Fast forward to profit with IoT based solutions for the industrial world from EcoAxis

The Internet of Things (IoT) is defined as the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing internet infrastructure. Simply put, IoT basically connects people, processes and machines wherever they may be. IoT is changing the way business is done on a scale that was never imagined. Businesses are focused on ways to improve the efficiency of their industrial assets, increase revenue, improve customer service and comply with regulatory requirements. However, lack of right information to the right people, at the right place, and time, leaves management and plant personnel struggling to meet these challenges. The complex nature of industrial plants and equipment, expansive plants and geographically distributed plant locations only compound these challenges. Businesses are therefore adopting the IoT based technologies to meet these challenges and bolster their top and bottom lines. IoT based technologies help in the continuous optimisation of resources – in various ways:

• Operations and maintenance practices to maximise Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
• Quick response to deviations from standard operating conditions to minimise revenue loss and ensure effective use of skilled manpower
• Optimisation of specific resource consumption (air, water, steam, electricity, fuel, etc.) to reduce operating costs.
• Maximise equipment life while minimising Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Improve service function delivery to customers

A.T.E. anticipated the emerging need and the power and versatility of the IoT based technology in 2006 and has been relentlessly building capabilities in this domain through its business unit, EcoAxis. While the IoT technology adoption is growing at a mindboggling pace and it is estimated by Gartner that the IoT installed base will grow to 26 billion by 2020, EcoAxis is fully geared to enable this deployment providing a unique value proposition to its customers with its well proven products and solutions. EcoAxis is one the few companies which has developed an in-house hardware as well as software framework (SUPERAxis™) specifically designed around the needs of the industrial market. Its technology provides seamless integration of data acquisition, M2M communications and real or near real-time database, Big Data analytics; Business Intelligence (BI) enabled visualisation combined with extensive industrial process knowhow. The platform consists of hardware & software connectors for logging data from machines, instruments and sensors. Using cloud-based computing, it delivers analytics and alerts in the form of reports, dash boards, emails and SMS – on any device, anytime, anywhere.

This system allows:

1. Continuous monitoring of remote plant assets for real time information on:

a. Production

b. Productivity

c. Availability

d. Losses

e. OEE

2. Continuous tracking of critical process parameters that help:

a. Identify and address deviations quickly

b. Track equipment health / condition to instill and manage condition-based maintenance

3. Online reporting of KPIs that help keep track of operational effectiveness and performance

4. Alerts intimating plant / equipment users about critical conditions needing attention.

Here are some examples of IoT based continuous monitoring solutions provided by EcoAxis:

• Installed base consisting of several hundred units of heat exchange equipment of a large OEM, sending equipment data across geographies to a central control room for remote service delivery to its customers.
• Management of multi-plant enterprises (sugar, power, etc.) giving access to data regarding online production, productivity, availability & losses while on the move (via intuitively designed dashboards) on smart devices.
• Remote monitoring of several facilities covering energy, water, utility equipment performance.
• A role-based decision support system built for various stakeholders of a multi-fuel, multi-site power plant enterprise, with remote access of critical operations and maintenance data to experts at a centralised location.
• Efficiency improvement system for large plastic injection molding plants.

SUPERAxis™ has been implemented for complete plant monitoring covering applications such as textile process houses, power plants, printing and packaging units, sugar complexes, facilities, etc. as well as for utility equipment like boilers, heaters, chillers, compressors, gasifiers, cooling towers, DG sets, water and wastewater treatment plants etc. EcoAxis has gained widespread expertise over the years with the execution of a large number of prestigious projects, which includes remote monitoring of Thermax absorption chillers, CxO dash boards for Somaiya Biorefineries, thermal power plant monitoring for KSK Energy Venture, etc.

The solution has benefited end users in improving production, productivity, availability, and reducing losses, as well as effectively managing energy & resource utilisation and improving plant maintenance. OEMs and O&M service providers have packaged EcoAxis' remote monitoring solution to monitor their installed base of equipment for improving service revenue and service processes, reducing warranty costs, and field validation of their product / technology designs. “The IoT ecosystem is growing at a phenomenal pace and at EcoAxis we are very excited to tap this opportunity. I am really happy to see that our investments made towards technology, resources and skills are actually fetching good returns for our customers. I can proudly say that we have exceptional expertise to understand the entire ecosystem around our customer's pain and gain areas and ability to deliver highly customised turnkey solutions. This easily is our most unique value proposition to our customers”, said Mr

Vinod Vaswani, COO, A.T.E. Enterprises Private Limited, Business Unit: EcoAxis. Catering to only the industrial world, EcoAxis so far has already analysed over 5 trillion data points, and is growing at a 1.25 trillion data points every year. Thus, EcoAxis has established an unparalleled track record in the IoT based M2M remote morning solutions and undoubtedly is a reliable partner in this space.