Monitoring and bringing together raw data from drying installations via the IXON Cloud API ensures proactive service and better insights for sales
In addition to being a supplier and manufacturer of air purification systems and RFID products, Dorset Group is also the market leader in biomass drying systems. With these 'Green Machines', waste and manure are converted into bio-material (such as granules). The residual heat is used as an energy source. This ensures low energy consumption and reduced dust emissions at farmers and livestock farms, among others.
The change collecting data from installations appears to be a successful move and fits within the drive for innovation Dorset Group.
Drying installation from Dorset Group
“Providing global support was already part of the Dorset service package, for both remote control and resolution of software problems,” says Chris Lam, Data Engineer within Dorset Group. Due to the data needs, Dorset has made the choice to use IXON Cloud.
Chris Lamb Data Engineer at Dorset GroupIXON offers one platform for remote access and data monitoring, which is fast, stable and future-proof
Chris's first assignment was to create insights for process optimization of the service and sales departments. “The data from the installations helps with this. The initial phase involves monitoring and maintaining control after the commissioning of new installations or modules. Then on to collecting raw data for analysis and making comparisons between installations,” Chris explains.
First of all, the raw data from the drying installation from the Siemens PLC is made available in the IXON Cloud platform via the IXrouter. This includes measured values from sensors, downtime, and fault codes from alarms.
Chris built a prototype in Power BI to build up historical data and compare the installations. “We retrieve all installation data via the IXON API. We store this information centrally in a local SQL database. The data is imported daily into Power BI with a Python script,” says Chris.
The goal is to proactively resolve faults and quickly gain access to all installations in the field
Dorset Group drying installation in container
“The service department uses the insights to respond proactively and resolve malfunctions preventively. The urgency is determined based on alarm codes. The sales team uses the data from existing installations to demonstrate the return on sales,” says Chris. In addition, Dorset is building up a history of all installations so that in the future, together with the engineers, we can see how the products and processes can be organized even more efficiently.
The standard period for every new drying installation is 2 years data monitoring delivered. “We supply three dashboards as standard that are also accessible to the customer via our IXON portal. After 2 years, the customer is given the choice to continue this monitoring.” Because the installations are often the same, templates and the import/export function are used in the IXON Cloud platform used to configure everything quickly and easily.
Setting up the custom dashboards for a new installation takes a maximum of half an hour. We adjust our Excel file and import the new data tags and dashboards into the IXON portal
Historical dashboard of Dorset drying plant in Germany – IXON
Combining connectivity devices from multiple vendors into one portal
The switch from remote access platform caused confusion for the service department. “With hundreds of installations in the field, you don't know which customer is already equipped with an IXrouter. So you don't want the service team to have to search in two systems.”
As a solution, Chris has developed the 'Dorset Connect' portal, which includes all IXrouters and automatically brings the current install base into one portal. The project is built in Node.js and publicly accessible via GitHub. The code can be reused by anyone.
“From Dorset Connect we can search for all customer installations and start a direct link to the relevant VNC or a remote desktop. At the push of a button, customer dashboards can now also be opened in the IXON platform,” Chris explains.
The IXON API works very well. Some knowledge of web techniques is required.
Live dashboard with current data from a Dorset installation in Germany – IXON
With the increasing customer demand for monitoring of installations, Dorset Group is at the forefront of the market. Power BI will eventually be linked to Office 365 and Microsoft Teams and will also be integrated into the Dorset Connect portal. “We want to make our dashboards accessible in all processes,” says Chris.
Would you like to know more about how customers use machine data or the IXON API to apply? Then take a look at our success stories or please feel free to contact us for a no-obligation conversation or demo.
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