At a glance
- Customer: igus GmbH
- Industry: Manufacturing
- Project goal: Development of a cloud platform for full connectivity between people and machines as part of an Industry 4.0 scenario
- Technologies: Azure IoT Hub, Databricks, Azure Data Lake, Azure Storage Account, Power BI
As an established manufacturer in the injection molding industry, Cologne-based igus GmbH faces the typical challenges of our time: both energy and labor costs are high compared to international standards. At the same time, stricter sustainability requirements are being imposed by policymakers and customers alike. As a result, optimization is needed across all areas in order to maintain a leading position in global competition.
The goal is a fully networked production environment leveraging IoT technologies. (igus)
“We’re under immense pressure to be productive in every respect,” says Stefan Fertmann, Head of Inhouse Automation. “There are countless starting points for improvement, as our manufacturing processes are complex and energy-intensive. We see tremendous untapped potential particularly in process monitoring.”
From Data Foundation to IoT-Driven Automation
To unlock this potential, igus is fully committing to the Industry 4.0 vision:
“We developed a staged roadmap — from building a stable data foundation to complete interconnection of machines and people via the Internet of Things.”
Together with ORAYLIS, igus began executing this ‘Industry 4.0 Masterplan’, and even the first concrete use cases have already delivered remarkable improvements.
Cloud Platform as the Foundation
Stefan Fertmann, Head of Inhouse Automation at igus. (igus)
“We’ve had great experiences with ORAYLIS on several Power BI projects,” explains Stefan Fertmann. “They’ve also successfully delivered similar large-scale initiatives in the past — that convinced us.”
The first stage of the roadmap involved designing and implementing a modern data platform on Microsoft Azure, bringing together all company data centrally — with a special focus on real-time processing.
“Ultimately, IoT simply means connecting live data from a wide range of sources and making it available for various business use cases,” says Christoph Epping, IoT Expert at ORAYLIS.
“At igus, this currently includes production metrics and status messages transmitted directly from machine control systems in real time. Additionally, new sensors are now measuring things like temperature, humidity, and energy consumption. These will be integrated into productive processes next.”
Even with the existing data, the team was quickly able to digitize processes and introduce meaningful improvements.
Real-Time Data Instead of Paper Notes
Until now, shift managers had to walk through 20 to 30 machines daily to check performance and status. Values were recorded manually and later entered into the system — a process that took around 45 minutes per shift in three-shift operation.
The new reporting system now delivers all relevant metrics within seconds.
Christoph Epping, Senior Consultant and IoT expert at ORAYLIS GmbH. (ORAYLIS)
“It’s all about machine output — in units or meters,” explains Epping.
“We take the real-time control data and enrich it with master data from the platform — like location, machine number, and type. This enables deeper analysis by shift, hourly production rates, or weekly distribution. Shift managers can now instantly see throughput, downtimes and disruptions — and we’re already working on implementing automated alerts.”
In addition, a live shop-floor dashboard displays the status of all machines via a traffic-light system, visible to everyone on site.
Looking ahead, the system will be expanded with profitability metrics, and the team is planning predictive maintenance to reduce resource usage, energy consumption and labor effort.
Building an Intelligent, Company-Wide Process Landscape
With the new data platform in place, igus is now systematically reviewing and digitalizing more and more business processes — always keeping the ultimate Industry 4.0 goal in mind:
“The idea is to interlink and digitally control sequential process steps that are technically and functionally related,” says Fertmann.
“What currently works as isolated solutions will gradually become part of a company-wide Internet of Things. This will help us eliminate human error wherever possible.”
Future IoT technologies will also support sustainable resource management. (igus)
A clear example comes from production:
“Plastic components for our energy chains are manufactured in a complex process using injection molding machines, then transferred to assembly systems. Networking these steps — with full transparency — allows for precise coordination, optimal utilization and minimal scrap.”
Next on the agenda are use cases beyond production:
“In facility management, we want better insight into energy, air pressure and temperature. Compressed air in particular is a major cost factor — with great savings potential.”
A Flexible Path into the Digital Future
The data platform built with ORAYLIS remains the central launchpad for all further initiatives.
“Thanks to the cloud approach, we’re virtually unlimited,” summarizes Fertmann.
“We can take our digitalization journey one step at a time — always staying agile and ready to pursue new ideas. I’m genuinely excited for the continued collaboration with ORAYLIS and everything that lies ahead.”
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