Research from Industrie Reply found that 80% of industry workers are still searching for a use case for IIoT deployment at scale, with frequently cited factors including a lack of knowhow, and value definitions not being concrete enough for commercial decisions. However, the Axulus solution strives to assist with these pitfalls, allowing businesses to realise value.
Users can utilise templates in order to venture on a step-by-step process towards developing IIoT use cases, leveraging digital implementation workflows in industrial production environments. A cloud-based tool, its widely demanded scalability, along with its modular structure, allow for individual solutions to be produced to fit suggested use cases.
Axulus comes with a cloud-based subscription, which is deployed into the company’s Azure Tenant. Aimed at industrial companies that use IIoT applications, as well as IIoT solution developers, Axulus provides the opportunity to drive value at speed, without needing to be an IoT technology expert.
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“Our first customer was in electronic manufacturing, and they have highly automated processes,” said Florian Beil, managing director of Industrie Reply. “They use highly complex machines, which generate a lot of data, and the processes are customised according to the location and user.
“They want to use Axulus to collect use cases from their customers, as well as rolling out solutions with the solution designs and implementation workflows, with the right configuration for the customer.
“Other companies that use Axulus include general machine builders in automotive production and aerospace production.
“When we talk to automotive customers about using Axulus, they tell us that they have a huge production network, but once you build one solution in one location, for example Europe, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this will work the same way in China, due to different production networks and sensor standards.”
Axulus’s IIoT methodology and tool chain can be used to:
- Scale use case innovation, and seamlessly migrate it to research and development;
- Design and measure target value as part of the solution stack;
- Manage ‘solution derivatives’ and reuse existing elements;
- Continuously learn from adaption, roll-out and usage.
A continuous approach
When deploying an IIoT solution at scale, it’s vital that the venture doesn’t end up being a one-and-done deal, and that the solution is continuously monitored and optimised where needed.
With Axulus, users can leverage standardised end-to-end processes, and each team member can work at their own pace, allowing for self-driven contributions to the project.
Using integrated machine learning capabilities, which can be found within the Solution Element Database and Recommendations Engine, continuous learning can be practiced across the team, while time that would otherwise be spent on manual planning can instead be dedicated to innovation.
In addition, the tool is centralised and customisable in order to meet customer needs, and team members can track the progress of their projects.
“Perhaps the most impressive feedback we’ve received from our first customers, in this roll-out and growth phase, is that after coming up with a technical solution stack, they can quickly design target value, which is a rather huge step for them,” said Beil.
“They can understand the economic impacts that the solution can generate, and even users that work in the technical side of things can be forced to think about target value first, before implementing this into the solution.
“Feedback on the overall concepts, such as how Axulus helps customers to speed up the process from use case to management, and then to roll-out, was also very positive; there wasn’t a single discussion in which someone said it didn’t make sense.”
Keeping the tool secure
With threat actors initiating cyber-attacks on companies from all industries, with techniques constantly evolving, it’s vital that software utilised by organisations has the best security possible in place.
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Beil went on to explain how the Axulus tool is kept secure: “How we address security is state-of-the-art in the sense that we built Axulus as a cloud-hosted solution, with Microsoft Azure DevOps.
“With that environment, we use the full security functionalities that Azure provides. We are relying on an existing technology which is used for many business applications throughout the world, so we can certify that we are secure according to international standards.
“We also have several security mechanisms in the development process, such as automatic security tests, and perhaps most importantly, we have built Axulus so that we can deploy it in a scalable manner while hosting Azure as it is in a customer environment. If a customer wants to have Axulus, they can get a customer version and have it deployed in its Azure Tenant.
“From here, the customer owns Axulus in that environment, all of the data is on their premises, and they can also manage the information via an Azure Active Directory.”
To accelerate IIoT innovation, visit www.axulus.io
