The landscape of Industry 4.0 platforms is constantly evolving and often complex for SMEs without technical expertise. The high costs of many solutions hinder prototype testing. Romagna Tech has developed a project that offers a low-cost platform and a quick introduction process, based on stable open source software and supported by an active community, thus encouraging the adoption of Industry 4.0 even by smaller companies.

The application was created as part of a project developed by Romagna Tech together with Baruffaldi Plastic Technology srl, aimed at implementing a range of customer services oriented towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm, such as monitoring, alarm reporting, real-time analysis of industrial machine operation and production data, and reporting of necessary maintenance. The industrial machines have been integrated with devices capable of communicating with IIoT platforms on the market, allowing the company to respond to the needs of its most technologically advanced customers.

The analysis and implementation of the IIoT Open Source platform led to the creation of an operational prototype in the Baruffaldi corporate network, connected to machines installed at some customers participating in a corporate pilot project to test and validate the analyses and services defined during the design process. The feedback collected allows us to refine the processing, with the aim of fine-tuning the services provided and moving on to a phase of actual product industrialisation. The active use of machine data allows us to start a new analysis process that is more ‘aware’ of the system’s potential, aimed at exploring how it can be extended to further applications.

Romagna Tech has created a demo version of the system, which allows the project to be disseminated and presented in real time to all interested companies. In addition, together with Baruffaldi Plastic Technology, the integration of new services that can enrich the basic package of features is being evaluated.

The project was presented by Baruffaldi at Confindustria Romagna’s ‘Excelsa2021 – Romagna award’, where it won in the ‘Sustainability’ category.

The system, which can be easily and immediately applied to companies in the manufacturing sector, can be made available to all SMEs wishing to enter the world of Industrial IoT, thanks to the customisation potential of the Thingsboard platform and the possibility of personalising the analysis and technological innovation process.