Sustainability in its three dimensions – ecology, economy and digital – has moved up the agenda of an ever-increasing number of companies. With a focus on a better ecological footprint, more efficient operations and a safe as well as appealing workplace, digital services are becoming the center of attention. And ABP Induction has designed a comprehensive digital portfolio that enables metalworking companies to reposition themselves in the spirit of the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 is becoming an actual reality today with the machine-based evaluation of data based on machine learning, the network-based interaction between production systems, but also the convergence of the knowledge of the system manufacturers with that of the operators.
Increasing productivity and quality while simultaneously reducing environmental impact and production costs are challenges that forging companies are confronted with every day. Over the past few years, a large number of companies have addressed this challenge and developed suitable concepts for the economical and time-efficient use of the production factors operating resources, personnel, materials, planning and organization.
Future-oriented digital strategy with the myABP portal
ABP Induction provides holistic support to these companies to continue their pioneering strategies: Digital solutions bring ABP Induction closer to system operators and supports them in the daily operation, maintenance and training of personnel. This requires a digital strategy in the forging companies – and the establishment and qualified use of digital tools. The focus here is on the myABP digital portal.
What does the myABP portal do?
ABP Induction launched a project phase in 2018 with the aim of developing digital service solutions for all aspects of metalworking operations. This resulted in the concept of an open digital platform that users can use, regardless of manufacturer, to effectively manage their own machinery and equipment. When designing the platform, it quickly became clear that ABP was on the right track with its decision to not tackle the project alone, but with development partners. Throughout the development phase, four long-standing ABP customers were involved in the project, providing valuable practical input. In this respect, initial response from the market has shown us that the supplier neutrality and versatility of myABP is exactly what the market obviously needs. It is the combination of maintenance planning aids, ticketing and knowledge management system, virtual training, augmented reality support, system overview and reliable service that was highly appreciated among reference customers. This is how predictive and preventive services can be offered.
The transparency of machine data from production is crucial in this context. Transparency is meant here in the sense of in-house processing: Data is collected in the company and stays in the company. This form of data security guarantees the protection of a company’s data. Only in the event of a malfunction can access to this data be granted for an external service call by triggering an alert. The digital platform provides an in-house overview: The product quality is seamlessly documented from raw material to the final product. Fault information and condition monitoring systems are available throughout the company, enabling faster response times to production interruptions and accelerating the resumption of production. In addition, preventive maintenance concepts based on the predictive analysis of real-time data enable proactive maintenance and repair. Users therefore benefit from additional information and recommended actions.
The myABP platform is the logical digital extension of our service offering and the introduction to the new digital world. It functions transparently and is location and time independent. It is designed for all processes and machines involved in the forging industry (and beyond). Any upstream and downstream processes can be easily incorporated into the platform. Here you will find all documents pertaining to the systems, from product descriptions and drawings to maintenance manuals and service reports. myABP becomes a personal information and maintenance assistant for heating systems, even including those from different manufacturers. It is the central collection point for insights and recommendations and consolidates all relevant knowledge about the system. Operators can make use of it to manage their services, system parts lists, documentation, offers and orders, request support and establish connections to the various systems that are used in production.
Seamless digital portfolio
But the digital transformation of a forging operation has to be approached holistically. In this respect, ABP – with the myABP platform as its foundation – has developed a seamless digital portfolio that is guided by all three pillars of sustainability and is consolidated under the label “ABP Digital Solutions”. This includes the ABP Virtual Academy, which consists of the ABP Virtual Classroom and Virtual Training building blocks. In addition, the augmented reality (AR) service “digital Expert on Demand” (dEoD) was introduced to provide remote services. These digital services are bundled in the myABP platform, which customers can use to plan their training activities and also manage their entire system. The collection of tools is rounded off by an online store for spare parts.
White label solution for all industries
A revolution is not something that is done just by one person or company. ABP Induction therefore relies on a network based on partnership – with customers, suppliers and other machine and system manufacturers, on partnerships with other companies and universities in order to continuously develop the platform. ABP sees myABP with the associated digital solutions as an open concept. All digital solutions can be used as “white label” by other companies – by the way, not just in the metalworking industry. Because digital transformation is a process that all industries have to face. In the forging industry, it can be understood as a continuation of business optimization based on the lean philosophy [1], with the aim of further increasing productivity and quality while reducing environmental impact and costs, and thus remaining competitive. This is a true change in culture that must be addressed jointly by operators and machine manufacturers.
Markus Fournell, ABP Induction Systems GmbH
VP Global Service & Digital Products
Phone: +49 231 997 2357
Cell: +49 172 9578531
markus.fournell@abpinduction.com