When it comes to high-performance extrusion lines, SML is one of the technological leaders and has been in the market for extrusion machines for more than 25 years.  When developing digital services for its lines, SML adheres to the same “all in-house”-approach which applies to all of its other core competencies.

“For several years now “industry 4.0” has been a popular buzzword but the underlying question is always how the companies that operate our machines can benefit from the rapid developments being accomplished in the digital sector,” Christoph Strasser, Team Leader of SML’s Digital Business Unit, says. Like all of its other core competencies, such as mechanical engineering, electrical design or automation, SML makes sure to keep the development of digital solutions strictly in-house. Close co-operation among the different departments, all located at SML’s headquarters, supports the creation of coherent extrusion concepts with perfectly harmonised digital solutions.

bitWise: Analysing data – increasing productivity 
Bitwise, the data generation and analysis tool, is at the heart of SML’s digital activities. Today it is used in more than 200 extrusion lines around the world. “bitWise enables the comprehensive collection, processing, analysis and transmission of manufacturing data – in an extraordinarily fast and easy manner. The process knowledge bitWise generates, helps to continuously optimise both the manufacturing processes and the product quality,” Christoph Strasser continues. Its main purposes are to streamline workflows, identify and solve problems pertaining to quality, analyse machine defects – and, above all, to increase machine productivity.
 

The most popular areas of application include
 

• The real-time monitoring of various process-relevant or quality-relevant production values, such as the melt temperature, extruder pressure or coating weight – with an alarm function, if certain values deviate
• Digital shift books for the systematic documentation of all events during a shift
• The bitWise Track and Trace function: all of the data generated during production can be assigned to a specific, finished film roll, for example via a QR code. This presents new opportunities for quality control and product enhancement.
   

Flexible dashboards for operators and CEOs 
bitWise enables data-driven decision making, regardless of the organisational level – execution, planning or enterprise. It supports the machine operators, the maintenance team, shift leaders, quality managers and not least the CEO / management. To simplify day-to-day work, the bitWise dashboard can be customised to suit the specific field of activity of the user. Since bitWise is per se a web-based solution, remote access, i.e. via a tablet or a personal computer is possible, provided that the company can cater to the system requirements. 

SML takes care of bitWise 
bitWise was created by a highly skilled team of seven full-stack software developers and data scientists with a wealth of experience in automation and data analytics who now continue to develop it on a regular basis. The fact that bitWise is made 100% at SML generates an array of benefits. Above all, that SML takes care of it in a comprehensive way:
 

• Automatic updates from SML
• SML observes the components used and closes security issues
• SML monitors the local bitWise server attached to the extrusion lines, customers are notified by SML before problems occur.
• New features can be added automatically
• Personal support and assistance
   

Open system – interconnectivity 
One vital characteristic of bitWise is its system openness: The data exchange is based on open standards such as HTML and OPC-UA. So bitWise provides full interconnectivity for the comprehensive exchange of data between the extrusion line and connected machine auxiliaries, such as the inspection system, cloud-based solutions or the ERP.

Redlham, 08.11.2024