The customer wanted to ensure a continuous production. As there is always contact between material and tool, the tool wears out and in the worst-case scenario may even break, resulting in machine downtime or damage and ultimately loss of production. Due to anomalies only being spotted and reported at the end of shifts, the work-flow was less efficient. The customer aimed to resolve this issue. Until recently, Buyse only took into account the data input in the ERP package by operators at the end of each shift. The customer also aimed to get more insight on planning and control. Also, errors were sometimes made when data were input manually. The customer aimed to improve the real-time data from the machines. 

Real-time data was needed on what was happening in the machine. There were different brands of machines at the Buyse Metal Works Group, each with their own communication protocols.The Brownfield Connectivity Gateway (BFC) from Siemens was the ideal solution, as this system is able to read all the data from these different control systems. Buyse is now using correct data for both planning and analysis. The data was seamlessly implemented into the already existing dashboards which works with Microsoft Power BI. As everything is recorded without sensors, the data comes directly from the machine control systems. Various pieces of data are collected: machine status, the status of tools, error messages. In a future step, energy consumption might be monitored as well.    

Siemens service experts implemented the solution quickly. Siemens service experts are also continuing to work as a consulting partner with the customers external IT partner. The BFC is currently still running on a standalone server but will be migrated to a virtual server soon. The advantage here is, that the IT partner wil be able to maintain the virtual server without downtime or back-ups, as interruptions in real-time data are not wanted. Siemens service experts will remain ready for automatic updates. 
Next step: Predictive Maintenace. Buyse is now looking at whether data from the BFC can be fed into the ERP package in real time. If the actual job time deviates significantly from the proposed job time in the ERP system, adjustments are made manually. 
Automatic adjustment would make planning even more efficient but Buyse is still looking for data control in-between as incorrect data can also mess up the schedule.   
After this, the customer also wants to predict when tools need to be changed based on the data so that there will be far fewer breakdowns. Buyse is also looking at Siemens for that too, as there are thousands of lines of data a day. 
With the BFC, the customer now has a solution that delivers the data in a standardised way. 

The Aalter branch of Buyse Metal Works Group specialises in décolletage: turning large series ranging from several hundred to hundreds of thousands of pieces from bar stock.