SKF Bearing Manufacturing Plant in France Deploys CoreTigo's IO-Link Wireless Solution for Energy Conservation

CoreTigo, a provider of industrial wireless mission critical connectivity solutions, and SKF, a worldwide leading supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronic components and lubrication systems, have announced their collaboration at the SKF St. Cyr plant in France. The project includes an implementation of a wireless energy conservation solution that enables SKF a simpler and more cost effective deployment with minimal impact on the manufacturing line.

At the SKF Bearing Manufacturing Plant in France, the energy used for compressed air accounts for a large amount of the total electrical power consumption. A factory-wide solution is required to monitor all the machines using compressed air to ensure optimal flow, prevent leakages and reduce waste. Cabling of the sensors from the machines to the network is challenging in terms of cost and deployment effort.

The proposed solution enables a simple and easy to deploy wireless connection from the flow sensor on each machine via CoreTigo's IO-Link Wireless solution. An IO-Link Wireless Bridge is connected to each off-the-shelf industrial flow sensor. An IO-Link Wireless Master communicates with the Wireless Bridges over the air and relays the data from the machines to CoreTigo's visibility software (TigoInsights) without the need to reconfigure the PLCs. In addition to the flow data, the system also communicates the machine's operational and availability status. The combination of real-time flow and operational data enables improved analytics that can detect leakages and non-optimal flow. The TigoInsights dashboards and analytics tool enables SKF to view the data anywhere in the factory, analyze valuable data, and receive real-time alerts.

• The expected benefits from this solution are:
• Annual reduction of energy consumption on compressed air
• Deployment complexity and cost reduction
• Improved maintenance processes
• Reduction of unplanned maintenance and downtime

Earlier this year, CoreTigo and SKF initiated their relationship at the Industry of the Future Challenge which SKF is one of its key sponsors. The Challenge aims to make new technological solutions emerge, and to improve the performance and quality of the services provided in industrial environments. The Challenge included more than 200 participations from 47 countries, out of which, 20 companies have been selected for the finalists and mentoring phase. CoreTigo was chosen as one of the 20 finalists in the Connected Factory category. CoreTigo's mentor was SKF, and they worked closely together. Beyond CoreTigo benefiting from the mentoring and feedback, this relationship led to the understanding that CoreTigo's technology can also benefit SKF's St. Cyr manufacturing plant.

Read more at  https://atos.net/en/2019/press-release_2019_06_11/industry-of-the-future-challenge-2019-organized-by-arianegroup-atos-and-skf

"It is an honor for CoreTigo to be working with a global leader and innovative manufacturer such as SKF." said Gabi Daniely, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at CoreTigo, "This is an important step for us on our journey of enabling a less complex, more flexible, and unbound industrial environment."