Fireside chat with Herbert Hufnagl, Member of the Board at TTTech Industrial

Would you like to delve deeper into the realm of edge computing and its transformative impact on our industry? Are you interested in uncovering the mysteries surrounding this groundbreaking technology? In this fireside chat with Herbert Hufnagl, Member of the Board at TTTech Industrial, we'll unravel the mysteries surrounding edge computing and delve into the profound aspirations of our customers, as they embrace this groundbreaking technology.

What is edge computing and what do our customers want to achieve with edge computing?

"Our customers use edge computing to gain a competitive advantage in their markets. One of our most important customer segments is machine builders and what gives them a competitive advantage is data. They want to use the data in their machines to develop new digital business models and to make better machines."

Herbert Hufnagl Member of the Executive Board at TTTech Industrial

What is the competitive advantage of a machine-builder?

Herbert Hufnagl: Machine builders gain their competitive edge through their expertise in mastering the processes integrated within the machines they develop and supply. These processes, such as metalworking, assembly, welding, painting, and filling, are pivotal for the users of the machine regarding quality, timeliness, and availability. Machine builders promise their customers excellence in these processes, delivering superior performance in quality, speed, and cost-effectiveness compared to competitors.

Mastering these processes involves continual improvement and proactive identification of issues like tolerances, wear, and tool breakage. Additionally, both machine-builders and factory operators face a growing shortage of skilled workers, making digitization indispensable.

The key to optimizing processes lies in data utilization. Edge computing brings computational power directly to the machine, enabling the processing of available data. This includes high-frequency data captured by additional sensors and data within the machine control system.

Can you give us an example?

Herbert Hufnagl: Certainly. One of our customers utilizes force sensors and dedicated algorithms to assess the wear on machines involved in core processes like cold forming. This exemplifies predictive maintenance, where the customer can order a new tool before the previous one breaks, thus avoiding costly machine downtime.

Edge computers are standard industrial PCs and offer substantial computing power. They interface with the machine control system, acquire high-frequency data, and have pathways to the cloud for centralized data collection and further processing and visualization.

What sets TTTech Industrial’s edge computing solution apart? What is the unique benefit it provides?

Herbert Hufnagl: Our edge computing solution, Nerve, serves as a software layer running on all industrial PCs. This allows our customers to focus on application development, such as data evaluation and remote service, while Nerve seamlessly manages all other aspects.

What exactly does Nerve offer our customers in terms of…

... Cybersecurity?

Herbert Hufnagl: Edge computers reach their full potential when integrated with the internet through the machine via the edge computer. This connectivity ensures the currency of edge software applications, enabling visualization, processing, and remote access to pre-processed data via the cloud.

At TTTech Industrial, our processes are IEC 62443 certified. Additionally, our IIoT platform, Nerve, is on track to achieve product certification under this cybersecurity standard by year's end. Essentially, we're shouldering the responsibility of security concerns for our customers.

... Real-time data acquisition?

Herbert Hufnagl: Effective process monitoring heavily relies on acquiring high-frequency sensor data, like force or acceleration sensors. Many machines also require analyzing high-frequency data from the real-time network (e.g., motor currents via EtherCAT or Profinet) on the edge computer. Nerve addresses this need by incorporating a Soft PLC running on a dedicated real-time virtual machine. This ensures stringent real-time conditions on Industrial PCs, completely decoupled of the evaluation algorithms running as Docker workloads on Nerve.

... Edge hosting and Management system?

Herbert Hufnagl: The algorithms that our customers develop to run on the edge computer undergo continual refinement and enhancement. With new findings and new evaluation methods, such as artificial intelligence methods, predictions become increasingly accurate. Consequently, the ability to deploy software modules across a globally dispersed network of machines becomes imperative. This deployment process is facilitated through the Nerve management system and our edge hosting services, accessible even to non-IT professionals.

Our customers' algorithms operate on Nerve either as Docker containers or entire virtual machines, in strict adherence to established open standards. No other edge platform on the market offers this combination of features at this maturity level.