The GEA Group, a leading global developer, and manufacturer of process technologies for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries, is pursuing a multi-phase digitalization strategy. A central element of this strategy is theIndustrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which will enable the networking of machines and systems with the GEA Cloud. GEA and Welotec have entered into a partnership to provide customers with efficient, secure and scalable connectivity solutions.
Case Overview
- Customer: GEA Group
- Industries: Food and beverage, pharmaceutical, agriculture
- Key stakeholders: Food and beverage manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, farmers
- Partners: GEA Digital / Welotec
Challenge
GEA has set itself the goal of using digital solutions to increase the availability, productivity and sustainability of its customers’ plants and production processes. This requires a central IIoT strategy to enable the connectivity of machines and systems to the cloud and to collect, aggregate and analyze data locally – on so-called edge computers. In addition, applications should be brought from the cloud to the edge and other use cases such as remote access to machines should be seamlessly integrated into the infrastructure.
Solution
Together with GEA, we have implemented a comprehensive IIoT solution based on our edge gateways and software solutions. The edge gateways collect and process the machine data directly on site before it is sent pre-processed to the GEA cloud. This is usually done via local networks and, in some GEA divisions, additionally via an LTE backup.
The solution is as follows:
- We at Welotec deliver the edge gateways, which are already pre-configured and pre-provisioned with individual applications, to the various divisions of GEA.
- In this state, they are already on-boarded in the respective SMART EMS instances of the divisions as well as in the specific DPS endpoints – this is done in the provisioning process.
- Once integrated into the customer infrastructure, the Edge Gateways retrieve the final production configuration from the respective SMART EMS instances of the business units, which are centrally hosted and managed in GEA’s Azure tenant.
- VPN Security Suite, also based on SMART EMS in the Azure cloud, is used for remote access and troubleshooting support. This allows business unit technicians to access connected assets, such as PLCs, to work on machines remotely.
- The applications required for the IIoT use case are distributed from the Azure cloud to the devices via the IoT Edge component.
- In the maximum expansion stage, all device and application management is controlled by an application that accesses the SMART EMS APIs and the Azure cloud.
This approach, combined with Welotec’s provisioning service, allows an easy rollout and a fully centralized device and application management in the MS Azure Cloud.
Benefits
The collaboration between GEA and Welotec has resulted in a standardized IIoT setup for the GEA Cloud. The time required to provision and deploy edge devices has been significantly reduced. By 2026, a total of 90% of new equipment at GEA should be “IIoT ready”. This will simplify and standardize the connectivity of equipment, production lines, and factories, as well as reduce costs. This is the basis for a more cost- and energy-efficient operation of machines and plants. The infrastructure also enables GEA to develop further digital solutions to increase the availability, productivity and sustainability of customer production. As part of new “smart service” business models, recurring revenue can be generated that is in line with the high demands of sustainability targets. These innovations demonstrate the potential of strategic partnerships to drive digital transformation in the industry.
Products
Several hardware and software products were used in the collaboration with GEA Group. The hardware components selected were our EG500W & L Series Edge Gateway (without LTE and with LTE) and the customized EG500W & L with 4GB. In addition, the SMART EMS (Enterprise Management System) and VPN Security Suite were used for remote access.
Why Welotec?
GEA decided to work with Welotec because of our modern, constantly updated product range with the appropriate certifications. In addition to the appropriate hardware, Welotec offers a specially tailored software suite, which upgrades the hardware to a comprehensive overall solution and, as a core IoT stack, enables the development of an IoT solution. Among other things, this simplifies the seamless integration of the products into the Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Edge. Welotec is also a specialized player for selected industries, such as mechanical engineering, and can score points here with domain knowledge. Thanks to our many years of experience in the industry, we were able to define the deployment scenarios together with GEA as well as provide advice and support during the implementation as part of our service offering.
