Machine builders grow in the digital

Lenze promises a new impetus for automation at the Hanover Fair

Margins in the mechanical engineering sector are under massive pressure. Digital services help machine builders to improve their total cost of ownership and implement new business models. At the Hannover Messe (May 30 to June 2), automation specialist Lenze will therefore be presenting not only hardware and software but also its digital services and platform offerings for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). In Lenze’s 75th anniversary year, visitors can also expect a premiere in the field of decentralized drive technology in Hall 6 at Stand F21.

The initial situation is clear for most OEMs: The machine is at the center of the business model. That is why Lenze wants to support the core business processes around the machine with digital business models and services, thereby increasing the revenue potential for the OEM. To this end, the automation specialist offers an Asset Platform as a Service - a white-label solution for the OEM, with which he can offer his customers new applications himself and thus gain a competitive advantage.

"Thanks to our asset management, we know which offers can be useful for the OEM and its customers. We sit directly in the machine with our components and know the applications very well," explains Klaas Nebuhr, Head of Digital Portfolio at Lenze. For Nebuhr, it's all about the total package - analogous to Formula 1: "The best driver is not enough if the car and the pit crew don't fit together. The OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), for example, can also be calculated by competitors. It's about developing digital products for small and medium-sized machine builders and paving the way for them as partners in the digital transformation." In this way, we help SMEs - entirely without their own experts, processes, and solutions - to offer profitable and easily adaptable digital services.

The starting point is the OEE & Downtime Tracking application. Because OEE is still the problem child in many companies: there is a lack of data, and transparency is also lacking. Lenze provides a remedy here with OEE & Downtime Tracking and ensures more transparency in the production process - without additional hardware or sensors because the Lenze PLC calculates the OEE. The results are visualized for the customer on preconfigured dashboards. Downtime tracking is a supplement. The OEE factors "availability" and "performance" are considered in detail, evaluating machine downtimes and organizational downtimes, such as when the machine is stopped manually. And the OEM can resell these and other applications to its customers as a white label solution and generate revenue with digital applications.

Premiere at the industrial fair

In addition to digital automation business models, Lenze is presenting a new decentralized inverter. The topics of decentralized drives (without large control cabinets) and the trend towards modularization of systems are already playing a special role among those responsible in factories or warehouses. Lenze developers have developed the i-series motec decentralized inverter for this purpose, which can be used anywhere globally. It can be mounted on the motor or the wall. The engineers are certain that the new development, together with Lenze motors, forms the basis for one of the most energy-efficient drive packages on the market. Customers from intralogistics, the automotive industry, and consumer goods production, in particular, will benefit from this.

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