Networked production and process monitoring attracts great interest at SPS 2022

Winterthur, December 2022 – At SPS in Nuremberg (Germany) from November 8 to 10, the Kistler Group presented its broad portfolio of production measurement technology, joining systems and software solutions for industrial automation. Discussions with customers and partners from all over the world focused on individual solutions for networked production, digital process monitoring and resource-efficient measurement data analysis. Software products for data acquisition and analysis by Kistler attracted particular attention: They go beyond metadata search to enable the search and analysis of real measurement data.

To meet increasing demands for production speed and product quality without neglecting resource efficiency, manufacturers need to keep a close eye on their entire production. "Visitors to our booth were mainly looking for efficient measurement and process monitoring solutions to record their quality parameters in networked production and optimize them on the basis of accurate data," explains Stephan Vogel, Head of International Business Development at Kistler. "To do justice to different production processes and individual requirements, we provide individual sensors as well as complex measurement chains: Our digital force measurement chain consists of the new piezoelectric SlimLine sensor 9132CD and the charge amplifier dICA 5074A, for example."   

Efficient real-time monitoring for the smallest force

"This force measurement chain is primarily designed for use in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing but is also suitable for medical technology applications," Vogel explains. "Visitors from these industries were particularly interested in how this measurement chain can precisely and efficiently measure and monitor manufacturing steps in their fully automated production systems, even with the shortest cycle times and the smallest forces," Vogel says.

Thanks to its high sensitivity of 35 pC/N, the piezoelectric SlimLine sensor 9132CD measures even the smallest changes in force and reliably transmits the collected data to the dICA 5074A via its integrated highly flexible connection cable. As the only Ethernet-based charge amplifier for piezoelectric sensors on the market, the device is the first to enable users to integrate the sensor directly into their real-time Ethernet system and control it conveniently.

Software solutions enable resource-efficient data analysis

Software solutions by Kistler also attracted a lot of attention from trade show visitors. "Not only does data acquisition play a major role in everyday production, but solutions for the subsequent evaluation and storage of data are also of great interest to manufacturers as well as plant and machine builders – especially if they are not only able to search and analyze metadata but also real measurement data," reports Martin Schlierf, Sales Manager Digital Solutions DACH at Kistler. For example, he received an inquiry from the mining industry: "The manufacturer was looking for a solution that would enable him to record and evaluate large quantities of measurement data from their equipment. If one of the machines fails, the data has to be stored and analyzed as quickly as possible in order to find and rectify the fault," explains Schlierf.

In such a case, the jBEAM analysis software and the data management solution MaDaM from Kistler get to demonstrate their combined strengths. "Only the measurement data needed for the current analysis process is transferred via the MaDaM server's specially developed interface. This means users can start evaluating directly in jBEAM. This saves time and significantly reduces computer resource consumption," explains Schlierf. "The software solutions thus enable rapid assistance across multiple teams of analysts at different locations around the globe.

In addition to technical topics, the trade fair also focused on personal exchange. "The trade fair offered an excellent opportunity to discuss current trends as well as new solutions," Vogel sums up. "We are already looking forward to the next SPS and the opportunity to exchange