The better has always been the greatest enemy of the good. Furthermore, competition motivates companies from all sectors of the economy to regularly rethink their daily actions and search for ways to become faster, better, and more efficient. Both apply against the backdrop of changing challenges that the wood processing industry faces daily – from political fundamental decisions to global economic developments and the current conditions of the labor market.
The image of Industry 4.0 symbolizes the strategy to optimally utilize the entire range of technological possibilities of digitization. To continuously optimize all processes within the value chain, improve their efficiency and safety, and simultaneously maintain the quality of their own performance at least at the achieved level.
Big Data, Big Business
To improve a product, one must know it in detail. Precisely defining its characteristics and features and their interactions is the basic requirement for optimizing them. The same applies to production processes: Only the precise analysis of individual processes, their course under different conditions, their interdependencies, and external factors provides the insights necessary to identify and utilize existing optimization potential. Therefore, the basis of every Industry 4.0 technology is comprehensive, continuous, automatic data collection.
Every single process along the entire value chain is characterized by features that can be captured as data through measurement. From the duration of a process step to its consumption of resources, to details such as sensorily detectable reactions of individual components of the machines involved: Together with environmental data, the data foundation is created, which can be considered as the fuel for digitization and process optimization. In addition, extensive data collection forms the basis for machine learning and thus for the entire complex of process automation using already available and future AI technology.
KUPER: The Upgrade in Wood Processing
KUPER has recognized the potential of Big Data for the wood processing industry and develops solutions to capture data from production-specific processes in the greatest possible variety and scope. The aim is an uncomplicated, location-independent access to data and their consolidation from a wide variety of sources. Networked together, data from production, combined with data from administration (from resource planning (ERP) to order CRM data) can be evaluated and analyzed with a wide range of questions. The focus here is on the question of which interventions in individual processes have an impact on the quality of the end product and on production in terms of speed, reliability, and utilization of resources.
At the same time, data collection enables continuous monitoring of functionally relevant machine parameters. Integrated into a maintenance strategy, the data obtained here can be used to replace classic cyclical maintenance measures with demand-oriented predictive maintenance. Deviations are recognized before defects occur, reducing overall downtime and reducing costs for maintenance and repair.
KUPER hardware creates conditions for software of the future
With the Industry 4.0-ready basic module developed by KUPER, we create the hardware conditions to capture relevant data on our machines and make it available for further use. Today, this data can already be visualized, evaluated, and interpreted. Also, a connection of machine data with data from an ERP system is already possible. However, the purposeful interpretation is still largely a manual task and requires the necessary expertise.
The future belongs to innovative software, especially using state-of-the-art AI technology. With its help, it will be possible to search for patterns in the vast amount of data, recognize connections, and control processes in such a way that they deliver optimal results in every respect. All of this happens automatically in real-time.
The machine of the future automatically responds to every change in a relevant parameter. Whether it's a change in a performance parameter, environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, or variations in the natural material wood: The machine largely adjusts itself and ensures consistently optimal quality and efficiency at all times and under all conditions through targeted adjustment of all processes.
Discover Industry 4.0 in Woodworking
- How to become Industry 4.0-ready with the KUPER base module
- Fundamentals, opportunities and challenges in Industry 4.0
- KUPER’s vision for the future of the woodworking industry
