Real-time machine KPI dashboards for both SANOVO and customers

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SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP is a leading machine builder. They manufacture a wide range of egg handling and processing machines: from egg grading, breaking and processing machines to vaccination machines, production machines for making vaccines and powder dryers.

SANOVO serves several markets with its machines, such as poultry farmers, large packing stations and liquid egg producers. The development, production, sales and service of these machines take place under their own management. SANOVO primarily focuses on innovation, cooperation and delivering quality. Their customer focus results in continuously smarter solutions that contribute to customer demand.

We are collecting data now to be able to discover trends later.

Gerben Heinen Teamleader Software at SANOVO Technology Netherlands

'My challenges are to collect data for the optimisation of existing and new machines and the development of new products. In addition, we need to keep a high quality standard for the software and our service,' says Gerben.

sanovo-graderpro-img-20200409-wa0011-3SANOVO's GraderPro machine - World's highest capacity egg grader machine

High quality remote service

SANOVO uses IXON Cloud products, such as the IXrouter and the IXON Cloud platform, which are equipped with SANOVO branding. This total solution is offered to the market under the name LinkPro. New machines are always equipped with an IXrouter. This allows software problems of machines to be solved remotely. 'We have been using VPN for 10 years,' says Gerben. 'The IXON solution is easy to maintain and the performance and stability is very good,' continues Gerben.

'Our machines contain PLCs and several IPCs for controlling and interfacing. Via IXON Cloud we set up a VPN connection to the IXrouter and take over these systems completely. This helps us to detect errors and view logs of actions performed by the operator,' Gerben explains.

The advantage of IXON is that you can configure it remotely. We can quickly make any adjustments at the customer's request.

Gerben Heinen Teamleader Software at SANOVO Technology Netherlands

Cooperation and continued development

In addition to solving service questions, SANOVO also actively collaborates with third parties via the IXON Cloud for continuous development of the software. 'In collaboration with Ovotrack, we link business processes to an ERP system for insight into individual egg treatment via track and trace. We give them access to the relevant machine. This allows them to remotely implement new software releases,' says Gerben. 

sanovo_dashboard-1

KPI dashboard of a SANOVO machine - Build in IXON Cloud

Future-proof with machine data

For larger machines, data is collected to create insights for machine innovations. This data is also available to the customer in the IXON Cloud platform. 'There are live dashboards for different roles such as production managers and service engineers,' Gerben explains. Different machine KPIs are monitored and give a quick insight into the status of the machine. If desired, it is then possible to zoom in on specific, detailed information. This data is read directly from the PLC and presented in an IXON Cloud dashboard via OPC UA.

Furthermore, machine data is logged for future developments such as predictive maintenance. 'It is still difficult to determine when a sensor breaks down, which is why we are collecting the data now in order to discover trends later,' Gerben points out. A number of pilots have also been started to link machine data to PowerBI via the IXON API. The collection of data is done in full agreement with SANOVO’s customers and is not shared with third parties. 

Advanced user management

The extension of the IXON Cloud platform with RBAC, a role-based user system, gives SANOVO more freedom to apply customer-specific modifications. 'It becomes less error-prone, we gain better insight and have more options to give customers access to their machines,' concludes Gerben.

IXON's solutions are used for a wide range of SANOVO products, such as egg graders, egg breakers, hatchery packers, farm graders and packers, de-palletizers, egg loaders, powder dryers, industrial egg boilers and tray washers. Since they want to fully exploit the potential of big data, all new machines are standardly equipped with an IXrouter.

Benefits IXON Cloud offers SANOVO:

  • Easy to configure and apply to new machines
  • Compose and share your own dashboard per role
  • Live KPI display of PLC data in web-based dashboard
  • API for integration with business intelligence tools
  • Prepared for predictive maintenance

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