Simple new system enables plug-and-play monitoring and preventative maintenance

Sick has launched the Monitoring Box that monitors the condition of sensors, machines, processes and plants. The plug-and-play system can be adapted for diverse individual operating requirements to provide live status feedback and historical analysis to support more effective maintenance and optimised efficiency.

With the Box, all kinds of industrial operations from manufacturing and logistics to ports, transport systems or waste management facilities, can begin to digitalise their processes on the road to Industry 4.0. Enabled by pre-configured Apps on a wide range of Sick sensors, the Box provides transparent data monitoring through an intuitive, browser-based dashboard for desktop or mobile devices.

Device data is processed via powerful IoT gateways to enable local data storage on a customer premises or via secure connection to the Sick cloud.

“The Sick Monitoring Box is so simple and adaptable that the opportunities for condition monitoring are limited only by your imagination,” says Neil Sandhu, Sick UK product manager for measurement and systems. “Bolt on the Sick Monitoring Box and transparent information about the health of your machines is just a few short steps away,” he continues. “Depending on your requirements, information such as operating hours, wear, temperature, energy usage or level of contamination, turns into a valuable resource.

“As a result, your machines and systems become more available and efficient,” he tells Machinery Update. “Unplanned maintenance time is reduced, and operating staff can be deployed more efficiently to respond to any issues that occur.”

To get started, a Sick service employee installs and activates the gateway, devices are connected and data transmission begins. If preferred, customers can then choose to hand over their entire device monitoring to this Sick service, not only of Sick sensors, but also of third-party devices where appropriate.

Users can then simply log in and view all devices with the AssetBrowser, search by device status using the AssetFilter, and view incidents and graphical representations to identify historical patterns and trends. The Data Explorer and Event Log can be used to review a record of alarms and notifications. Email alerts can be set up, for example to notify operators when values go under or over pre-determined limits, enabling a speedier response to maintenance and servicing needs.

Thanks to the pre-defined monitoring SensorApps, additional sensors can be integrated into the Sick Monitoring Box without any programming knowledge. Once installed, greater transparency enables sensors and machines to be monitored remotely. Operating and process parameters can also be easily visualised.

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