Vapormatt brings their service packages into the 4.0 era with data insights

Vapormatt is a world leading surface finishing company, based in the UK, producing wet blasting machines. With an ever-growing number of machines in the field, data becomes increasingly important. That’s why they developed their Vapormatt 4.0 initiative in collaboration with IXON Cloud.

Challenge

Vapormatt has been offering service contracts, including remote support and maintenance, for many years. Lately, more and more customers have been requesting insight into real-time data that indicates machine performance – such as fault data, uptime, alarms and when maintenance is required. They need this data to increase the productivity rates of their machines.

Additionally, Vapormatt wants to become a valuable partner and deliver even better service to strengthen the relationship with their customers. 'We want to find patterns in our machines to remotely diagnose machine issues. However, sometimes it’s not just about solving machine issues. We would also like to help our customers to optimise their machine’s performance by advising them based on data,' says Dom Wilcock, Head of Design and Engineering at Vapormatt.

More and more of our customers ask for connectivity and insight in data analytics. Unlike 4 years ago, everybody wants that information, so we’re seeing an increase there.

Solution

About 3 years ago, Vapormatt was already working on the development of the Vapormatt 4.0 initiative, which adds data collection to the already existing service packages. The program was run completely in-house. 

'At that time, we found out about IXON Cloud, which made it possible for us to remotely access our machines, get data insights and integrate with other tools. We white labelled the entire solution so it’s all our own corporate identity. Instead of IXON Cloud, the platform is called Vapormatt 4.0.' 

'We started by looking at our machines in the field, and our support team kept records of customers they spoke to. By combining this information, we worked out the key points we needed to monitor,' says Dom. 'We put together the Vapormatt 4.0 service package in a way that brings value to our customers. The end user has to see and understand the benefit of the program, so you have to be open. We share all the data with the customer and explain why we’re monitoring those values. They can see what we can see.' 

It's now easier to notice patterns by analysing the graphs with their machine data. Vapormatt has created dashboard templates, which can be adjusted depending on their customer’s requirements. The dashboards include parameters like slurry pressure, air pressure, sump level, abrasive concentration, speed of moving parts, and give insight into whether valves are opening or closing. 

Result

Vapormatt now has an even closer working relationship with their customers. Dom describes: 'Our customer had an issue with their machine whereby a part on the machine kept failing. We couldn’t find the root cause, so we put the Vapormatt 4.0 system on, and watched the machine for a period of time. Then we noticed that there was a fault occurring somewhere else in the machine every time that this part went wrong.'

'The root cause was a sequence within the software. It was one thing turning on before something else and it needed to be the other way around. Our software team went in and made adjustments in the machine. We carried on watching it and the fault was gone. The customer’s machine is now up and running and is not having this problem anymore. Their efficiency and output are great again.' 

The implementation of the Vapormatt 4.0 initiative is already resulting in major benefits for both Vapormatt and their customers.

Of course we realise some benefits, but it’s no good if our customer doesn’t. Our customer has to be the primary beneficiary of what’s going on.

Dom Wilcock - Head of Design and Engineering at Vapormatt

Conclusion

By taking on an advisory role and looking at the same data together, the partnership between Vapormatt and their customers is getting stronger. Dom has some advice for machine builders that also consider offering service packages: 'The service package that you’re putting together has to bring value to your customer. If it only benefits you, and the end user doesn't know what they’re looking at or doesn’t understand the data, it’s not very useful to them.'

Vapormatt is currently working on evolving just-in-time spare parts maintenance. 'With the Vapormatt 4.0 system, we can look at the spare parts data of our customers, and start forecasting our spare parts stock so we can get the part to them when they need it. The system gets better the more data you’re collecting, so it keeps getting better all the time,' Dom states.

The ultimate target is to get to a fully automated system where the machine can notify people of what’s going on and allow customers to make choices. There are lots of integrations planned, such as PowerBI, developing APIs for different systems, and of course onboarding more customers.

As we’re developing our 4.0 program, IXON is developing its offering, and we’re kind of growing together.

Dom Wilcock - Head of Design and Engineering at Vapormatt

'Our account manager at IXON, keeps us up to date with the latest developments. That allows us to start thinking about how we can use that. And then it works the other way as well where we will ask for features or widgets. Our engineers who set up the platform and are also using it can ask for new features and get quite a fast response about updates. We’re really part of the development.'

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