Process Optimization via the Cloud

The cloud makes it possible for you to access your current energy and process data from any location. It also offers big data intelligence so you can process, analyze and save larger data volumes. This can be advantageous if, for example, you want to employ artificial intelligence to predict when the individual machines in your production chain will require maintenance. WAGO creates the necessary prerequisites: The software in our controllers can send data directly to the cloud, for example, to the new WAGO Cloud Data Control. A Web portal serves as a user interface for the cloud service hosted by Microsoft Azure. Of course you can use other cloud platforms with us – whatever service you select, everything is in your hands. The cloud brings you this added value:

• Central data provision
• Location-independent access to current data
• Machine learning
• New operational management strategies

If you want to use the cloud for your energy management, you must consider data security, because if cybercriminals manage to manipulate your production via the Internet, you are facing heavy losses. With WAGO, you are protected from cyberattacks. “Security by Design” – IT security integrated from the outset in the form of layer-based security architecture – ensures that data thieves will not be able to gain access to our Linux^® controller. Communication between controllers and the cloud is performed and encrypted via MQTT protocol. You can also define variables to be transferred to the cloud – this way, sensitive data does not leave the company. These are the security benefits for you:

• Linux^® hardened operating system
• No patching
• Encrypted communication
• Definable variables and intervals

In an intelligent factory, energy and process data can also be used to predict failures and develop new operational management and maintenance strategies. One topic is predictive maintenance, the proactive approach to maintenance. This enables companies to recognize defects before they actually occur. Systems will no longer be repaired when they fail, but rather before they do. Problems often result from unfavorable correlations. Artificial intelligence in the cloud can detect these conditions. Yet even without cloud connection, our energy management system helps: With it, limiting values can be set to establish starting points for those responsible for service and maintenance to ascertain when something in production is not running smoothly and failures threaten. With this knowledge, major damage can be avoided in good time. This is why predictive maintenance is worthwhile for you:

• Less damage
• More efficient maintenance
• Greater system uptime
• Economical

What can companies do if they not only want measurement and visualization for their energy management, but also want automated control? Thanks to open interfaces, the energy management system from WAGO can transparently provide accumulated data for further processing; for example, in a cloud-based “Manufacturing Execution System” (MES) or “Enterprise Resource Planning System” (ERP). Then, based on our data, the systems initiate further actions, such as controlling electricity consumption within the context of load management. In the process, the company’s load profile is harmonized and made uniform, thus reducing load peaks and machine wear. Industrial companies can profitably offset their loads. This functions through provision of control energy to compensate short-term fluctuations in the electrical network. This is what load management brings you:

• Reduced load peaks
• Harmonized load profile
• Lower demand rates
• Reduced machine wear