SMC Deutschland , a solution provider and manufacturer of pneumatic and electrical automation technology, together with the embedded specialist Beck IPC , has developed a visualization solution for the data flows from machines and their components . For starters it is working with data from an ALDS panel (SMC) for leakage control and the com.tom IoT gateway (Beck). This combination, for example, allows the drop in air pressure in a cylinder to be displayed graphically. An associated app simultaneously notifies the maintenance team that action is required. It can also be used to organize automatic orders. In principle, this makes it possible to display flow consumption, switching frequency and other operating data and, in turn, to draw up predictive maintenance concepts.

The reliable control of compressed air quality and consumption is a key factor for increasing energy efficiency in pneumatics. And since in a smart factory machines are taking over more and more functional intelligence on the shop floor level, the relevant data must also be immediately available to the employees on site. Other automation providers have also recognized this. Festo, for example, also makes the data from its energy efficiency module available for condition and system monitoring via a Profibus connection.

In the era of data, up-to-date visualization is ultimately essential for boosting IoT potential. It is no coincidence that the global data visualization market is expected to grow at a rate of 9.21% and reach a volume of $ 6.99 billion by the year 2022. All the software giants are already interested in this field, from IBM and Microsoft to Oracle and SAP.