An Internet of Things (IoT) platform provides companies with Industry 4.0 functions on the web without having to develop or operate the applications themselves. Instead, the functions are only configured, used and billed based on this usage. The term Platform-as-a-Service, PaaS for short, has also become established for this business model. oee.ai is an IoT platform for optimizing Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
that Institute for Productivity, Aachen, has set itself the task of providing companies with easy and flexible access to a sophisticated OEE optimization solution. Both the appropriate hardware in the form of sensors and the cloud application were developed for this purpose. The overall functionality is provided as an IoT platform.
The IoT technology stack
IoT technology makes it easy to connect “things” to the Internet, manage them and intelligently analyze, display, or trigger further actions on the data generated by the things. An IoT platform takes care of all the trickery related to transfers, protocols, security, performance, application development, maintenance, and so on and so forth. This is how the term platform-as-a-service has become established. Only use of the platform is paid.
As an IoT platform, oee.ai takes care of the integration of the hardware. Either the sensor developed for the specific requirement is used or the system control is connected directly to the RESTful API. When using the flexible sensor, you can decide between the transmission types of mobile radio GSM or use of local WLAN.
The data is transferred to the “cloud” area, which, in addition to data collection and processing, also includes data technology integration with software libraries using artificial intelligence (AI). In the case of oee.ai, the open-source platform Tensorflow developed by Google is used.
On the application side, the user interface provides visualization and classic reporting, as well as access to AI analyses. In addition, apps are also used for device management and software management — for example, the firmware of the sensors can be updated from there. Among other things, safety-relevant functionality in the IoT environment. In addition, both sensors and users are allowed there. Everything that users are used to from modern applications.
The benefits of an IoT platform
Of course, it is not ruled out to have the functionalities developed via oee.ai developed and operated in your own company using information technology. However, there are also weighty arguments to prefer a platform-as-a-service solution:
- scalability: Both improvement and IT projects are happy to start with a pilot installation to gain experience. This is made possible for the first time thanks to the service platform's lack of investment and rental solution for the environment of such projects.
- Flexibility: With an IoT platform, only actual usage is paid for, with oee.ai, based on the number of sensors. The company therefore does not incur any fixed costs.
- Development: The majority of the further developments of an IoT platform are made available to all users. As a result, you are always up to date with the latest technology, both technologically — safety, performance,... — and functionally. When it comes to functions, this is particularly relevant in the area of artificial intelligence, machine learning, as there is a particularly rapid development that is impossible to follow without dedicated employees.
- Deployment: The data collected and stored in the use case of OEE optimization is not classified as safety-critical by most companies, so that storage in ifp Aachen's private cloud does not trigger any concerns. However, should this be the case, the solution can also be deployed in the company's private cloud.
We have made you curious. Contact us and simply try out oee.ai. We look forward to hearing from you: info@oee.ai or +49 (0) 241/401 842 75.