatta®. It is Remion’s industrial IoT solution – a modular system offering different components based on the client’s needs. The ABB Porvoo project was to collect data for quality, predictive maintenance and production metrics and it was targeted to measure Cpk (quality) and OEE (production).
The service was tailored to meet the factory’s needs: the first module collected data, another processed it and the third module visualised the collected information.
Various Utilisations – from Maintenance to Visualising Trends
The pilot was built around injection molding machines that produce plastic electrification products for the building industry.
”We wanted to follow up the efficiency of the whole production cell – the OEE statistic. The traditional challenge with quality control is that the errors have been sorted manually, it is laborious and naturally less precise,” Jouni describes the project.
With the IoT solution, ABB Porvoo aims at higher OEE statistic and more precise follow up and control.
The data could be utilised in so many ways and different situations: in maintenance, quality control, catching errors and homogenising the products. Data helps minimising stops and interruptions; it helps monitoring the production. The users can react to alarms right away and fix the problems. The managers can follow the revenue and general efficiency of the plant or a machine on time. The data can also be integrated to other systems.
Putting the data on visual form makes it easy to analyse, browse values, and follow trends.
The Work Continues
The co-operation went smoothly according to Jouni: ”Working with ABB Porvoo was easy, everybody there were enthusiastic about the project and its goals. The challenges we faced were mostly concerning schedules. Although we had to solve the information security and privacy issues: we decided to keep the data collecting and transferring networks separate with manual transition for now.”
Remion has been discussing about expanding the system inside ABB Porvoo and will continue the work there. In the future they can utilise the factory’s own platforms to which the solutions can be integrated.
“We are in the early stages of updating and adding to the digitalization of our production equipment at the Porvoo factory, and the pilot project with Remion was a big leap in the right direction for us. The work that was done has been a great learning experience in how data from industrial equipment can be collected and processed, and this experience will aid us in configuration and scale-up of more comprehensive production data systems in the future.
Working with Remion was pleasant right from the start of the project. They are clearly experts within the industrial data area, but also very competent in project management and working flexibly within the constraints set by the client.” – Jesse Wickström, Production Development Specialist, ABB Oy WA
This project was part of the Grand Challenge 4. Read more: GC 4: Digital Production
Find out more about Remion Oy
