Gefond

Gefond wants to create a predictive maintenance solution specifically for the die casting industry and has relied on TOOLS for SMART MINDS for the software and development of machine learning algorithms.

How the First Predictive Maintenance Platform for the Die Casting Industry Was Developed

The Challenge 

GEFOND is a leading distributor of high-performance materials and innovative technological systems for the Italian foundries industry, mainly operating in the automotive sector.

GEFOND has been providing support to its customers for thirty years, gaining strong technical expertise on processes and deep knowledge of specific machine failures in foundries.

The challenge is to create the world's first predictive maintenance platform specifically for the die casting industry with its own brand: Perpetuo.

Photo of a foundry, Perpetuo’s target industry.

By leveraging Artificial Intelligence models to identify unusual behavior, the data collected is transformed into meaningful information that can be used for proactive resource maintenance, preventing downtime or accidents. 

Determining the cause of potential failure can enable GEFOND to provide a more effective maintenance service, thereby extending the uptime of its end customers' equipment. 

Another requirement is that of having preventive maintenance functions to enable repairs to be scheduled according to the number of cycles or actual working hours of the machinery. 
This will allow GEFOND's end customers to gradually move from reactive or scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance. 

A further objective is to create a multilingual platform as the target market of GEFOND is located throughout Europe.

GEFOND, therefore, needs a technological partner expert in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to combine skills and give life to this extremely challenging project.

He chose TOOLS for SMART MINDS because of its long experience and strong data analysis skills aimed at predictive maintenance and optimization of industrial processes. 

For more than twenty years TOOLS for SMART MINDS has been serving SMEs and industries including automotive, mechanical and food industries, researchers and R&D departments with unique solutions in terms of technology, customization, quality and ease of use.

The Solution

To meet GEFOND's need, a solution based on iDaq Analytics has been developed, achieving all goals with a complete and scalable solution. 

iDaq Analytics is the platform already developed by TOOLS for SMART MINDS together with Welol, a Gold Microsoft Partner with very high skills in cloud computing and Azure platform on which iDaq Analytics is based.

iDaq Analytics is a predictive maintenance cloud solution suitable for any industry. 

Cloud computing allows you to access computing services, such as servers, storage, network or software, via the Internet and it is safer, more reliable and flexible than local servers. 

In addition, Microsoft Azure's proactive approach to security, compliance, and privacy is unique and has been chosen as the basis for iDaq Analytics.

Software Solution Diagram: Perpetuo's target industry is the die casting. It is based on iDaq Analytics, a universal solution for predictive maintenance, which is based on the Microsoft Azure Cloud platform.

What differentiates iDaq Analytics from the competition is the ability to have a platform that allows you to see production data for multiple personnel at the same time and to integrate data analysis with Machine Learning algorithms for predictive maintenance, with particular attention to data security. 

The data is then available in real-time from anywhere.
Thanks to GEFOND's specific skills and experience in the die-casting sector, specific machine learning algorithms have been designed alongside their technicians, trained to immediately identify any machinery anomaly, allowing them to intervene before it becomes serious damage.

The final solution has been characterized through a GEFOND's branding to be recognized as a platform in its own right, thus creating Perpetuo: the first predictive maintenance platform for the specific die-casting industry.

Perpetuo also provides preventive maintenance controls that allow notifications to be sent to one or more maintainers based on the cycles or hours actually worked by the machinery.

Perpetuo can be easily integrated with any other production or maintenance management software available on the market.

Benefits and Results

The development of the world's first predictive maintenance platform specifically for the die casting industry now gives GEFOND an additional tool for business strategy thanks to the following benefits:

• Differentiate itself from its competitors because it has a unique solution on the market: it is the first platform of its kind specifically for foundries.
• Simplify the maintenance of customers who use Perpetuo, being able to schedule repairs.
• Support customers in foreign countries more easily, thanks to the monitoring and display of information from any location and on any device.
• Optimize the management of spare parts for maintenance: knowing in advance which parts of the machinery will need to be replaced, GEFOND can keep only the necessary parts in stock. In this way, the warehouse doesn’t fill and at the same time, the customer doesn’t have to wait for the order.

Perpetuo is GEFOND's product for production and maintenance managers, that allow them to:

• Have an easy to use application.
• Optimize the production process with all the information obtained from monitoring.
• View production and process data and graphs from any location and on any device by multiple users at the same time and with different levels of access.
• Integrate Perpetuo with your company's MES or other maintenance management software to further increase productivity and efficiency.
• Integrate process data with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms for predicting machine malfunctioning.
• Have a multilingual platform to allow access also to possible personnel from foreign offices.

In conclusion, the Perpetuo benefits for the entrepreneur are:

• The reduction of downtime thanks to the preventive scheduling of repairs, which will be carried out more quickly thanks to the management and information obtained with Perpetuo.
• The reduction of maintenance costs.
• The prolongation of the life cycle of the plants.
• The increase in efficiency, plant safety, and product quality.
• The compliance with high security and data protection standards guaranteed by a Cloud base managed by Microsoft.
• The meeting of IATF certification requirements for quality management in the automotive industry.

>> Discover the iDaq Analytics solution for optimizing your factory through predictive maintenance

Follow us on LinkedIn to stay updated on new case studies and informative articles on Industry 4.0

"TOOLS for SMART MINDS has been selected, in the panorama of software houses on the market, for the competence and the ability to give concreteness to our projects. Starting a completely new path for us, we strongly wanted a technical partner able to give shape to our ideas, to support us at all levels in engineering and in the realization of the new predictive maintenance software.

The dialectical approach, the continuous confrontation and the innovative proposals that TOOLS for SMART MINDS has shown, have allowed us to achieve the set objectives." 

Tiziana Tronci
New Product Development Manager
GEFOND 

 

Goals

• Creation of the first predictive maintenance platform specifically for the die casting industry
• Preventive maintenance features
• Easy to use solution
• Multilingual platform
• Platform with the customer's brand

 

Solution

The world's first predictive maintenance platform for the die casting industry, based on iDaq Analytics.

 

Download the complete case study