Strategic Partnerships: Expansion of T.CON product portfolio with Industry 4.0 solution from FACTOR.E

For mid-sized production companies to capture the enormous potential of FactorE.OS and optimize their equipment productivity T.CON is combining the cloud based industry 4.0 solution within the framework of their own solutions portfolio. This includes the sales as well as the implementation and support for FactorE.OS. The application can be implemented stand-alone or in combination with the tried and tested MES CAT Suite from T.CON, which seamlessly integrates into SAP NetWeaver and thereby in SAP ERP. The bidirectional exchange of information between MES CAT and FactorE.OS is achieved using REST APIs. The partnership provides FACTOR.E with an added benefit as well: The start-up can concentrate solely on their core competencies and improve or develop the cloud solutions based on the most modern technology.

The innovative concept of FactorE.OS is that the generation of production data on performance, current condition or utilization for a piece of equipment, as well as the amount of energy used, is achieved through measurements on the power cable. With the help of these measurements, and thanks to intelligent pattern recognition, it is possible to identify important operating figures of equipment effectiveness (Overall Equipment Effectiveness = OEE). The information, electricity that is flowing uninterrupted into the system, is processed in real-time, is correlated expediently using an algorithm, analyzed on the fly and the results are promptly graphically presented in dashboards. Using this method also establishes efficient energy data management, which is a basic requirement to increase the efficiency of the entire production line. In the future, FactorE.OS will have features that provide notifications, alarms and automatically generate improvement suggestions that will provide the customer with diverse benefits.

Since the manufacturing data is captured directly on the power cable the installation of sensors as well as the complexity of programming and maintaining IT interfaces becomes superfluous.  In addition, costs from the manufacturer for activation of interfaces are avoided. The cloud software is not tied to a specific platform and can therefore be integrated flexibly. The software currently runs on the Microsoft Azure-Cloud. However, it can be operated, without difficulty, on SAP Cloud Platform (previously SAP HANA Platform) or in a private cloud at the customers’ location.

At the HANNOVER MESSE from the 24 to 28 of April 2017 T.CON will introduce, for the first time, FactorE.OS to the public. Interested trade visitors can get detailed information at the T.CON stand (Halle 7 / C15).