Companies discussed the concept and practical implementation of Predictive Maintenance

On July 3, 2018, the conference IVAM HANDS ON – Predictive Maintenance took place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund. The event brought together SMEs and startups who exchanged ideas about predictive maintenance strategies. In lectures and panel discussions, about 80 registered corporate representatives discussed concrete examples, solutions and joint project of how to implement concepts, improve work processes and generate new business models.
 
Up to now, regular maintenance and inspections have been used in order to ensure the lasting functioning of technical devices and machines. Due to the Industry 4.0, a paradigm shift is taking place: The precautionary measures are being expanded by means of predictive maintenance. Sensors at production facilities collect data that can be used to detect and evaluate changes in the functioning of the machines. Intelligent evaluation of sensor data enables companies to detect flaws before they actually occur, rather than reacting to a failure or malfunction.
 
Axel Dittmann from Microsoft Germany provided an overview of the topic. He explained how Artificial Intelligence can help to improve industrial processes such as Predictive Maintenance. The importance of such technology was also shown by Dr. Thomas Heller from the Fraunhofer IML, who deepened the concept in his keynote speech: In the process, the company should "turn from being driven into a driver" and actively plan maintenance in advance by means of correct information instead of maintaining machines in the event of disruptions and reacting hastily. To do this, all areas of the company must work together and networks with suppliers must be set up in order to be able to carry out maintenance tasks at all times and to have spare parts available. Dr. Wolf-Christian Strotmann from W & S emphasized that, in addition, all concepts must be customer-oriented. Only the inclusion of users of the systems can lead to a meaningful use of Predictive Maintenance concepts.
 
Regarding the conception, Dr. Dirk Ortloff from camLine pointed out that first digitalization concepts have to be incorporated into maintenance management. Only when data is available and processes are recorded digitally, predictive maintenance can be meaningfully carried out. How exactly the data can be generated was presented by Dirk Anfang from HYDAC International. He explained components such as Sensors that can collect necessary data for Predictive Maintenance. In a best practice example, Valentin Germic presented the maintenance concepts of ELMOS. In the semiconductor industry, predictive maintenance through fully automated production lines has long been an important topic. Concepts are constantly evolving. This could also be transferred to other industries.
 
Many startups already offer solutions that they want to develop, test and implement together with established SMEs. In the second part of the event, three startups presented their latest developments in short pitches. Afterwards, project ideas and implementation strategies were discussed in small discussion rounds. Dr. Tolgay Ungan from Endiio Engineering showed, how energy supply can be made possible for sensors on machines – without batteries and without cabling. Dr. Felix Friemann from Logarithmo presented software solutions for evaluating measured sensor data. The goal is the sensible processing of sensor data in order to draw conclusions about necessary maintenance work. Simon Kemper from datacake showed the neccessary (cloud) software and hardware to capture, wirelessly send, store and process data.
 
The event IVAM HANDS ON – Predictive Maintenance was initiated by the urgent relevance of the topic and organized by IVAM in cooperation with Digital in NRW, the ruhr:HUB Experience Days and the Roundtable Startup-Mittelstand. IVAM represents the medium-sized high-tech industry, Digital in NRW is considered a competence center for digital development for medium-sized businesses, ruhr:HUB Experience Days is committed to high-tech startups and Roundtable Startup Mittelstand promotes networking between startups and SMEs. By organizing the event together, it formed interesting groups that can work together to find solutions for the digitalization of the industry.