Page 12 - Böllhoff Group annual report 2017

to Böllhoff customers at any time and wherever they are, in addition to advance planning of
Service assignments on a global basis. Remote monitoring of status data also addresses the
issue of condition-based servicing. This way our customers are warned about necessary
maintenance work ahead of any plant failure – something that has a positive impact on the
availability our systems.

For customers who create their own data analysis environment for this purpose, Böllhoff’s OPC
UA process data interface offers them an option for accessing the status data of their equipment.
In a pilot project conducted with a leading car manufacturer in the south of Germany, we became
the first producer of self-pierce riveting technology using the OPC UA interface on five of our sys-
tems in the production line for a luxury limousine.

OPC stands for Open Platform Communications and symbolises modern, high-performance
connection of automation components with controller hardware and field devices using a stan-
dardised, manufacturer-independent access method. The new OPC UA (Unified Architecture)
generation pursues the goal of global interoperability. It describes a service-oriented, manufac-
turer-independent and multi-platform exchange of data and information – from the field device
at factory level to the ERP system at corporate management level.

Digitalisation of goods flows

Digitalisation of the supply chain is a process that is increasingly apparent to us in our private lives.
Suppliers like Amazon keep us informed about the current delivery status of our orders via e-mail
or apps. Parcel service providers make Track-and-Trace information available to customers so
they can monitor the progress of their consignment. Apps and e-mails allow us to change our
shipment addresses to collection points or to specify time slots for the delivery of goods.

These technologies are pushing more and more into the B2B market and, as such, are increas-
ingly reflected in customer requirements on Böllhoff as a service provider. With our current ship-
ment application we are however only able to fulfil this requirement at a rudimentary level. By

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