Code Yellow and Telerex are jointly developing a universal gateway within three weeks

What does Code Yellow do?

High-mix Low-volume manufacturing is of course a well-known benchmark for the Dutch manufacturing industry. Smart systems should enable you to practice this sport with as little effort as possible. And this at the lowest possible production costs, resulting in maximum added value. Code Yellow has a unique approach to facilitate the transformation and digitalization of existing business processes with smart software applications. This is a major issue for many companies.

Code Yellow solves the issue by examining, among other things, which business processes are running by which officers and which systems they have to work with. Based on this, an application is created within one working environment that makes work transparent and efficient for everyone. Code Yellow focuses its software on the manufacturing industry, among other things, by realizing solutions for its customers with TRACY, a solution developed by Code Yellow. Tracy consists of Shop Floor Control (complete insight into the progress of planning and guidance of processes) and MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems). In addition to High-mix Low-volume manufacturing, TRACY also supports High-volume manufacturing.

This ensures the connections, ease of use and clear step-by-step instructions in the workplace. Thanks to the connections, many administrative actions become redundant and a personalized system is created for the user. The end result is an application that the user can configure and change himself, whereby production from order to delivery is paperless, i.e. 100% digital. All process actions are logged and instructed, so that quality assurance is recorded for each unique end product and serial number.

Machines and production resources (such as scales or calipers) in the workplace play an important role. Linking the application to this hardware is often a challenge, because the various communication protocols of machines cannot be directly linked to the software platform. This is where the expertise of Code Yellow and Telerex come together to find a solution.

Customer wish

Code Yellow wanted to have a universally connectable gateway within 3 weeks to demonstrate their software system to its customers. This short time frame posed challenges, because Telerex had not previously started its development. In practice, there are all kinds of devices and sensors with different interfaces. For this purpose, the gateway must be able to translate the most common communication protocols into a readable script (Armbian, Python) for the Code Yellow OS platform.

Our solution

To realize a universal gateway, an industrial version of one was chosen Asus Tinker Board S. This is a single board computer (SBC) with a good overall user experience and the certainty of long-term availability of the product with good support from the supplier. This SBC is included in Telerex's standard delivery program and can therefore be supplied from our own warehouse stock.

The Asus Tinker board S is ideal for web-based production automation. Moreover, it has the options for connecting an external touch panel via HDMI and USB. In addition to this standard connection, a 7” HD screen with touch can also be easily connected via MIPI-DSI. With the addition of a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) board developed by Telerex itself, the Tinker board S is easy to configure with the supplied software and then communicate with the Code Yellow software. Telerex made a technical proposal for the design of the HAT and further developed it within 2 weeks. The whole could then be delivered to Code Yellow as a proof-of-concept, allowing them to carry out their tests well within the allotted time.

For the Tinkerboard S with the addition of the HAT, Telerex has selected a beautifully finished and suitable standard housing. The square aluminum housing is manufactured and finished by OKW. The housing has all the correct cutouts for the I/O connectors.

Thanks to Telerex's knowledge of its own products and the ability to quickly develop an application, a customized gateway was delivered as an end product well within the allotted time. Telerex can think along with its own engineering in order to realize the most optimal solution for its customers. By translating the wishes and requirements of the application into a suitable, solid industrial end product with the right price/quality ratio. Thanks to the assembly facilities within Telerex, combined with its logistics expertise and capabilities and the use of the knowledge and skills of its own engineering, suppliers and partners, it is possible to create the total solution for a product entirely in-house.

The custom-made hardware gateway, which has been given the name CY-BOX, will be used by Code Yellow as a standard solution for their TRACY software. The CY-BOX will become an optional, additional module to complement the current modular solution. The collaboration between Code Yellow and Telerex has led to the creation of an innovative solution within the manufacturing industry, which Code Yellow will apply in the further development of its applications.

For more information: info@telerex-europe.com