thyssenkrupp connected their machinery of the materials division via a new digital platform. Thanks to toii, all machines can communicate with each other. Due to predictive maintenance, the platform is also supposed to forecast the necessity of machine services in the future. The name chosen by the business area is a double play on words - it spells IIoT backwards, the abbreviation for ?Industrial Internet of Things? - and it is pronounced like the word ?toy?, an indication of how the new platform makes linking heterogeneous machines to existing IT structures ?child?s play?. toii was developed completely in-house by company software engineering experts and tailored to the specific requirements of Materials Services.

The machinery belonging to the business area, which focuses on global materials distribution and processing services, is highly diverse: The machines perform a wide range of tasks, were made by various manufacturers and differ in age. Now toii makes it possible to connect bandsaws and bending machines, mobile objects like cranes and forklifts and even complex production facilities such as slitting and cut-to-length lines and sophisticated processing solutions through milling machines and laser systems digitally in line with the IIoT. The digital platform allows the machines to share data and communicate with one another and with the IT systems. Processes can be planned and coordinated optimally and flexibly ? across locations, worldwide. As a further major benefit, the platform simplifies data analysis. Which product has been produced when and in what quantities? Which machine needs maintenance? What could be developing into a problem? What additional materials need to be delivered? The system answers all of these questions and many more by gathering and analysing data.