Cross-Industry Monitoring Cloud Solution

HIGHLIGHTS

✔ Werma is a German leader in intelligent signal technology, providing advanced signal solutions that optimize work processes and ensure their effectiveness.

✔ Axima is its distributor in the Czech Republic, specializing in industrial automation supplies for the advancement of industrial development.

✔ Their solution, WeAssist, is a cross-industry cloud solution for aggregating signals and establishing a comprehensive automated monitoring system.

✔ Stability and adaptability are key factors in this solution, so RUT241 was chosen to provide reliable connectivity with expertise and help WeAssist realize its full potential.

THE CHALLENGE – THE COLORS OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Before the advent of Industry 4.0, modular signal towers served a singular purpose: communicate the basic status condition of the machine they’re connected to. Much like a traffic light, different colors indicated different statuses, and utilizing these towers made the workflow-monitoring process simpler and quicker. For a long time, this singular purpose was sufficient.

After all, who doesn’t like color coding?

But in the data-driven age of Industry 4.0, signal towers connected to a machine no longer make the cut. The tower signals a change requiring attention and action, sure, but someone needs to be around to see that signal and act accordingly. It necessitates the involvement of an on-site employee, which optimizing automation generally wants to exclude.

This was the challenge faced by our partner, Werma, and its distributor in the Czech Republic, Axima. Werma was manufacturing modular signal towers but wanted to step up its game to deliver on industry standards. Its solution was WeAssist: a cross-industry cloud solution for aggregating signals automatically, storing and analyzing them, and enabling remote, comprehensive monitoring of all machines connected to it.

Of course, this cloud solution requires continuous and stable network connectivity in order to receive that data in real time and without fail. Luckily, Axima had the right device in mind.

TOPOLOGY

THE SOLUTION – RAINBOW IN THE CLOUD

Connecting the modular signal towers to the cloud is our RUT241 industrial cellular router – a name synonymous with network stability. This router is connected to a gateway via a UTP cable, and the gateway maintains a wireless connection to the towers in, for example, a manufacturing plant.

RUT241 has a number of features helping it excel in this solution. WAN failover ensures an automatic switch to an alternative backup connection in case connectivity is interrupted or otherwise faces any issues. This provides an important failsafe for maintaining the cellular communication bridge between the towers and the cloud, which can be quite a challenge in certain industrial environments or locations. If WeAssist really wants to be a cross-industry solution, this type of failsafe is a must.

Another important element of being cross-industry is adaptability, and RUT241 delivers on that end as well. A wide range of I/Os keeps RUT241 future-proved in case of specific applications necessitating additional devices to be added to the solution. Its compact but highly-durable design means adding it to any setup can be done with minimum complexity, even if the solution is implemented in an adverse environment full of vibrations and extreme temperatures.

Lastly, further adaptability is achieved with RUT241’s compatibility with our Remote Management System (RMS), allowing for remote access and control capabilities that maximize on what WeAssist set out to deliver.