Matthias Morath

Cross-system and cross-site PLM data connection with business case

Companies that want or want to be fit for the future are above all one thing, they are already extensively networked or are working on it. The problem is that everything that has not yet been connected to IT will have to be connected at some point in the future. This is especially true for machines. Most companies today are not prepared for this. Thus, the existing machines and equipment are not able to send data. For this purpose, the WAGO company has developed the IoT Box, which integrates the machines into the Internet of Things. It is a complete system that includes all the functions a company needs for digitization. The range extends from signal acquisition to cloud connectivity. However, today’s use case focuses not only on WAGO, but also on a customer, Liebherr-IT Services. They develop organizational and programming IT solutions for the entire Liebherr Group. They currently support 31 development and production sites with more than 13,000 users. The focus of this podcast is the IoT box. No hardware needs to be planned for the IoT box, because it is designed according to the ready-to-use principle. This gets the data into the IoT application quickly. Depending on how the IoT box is to be used, flexible I/O cards can be retrofitted. This allows each system to be customized to the required specifications. But there are other options available. The IoT box is a prefabricated solution that can be retrofitted to any machine or system without much effort. The trick here is that the production process does not have to be interrupted. This means that the IoT box can not only be used universally, but also optimally records data streams, production cycles and voltages.