Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Rubber & Plastics News
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • LogIn
  • News
  • Technology Focus
    • Features
    • Technical Papers
    • Analysis: Rubber mixing plants of the future
      Analysis: US probes dumping by ESBR suppliers
      Opinion: Tire labels stuck in a rut
      Analysis: NR pricing takes one step forward, two steps back
    • White paper: Role of tire innerliners in improving 'in-use rolling resistance'
      White paper: Why tire air retention matters now more than ever
      Nippon Soda: Use of 1,2-polybutadiene in CSM rubber applications
      Elastomers for Sustainability Top 10
  • Events
    • ERJ Events
    • ERJ Livestreams & Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Journey to Automation Awards 2020
      Sustainability: Top 10 E4S projects table
  • Maps & Reports
  • People
  • Directory
  • Digital Edition
  • Brainiac
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
October 09, 2020 07:37 AM

Troester expert assesses role of remote technologies in tire & rubber manufacturing industry

Patrick Raleigh
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    In this Q&A, Timo Kröger, head of electrical departments, rubber machinery division, Troester GmbH & Co.KG discusses the increasing importance of smart machinery to the rubber industry:

     

    ERJ: How would you describe the level of adoption of remote machine-monitoring capabilities in the rubber industry today?
     
    TK: Since more than three decades Troester offers options in remote machine-monitoring. Already in the 90ies our customers would get alarm and event messages routed from the Troester machine through MS-DOS based computers to the customers enterprise IT (office areas).

    Now, since the new world of "apps“ on smart devices like watches, phones, glasses and tablets, those HMIs, open up huge possibilities in providing information to the staff in production, maintenance and administration. The challenge nowadays is to filter and select valuable information out  the massive data.

    Providing the operator or technician with smart machine and process data is one of the key competences that suppliers to the rubber industry need to have these days.
     
    ERJ: How has Covid affected adoption of ‘remote’ technologies and how do you expect uptake to develop over the next 2-3 years?
     
    TK: Surely Covid is “heading up” the discussion, this article is a proof of that. The technology was available and used before, but the current situation certainly accelerated the demand also in the rubber industry. Together with our customers, we are literally are forced to extensively use remote  equipment for installation and commissioning.

    Previously focused on monitoring and troubleshooting, this technology is now actively supporting installation and commissioning teams all over the world. As a company supplying fully equipped high performance extrusion and calendaring lines all over the world our current  task is to support our customer and local engineers on site.

    Troester experts are guiding through the cold and wet commissioning for the leading brands of the tire industry. As a consequence we will use the currently generated experiences as part of our new service initiative started end of last year right before Covid-19 struck the whole industry. We do expect a reduction in overall traveling for service and commissioning within the next 3 years while being able to increase our service “presence” in the field.   
     
    ERJ: What are the main reasons for adoption and are you seeing now changes in customer requirements?

    TK: As stated, for running projects our focus was to provide an instant coverage of installation, commissioning and service requests. It is a bit too early to say how all this will affect our customers’ demands in the future.

    The trend into the new technologies has definitely been there before. Covid directly provided the strongest possible argumentation to customers and suppliers that remote technologies like augmented reality not only provide a huge potential but can offer a definite efficiency and cost benefit.

    Before Covid, the remote support was more a feature to cover small maintenance issues who could prevent occupying highly trained service personnel for a whole week - with 1 day working and 4 days of traveling. Now, we see that the customers is are also much more open to the discuss of remote support.
     
    ERJ: Are there still particular barriers holding back the rubber industry from wider adoption of remote technologies?
     
    TK: Of course cyber-attacks are currently a threat and even more likely to happen than before Covid. But with strong efforts to be taken on both sides, customer and supplier, safe strategies will be established to eliminate these barriers. A qualified supplier is a strategic partner for his customers also in this field.
     
      
    ERJ: Finally, please identify a recent development, which you believe will significantly increase the value of remote monitoring for tire and rubber product manufacturers.
     
    TK: In one word, then it is: smart glasses
     
    In a sentence: glasses, cause they will combine augmented reality, maintenance support an remote support.

    ERJ: Thank you very much

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    ETRMA: European tire sector needs recovery from “very difficult” 2020
    ETRMA: European tire sector needs recovery from “very difficult” 2020
    Conti manufacturing tires with new HL load index code
    Conti manufacturing tires with new HL load index code
    Audia Elastomers advances new range of “sustainable” TPEs
    Audia Elastomers advances new range of “sustainable” TPEs
    Free Newsletters

    Breaking news and in-depth coverage of essential topics delivered straight to your inbox.

    Subscribe today

    Get the latest news impacting the European rubber industry, from breaking news to razor-sharp analysis, in print and online.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Youtube

    Logo
    Contact Us

    @ 2019 European Rubber Journal. All rights reserved.
    Contact Us European Rubber Journal, Crain Communication LTD, Ground Floor 11 Ironmonger Lane, London EC2V 8EY, UK

    Customer Service:
    1-313-446-0450

    Resources
    • About us
    • Contact Us
    • Staff
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
    • Technology Focus
      • Features
      • Technical Papers
    • Events
      • ERJ Events
      • ERJ Livestreams & Webinars
      • Industry Events
    • Maps & Reports
    • People
    • Directory
    • Digital Edition
    • Brainiac