The satisfaction of our customers is our top priority. For decades, we have been guiding numerous companies on their journey to intelligently combine design and technology to achieve not only higher performance and effectiveness, but also greater user-friendliness.
Weidmüller GTI Software presents ResMa®, an innovative energy management software. This web-based solution collects data centrally via connectors and offers intelligent evaluation and visualisation options. ResMa® goes beyond conventional energy management, as it also analyses detailed production data and serves as a tool for optimising processes and their energy requirements. Precise knowledge of the processes and energy flows in the company enables potential to be identified in order to carry out targeted process optimisation.
Coppenrath & Wiese uses ResMa® for energy and resource management. Over 680 measuring devices send data from production and the logistics centre. The software is used for process optimisation in order to identify energy-intensive processes and develop energy-saving strategies. Certification to DIN EN ISO 50001 is recognised by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa). Companies that decide to use ResMa® are supported by government funding. With the help of ResMa®, several manufacturing companies have already achieved savings of over 10 %. ResMa® is an important building block for achieving energy targets and documenting progress.
Red Dot Design Award
KIEFEL GmbH has developed a modern and pioneering HMI solution for its thermoforming machines based on Weidmüller's PROCON-WEB software. The result was so successful that it received a Red Dot Award.
The requirements for industrial operating concepts have undergone huge changes and have been influenced by the touch functions of tablets and smartphones. Kiefel therefore totally replaced the existing HMI software of the thermoforming machines and devised a modern and future-oriented solution.
The award-winning solution
For Kiefel, the development has paid off. Several machine types have now installed the new HMI solution. PROCON-WEB uses the integrated role and rights concept to support a total change in the operating philosophy, moving away from a device-specific presentation towards a user-centred design. The groups of people accessing the data, such as plant operators, production managers, quality managers and maintenance staff, therefore receive precisely the information they need in the form that is most effective for their tasks and the nature of the operating devices.
One example of the many advantages of the new software is the simplified registration. Operators only have to log on once to machines that are grouped together in a line. This makes their work processes easier and more efficient. In addition, it was important to Kiefel that users could identify themselves and log in using an RFID chip.
The concept and the design (assisted by an external UX designer) have not only convinced the end users: in 2020, Kiefel received the Red Dot Award for the HMI solution in the category Brands & Communication Design 2020. The panel of judges explained their decision as follows: “The new user interface design for Kiefel automated packaging machines is an excellent example of how design and technology can be intelligently combined to achieve not only higher performance and efficiency, but also greater ease of use for the operator. The meticulous design ensures an almost intuitive control of the system and a quick grasp of its functions.” Kiefel and Weidmüller GTI software – a success story.
Information from the production process increases plant availability, yield and resource efficiency and harmonises product quality. The Knauf Group is using the power and resource manager ResMa® as a tool to provide information on the process management level in real time, monitor production output, and identify deviations. This allows Knauf to counteract any issues rapidly and optimise production efficiency in its plants worldwide in a sustainable way.
"We can use the resource management system to access a wide variety of plants worldwide at the same time and carry out process analyses with the plant teams completely digitally without time-consuming business trips."
Marcus Kränert, Process Optimisation & Energy Management Division of the Knauf Group and Project Manager ResMa®:
(Image: Knauf)
Transparent in resource usage and quality
Connectors provide direct access to information from a wide range of industrial control systems and measurement technology, for instance for recording energy usage via current and gas, or process values from the PLC. Depending on the system type, up to 3,000 different values are recorded and processed. D
ResMa® is able to process collected data on a batch or product-specific basis. This makes it possible to identify system-specific influences on the same product, and benchmarks can be easily established across locations. A REST interface (web-capable interface to access data from the resource manager for processing in BI-Tools) makes it possible to extract and process information from ResMa® using the IT-Toolchain by Knauf.
“ResMa® is a digitalisation tool that can easily access information on power consumption and the current process at the push of a button, as well as conduct straightforward data analysis” explains Achim Schreck. “This saves valuable time in everyday business”.
Global roll-out at many more locations
"Cross-plant benchmarks help us," says Knauf project manager Kränert, "to analyse modes of operation and collect best practice examples, as well as to check previous control logics and adapt them if necessary." So far, more than 51 Knauf plants have been connected to ResMa® , and another 21 sites will be added by the end of the year. Marcus Kränert: “The goal is to equip all major production sites in the plaster area with ResMa® by 2024”.
The production of high-precision plastic parts for micro and medical technology requires maximum product quality. Manufacturers of medical products are subject to strict quality requirements, high production outputs (high parts volumes and flexibility) as well as error-free production with the highest efficiency.
Horst Scholz has several buildings for production and administration at its Kronach site that needed to be equipped with an energy management system. As there were already some energy meters in the existing sub-distributions, these were to be integrated into the system.
The third expansion stage has now been implemented, involving the recording of process data from automation technology. For this purpose, Scholz uses three Resma connectors and a direct network connection to the most important machines. This makes it possible to use extensive data from the production process directly for KPI development and the performance of analyses within Resma.
ResMa® allowed us to carry out the step-by-step development of our EnMS on our own and opened up potential for integrating extensive information from production.
Martin Rebhan, Managing Director Horst Scholz
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