Enhanced Reporting and Data-Driven Decision Making

Companies face growing demands for reporting, such as ESG regulations, as well as increasing expectations for the quality of data used for decision-making. This drives the need for data convergence solutions, like Databricks and Snowflake, to combine multiple data sources and produce actionable insights. A key challenge with shopfloor data is its format and volume, which can create both cost and IT tooling limitations. As a result, many companies either avoid using OT data in decision-making or confine it to isolated solutions, leading to sub-optimized processes and a fragmented overall view.

The Noux Node integration platform simplifies data manipulation, enabling data scientists and reporting professionals to work with often messy OT data and combine it with other sources. This reduces implementation costs, increases the value of insights, and provides flexibility for low-risk, trial-and-error approaches to new ideas.

Cybersecurity and Resilience

The global political environment and rapidly evolving regulations such as NIS2, CRA, and IEC 62443 are driving industrial companies to strengthen cybersecurity and resilience against intentional and accidental operational risks. A typical starting point is ensuring continuous backups of all critical systems, including shopfloor applications, followed by procedures to restore them when needed. Companies also need to maintain continuous updates for safety-related packages and enhance asset management to detect potential threats. These requirements are often too complex to automate, resulting in manual, costly, and risky processes.

The Noux Node integration platform provides a unique set of functionalities to back up not only the running code in OT devices but also the parameters that change over time, and to execute full restores when needed. It can connect OT devices to version control systems and automate update distribution. Additionally, it supports asset management by providing information about the installed base, helping identify devices that require updates. By automating these processes, the Noux Node platform significantly reduces costs while improving long-term profitability, operational resilience, and regulatory compliance.

Automated Software Distribution

In industrial processes, it is often necessary to distribute software such as recipes, work order details, or new PLC and robot code versions. These demands are increasing as markets require suppliers to be more flexible, resulting in smaller batch sizes and more order lines. Traditionally, companies distribute this information using printed papers, HMI interfaces, or memory sticks. These time-consuming procedures often cause significant downtime and underutilization of expensive production capacity.

The Noux Node integration platform connects OT systems to a centralized handling system for orders, recipes, and code, enabling automated, centralized distribution. It also allows optimized recipes to be shared across machines, lines, or facilities. This reduces the know-how required from individual machine operators, minimizes downtime, and drives significant long-term profitability gains.

Asset Management and Predictive Maintenance

Industrial companies often manage a massive installed base of automation systems requiring regular maintenance. To optimize maintenance, companies need to service machines based on actual usage rather than a fixed calendar. Many costly repairs and production stops can also be prevented by continuously analyzing data generated by these systems. Challenges include limited access to data, the large volume of information, and difficulty integrating it with existing asset management and CMMS systems.

The Noux Node integration platform collects the necessary data directly from all automation systems, either manipulating and distributing it to other systems or performing local analyses and sending service indications as needed. Additionally, Noux Node’s data visualization capabilities improve troubleshooting for service personnel without requiring VPN access or specialized automation tools and licenses. This enhances service quality and speed while significantly reducing operational costs.

Utilization of Digital Twins

Many industrial companies design new production lines digitally to test and validate optimal operations, including digital commissioning and user acceptance tests. This process creates valuable digital twins of machines and production lines, which are often underutilized after commissioning.

The Noux Node integration platform enables companies to connect digital twins to daily operations by collecting data from both the models and real machines for analysis, streaming historical data for troubleshooting, and distributing digitally tested updates to actual machinery. This approach significantly increases the lifetime value of the digital twin investment.