Oil consumption in view

Manufacturing companies in the metal industry need oils and other fluids as consumables in their machines. In order to make their consumption transparent and to establish a connection to the ERP system, Arnold Umformtechnik relies on the IIoT platform moneo in combination with the SAP-based software solution Shop Floor Integration (SFI), both from ifm.

Cold forming presses and rollers are the main machines in the production of Arnold Umformtechnik - a specialist in high-quality and innovative connection technology. And all machines require different fluids to operate. Five different oils plus used oil and emulsion are stored in a central oil supply. In each department there is a "filling station" where employees can take the oils for the individual machines.

Record consumption and transfer it to the ERP

In the past, the consumption of the individual machines was not transparent and it was not possible, for example, to track which machine consumed which amount of oil. That is why the company has now implemented an Industry 4.0 solution based on the IIoT platform moneo.

The employee who takes oil selects the machine for which the oil is intended on the control panel of the filling station. Flow sensors then record the quantity dispensed. In order to further process the information on the oil quantities, the moneo agent accesses the control system and can evaluate the recorded consumption and make it available in a clear manner. What is particularly interesting for Arnold is that the data is also sent directly to the SAP system via ifm's SFI solution.

The solution thus creates continuous transparency about the individual consumption, and the quantities can be booked appropriately. Recording oil consumption on the basis of individual machines offers another important advantage: If two identical machines use significantly different amounts of oil, this is immediately noticeable. Arnold has already come to know ifm as a sensor supplier in the past. However, in the project now being implemented, it is of great importance that moneo is an open system; Arnold has installed sensors from another manufacturer to record the oil quantities, but their data can be read seamlessly into moneo. The sensors were already present on the systems.