There is no way around digitalisation if you want to remain successful. Connectivity – holistic networking within a digital infrastructure – is playing an increasingly important role these days. In this context, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to expand their digital mindset and take the next step towards digital transformation. Digitalisation presents companies in all sectors with major challenges and opportunities. The challenges include the increasing complexity of products and processes, growing competition and increasing cost pressure. But the opportunities are just as significant: they include increasing efficiency, productivity and sustainability.
KOCH Robotersysteme is a highly specialised robot system house and develops innovative automation solutions for packaging, palletising and order picking. As an experienced partner, it offers technical and customer-specific support throughout the entire project – from planning and realisation to service – for the sustainable implementation of both complete turnkey systems and individual systems that can be integrated into any production environment for all factory areas. For years, the family-run company from Dernbach (near Dierdorf, Germany) has stood for advanced technology with comprehensive expertise and many years of experience in automation technology in a wide range of industries.
Automation and digitalisation
With its new KOCHnectivity software, KOCH Robotersysteme now offers a forward-looking solution to fully exploit the potential of automation and digitalisation. The programme supports companies in making the most of the benefits of digitalisation. KOCHnectivity enables companies to establish a seamless connection to their machines and systems and thus offers detailed production data acquisition. Numerous machine data can be called up in real time for comprehensive transparency about the production process. This real-time data can be used to record operating statuses in an event-orientated manner in order to be able to react to changes within production at an early stage.
“KOCHnectivity is setting new standards in industrial automation. With this software, we offer our customers continuous monitoring of their systems. This provides them with tens of thousands of pieces of information per second, giving them a holistic understanding of their production process,” explains Thomas Theis, Sales Manager at KOCH Robotersysteme.
Powerful reporting functions such as pivot tables enable structured and systematic management of the large volumes of data. The resulting detailed evaluations help to identify problems at an early stage and fully exploit optimisation potential. KOCHnectivity also offers KPI dashboards that provide an appealing visual representation of the data. These clear visualisations provide valuable insights into operational processes, improve the planning and transparency of production and help to avoid downtime and the associated costs.
Increasing efficiency, transparency and productivity
But what exactly is the digital information that is supposed to help companies increase efficiency, transparency and productivity in their production? KOCHnectivity offers a variety of powerful modules that are specifically designed to achieve these goals – from intelligent energy management and the evaluation of overall equipment effectiveness to efficient maintenance planning – KOCHnectivity provides a holistic solution for the modern challenges of industrial automation. The key functions of the software that support companies in remaining competitive are presented in detail below.
Intelligent Energy Management System (EMS): In times of rising energy costs and the growing importance of sustainability, intelligent energy management is essential. KOCHnectivity’s EMS module collects consumption data from individual devices, departments or locations in real time. Intelligent energy monitoring identifies patterns and behaviours in energy consumption. This information is used to initiate automated energy-saving measures. For example, unused devices can be automatically switched to standby mode or the room temperature can be reduced as employees are no longer on site. This not only reduces energy costs, but also makes energy use sustainable. “Our EMS functionality optimises energy distribution and ensures that resources are used efficiently to reduce peak loads and stabilise energy consumption while avoiding expensive costs,” explains Mark Ortner, Head of E-Technology & Software at KOCH Robotersysteme.
Production Data Acquisition for Overall Equipment Efficiency (PD4OEE): The OEE key figure measures the productivity of systems using the formula ‘availability x performance x quality’. The PD4OEE module records relevant production data in real time in order to calculate the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). In addition, further production data such as order information, machine malfunctions or downtimes can be determined, enabling a precise assessment of the production situation. Accordingly, the module recognises bottlenecks, inefficient processes and quality problems in order to increase productivity. For example, a production plant whose recorded data shows that the plant is inefficient could benefit from this. Under this assumption, the machines would not always be available, the production output would not be optimal and the quality of the products would not be satisfactory. Measures to improve the efficiency of the plant could include: improved machine maintenance, optimised production processes, introduction of quality controls and adjustment of operating conditions. By implementing these measures, the company could increase the plant’s OEE by around 15%. By comparing different plants and production lines, best practices can also be identified to further improve efficiency. As a result, the cost savings would lead to an increase in profits, the reduction in C02 emissions would contribute to climate protection and the improved quality of the products would ultimately lead to an increase in customer satisfaction.
Maintenance calendar: KOCHnectivity’s maintenance calendar supports the precise planning and management of maintenance activities for machines, tools and other system components. When a maintenance schedule is created, the module automatically sends notifications to employees to inform them of upcoming maintenance jobs. The effects are manifold: the company’s maintenance costs can be reduced as maintenance jobs can be planned and carried out more efficiently. The uptime of the company’s systems can be increased as maintenance work can be carried out in good time and downtimes can therefore be reduced. The safety of the company’s employees can also be improved, as maintenance work can be carried out in accordance with safety regulations and also documented via the module.
Document management: For transparent system documentation, KOCHnectivity offers the option of storing relevant documents such as operating instructions or circuit diagrams centrally and retrieving them easily. This ensures seamless communication and promotes efficient collaboration. For example, if an employee needs the operating instructions for a machine but does not know the exact designation, they can simply enter the manufacturer or model in the search using the module. Document management can find the instructions quickly and easily by indexing the documents. Mark Ortner summarises the main advantage of the module: “Thanks to efficient management and quick access to documents, employees can complete their tasks faster and more effectively, which leads to a noticeable increase in productivity.” In addition, the company’s security can be improved through the use of document management, as access to confidential documents can be controlled, for example by ensuring that only authorised persons have access to this sensitive data. Furthermore, compliance with legal regulations can be ensured. “Our module helps companies to store all relevant documents in a versioned and audit-proof manner, which makes it much easier to fulfil compliance requirements,” says Mark Ortner.
Service: KOCHnectivity enables real-time monitoring of production processes and offers immediate support in the event of disruptions through data streaming. The service module triggers warnings and alarms when anomalies or faults are detected. KOCH experts are then on hand to provide technical support and find quick solutions so that smooth operations can be restored. Through continuous monitoring and early warnings, the service module helps to improve the operational safety of industrial plants, leading to a reduction in breakdowns and damage. At the same time, the efficiency of the systems is increased as problems can be recognised and rectified at an early stage, resulting in higher productivity. Cost efficiency is also increased, as operating costs are optimised by avoiding breakdowns and damage and increasing efficiency. The service module therefore ensures that industrial plants are not only operated more safely and efficiently, but also more economically.
Scalable and integration-ready
With KOCHnectivity, KOCH Robotersysteme offers a comprehensive and innovative software solution that supports companies in exploiting the benefits of digitalisation. This software is scalable and integration-ready, making it an optimal choice for companies of all sizes and industries. KOCHnectivity can be seamlessly integrated into existing IT systems and is capable of processing large amounts of data to provide optimisations of the production process. “KOCHnectivity is characterised by its high flexibility and performance. The software can be customised to the specific needs of each company, enabling companies to get the most out of it,” explains Thomas Theis, Sales Manager at KOCH Robotersysteme.
With KOCHnectivity, companies are ideally equipped to organise production processes sustainably and efficiently and to stay one step ahead of the competition. This innovative software solution is being continuously developed and increasingly uses artificial intelligence to implement more and more optimisations automatically. “By using AI, we will be able to continuously tap into new potential for improvement and implement these automatically based on the data collected,” explains Mark Ortner, Head of E-Technology & Software at KOCH Robotersysteme. This future-orientated approach ensures that KOCHnectivity not only meets current requirements, but is also ready to adapt to the constantly growing demands of the industry.