Abstract: The machines produced by Baruffaldi, although equipped with a PLC, are currently unable to collect operating information, process it and represent it. In order to understand the technologies (and, in parallel, the organizational needs) capable of making this evolution possible, Baruffaldi developed a beta prototype on which some tests were carried out in the laboratory and in an operational environment (TRL 6). Starting from this state of the art, the BLINK 4.0 project envisages the industrialization of this prototype in order to make it operational on the main industrial machines manufactured by Baruffaldi. The final system will reach TRL level 8 (System qualified through test and pre-commercial demonstration).
Specifically, the project starts from the features of the POVI 10000 industrial machine that will be supplied to OBO Bettermann, the project industrial partner. This machine is the central unit of an off line modular plant that has the function of punching and coining electrical cable ducts both in PVC and PC/ABS, a field in which the partner is one of the European market leaders.
The project is completely focused on Industry 4.0 technologies and, in particular, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to pursue objectives of digitizing information, integrating internal processes, enabling a more flexible approach and enabling manufacturing servitisation. Specifically, the project has several technological objectives:
• Verify the compatibility of the hardware components identified to enable the industrial machines to communicate the data produced during their operation: this compatibility has been verified in the laboratory on the prototype, but will have to be confirmed in the operational environment on the installed machines. In particular, the operating conditions in the network of the project industrial partner will be verified;
• Enable the communication of these components according to industry-standard protocols;
• enable the communication of these components with an Open Source IIoT web platform (Thingsboard) installed at Baruffaldi’s IT infrastructure;
• Define a set of indicators and analyses accessible through the IIoT platform that can cover the analysis needs of Baruffaldi and potential customers and enable condition monitoring services, machine operating status, production indicators, automatic maintenance management;
• Verify the stability and performance of the technological infrastructure that enables the delivery of services via the web and define the scalability criteria that will allow it to grow as the number of customers involved and the number of connected machines increases.
BLINK 4.0 will therefore enable the development of an IIoT solution for all companies (the end users of the application) that intend to acquire Baruffaldi machines and simultaneously approach the subject of Industry 4.0-enabled services. At the same time, the platform makes Baruffaldi machines compliant with the most widespread IIoT platforms, guaranteeing the company greater competitiveness even in the market of companies that already possess this technology and require to be able to integrate the machines acquired from Baruffaldi.
Thanks to the use of a stable, mature Open Source platform followed by a very active community of developers, the project is particularly innovative because it allows the implementation of a low-cost application, already prepared for the initial needs of processing and analyzing machine data, as a function of advanced monitoring services.
From a commercial point of view, such a system is certainly a competitive asset for Baruffaldi: it will allow SMEs and less technologically advanced companies to be approached with a solution that has a low organizational and economic impact, compared to that required for the start-up of the most widespread commercial systems, which have high licensing, acquisition, configuration and maintenance costs: these costs are often not compatible with projects that allow the company to evaluate the potential of Industry 4.0.
