How to make a factory smart in no time

Making your own factory more efficient, also through digitalization, is a goal that all companies should set themselves to remain competitive in an increasingly challenging market. Traditionally, however, the improvement process is long, complicated and expensive.

Traditional solutions, such as MES for example, require long times and high installation and integration costs. These critical issues lead companies to completely abandon the adoption of similar solutions or to partially implement them only in the departments of the factory considered most important.

Technologies such as Industrial IoT (IIoT), Cloud and mobile applications, however, are completely changing these paradigms, allowing rapid and widespread installation of highly effective solutions.

The TechMass solution has been designed, among other features, to allow a factory digitization in no time, regardless of the size of the factory, the type of process, or the state of the machines or the technology present in them.

Thanks to our plug & play approach it is possible to collect precise, correct and timely information throughout the factory. All without having to face the historical and well known problem of integrations with machines. The immediate applicability of the solution offers multiple possibilities and advantages, beyond the obvious cost savings:

There are no longer “dark” processes that are impossible to measure: all waste is identifiable and it is possible to start the continuous improvement process at 360 ° in the factory.
With this database, covering the entire supply chain, it is possible to activate and exploit the algorithms and artificial intelligence that our platform makes available. In this way you can bring your own factory to a high level of efficiency and performance.

How to convert an entire factory in no time?

From the first moment we have kept scalability as the main driver in the implementation of our solution with the aim of achieving the benefits proposed above.

First of all, our system is in the Cloud: this means that there is no software to install on PCs or servers (unless you want the on-premises solution). The implementation of our solution therefore involves the installation of Paul, our IoT device on the machine. With the support of an electrician, all the necessary connections can be made in less than 15 ‘/ 30’ on the basis of the diagrams provided: 24V power supply, a clean contact from the machine and one to detect waste. From that moment the system is ready to work (this is the simplest example).

Paul installation procedure, the TechMass solution

Once our hardware device is connected to the machine, it can be configured through a web configurator. The personal data can be uploaded by hand or with massive upload mechanisms and can be easily attributed to other lines.

Hardware web configurator

We have also thought of an extremely simple approach for the tablet on board the machine. The interconnection between the hardware and the tablet is guaranteed by a native App, downloadable from the Google Play store directly from the tablet, which is delivered as standard.

At this point, just open the App, connect the tablet to the wifi and then scan the QR code imprinted on our device to uniquely associate the tablet with Paul, who will be connected in a few seconds.

Screen of the QR code of the device to be scanned

When there are the conditions, we can also integrate with existing management systems to transmit orders on the machine, manage production progress and much more.

This represents the Plug & Play installation mode.

By replicating this mechanism, with 30 minutes per machine, you can scale the system across an entire factory in no time compared to any other solution on the market today.

What happens in case of failure of the supplied hardware?

TechMass’s approach allows for the flexibility and resilience that factory life requires. In case of failure of the tablet, simply repeat the operation described above with any tablet or screen to be online again.

If Paul should accidentally break as well, just take out the card with the operating system, and insert it into the new spare Paul device. Thanks to the terminals already installed and connected, the replacement operation takes a few minutes. In the case of highly reliable systems, it is possible to have electronic redundancy with automatic fail-over.

How do we manage the obsolescence of the equipment supplied?

With our rental business model, we offer an end-to-end solution: IoT device, Tablet with App for Operators and web portal for management. Our customers therefore never have to worry about the obsolescence of the devices included in our offer.

We are responsible for managing the obsolescence of hardware and software devices to always guarantee the highest standard of service. Periodically, our customers receive new tablet devices and IoT hardware, and we take back used ones.

Of course, our software is also constantly updated and, thanks to cloud management, there will be no need to install new packages.

Furthermore, we guarantee a second life to used but still functional tablets: those in good condition that we collect from our customers, we donate them to schools and training institutions.

How do we enable the use of our tools?

Our system is designed to ensure maximum usability by all users. This translates into an intuitive and easy-to-use system from day one, even without training.

In fact, the App itself will guide the operators in the various tasks to be performed, easily allowing system configuration and data analysis through our Dashboard.

All our functions are also accompanied by a user manual to allow maximum understanding of the tools.

How do we manage different types of lines?

We have active customers in multiple sectors and multiple industries and we manage all types of processes such as discrete, continuous, batch or order production (CNC).

The autonomous configurability of our software, combined with the configurability of our hardware device, allows you to manage very different types of lines. It is thus possible to standardize all data from different departments of a plant (with different operations) in a single web interface.

Example of a particularly complex manual assembly line managed by the TechMass system

All lines can have a particular configuration: target speed, stop thresholds, types of product or process etc. With our CMS, it will be possible to assign the related products with their parameters to each machine / line. When the time comes to scale on other machines, simply duplicate the products on all compatible machines, with one click.

Stay competitive thanks to TechMass

Thanks to all the elements indicated, TechMass is able to support the digitization of factories. It allows it to obtain more data, improve its performance and remain more competitive on the market. All with an extremely flexible, fast and effective approach.