When machines talk, organizations become more sustainable

Co-authored by Sabrina Bohr, Senior Director Customer Advocacy Marketing

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From reducing waste to improving energy efficiency, IoT is helping organizations become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. With IoT, organizations are enabled to monitor, measure, and optimize their operations in real-time, resulting in waste reduction, improving efficiency, and the lowering of their carbon footprint. Software AG helps customers across industries in leveraging the full potential of IoT as an enabler of sustainability.  

Flexco, ERA Championship, Mayekawa, GeicoTaikisha Group, and GreenFlex, are amongst some of our customers that have leveraged Cumulocity IoT as an enabler of sustainability. They are but a few of our customers that have deployed IoT use cases ranging from remote monitoring, smart field services, performance management, and in some cases transitioning to transformative business models. These in turn have enabled the drive of sustainable practices, and in turn allowed them to minimize their environmental impact.

Flexco

With the emergence of a new political and economic landscape, challenges to supply chains globally continue to arise. As sustainability becomes a priority for many industries, Flexco anticipated these changes and took a groundbreaking step into the future by experimenting with IIoT. Flexco sought to transform heavy industrial equipment into a smart, self-monitoring solution for themselves and their customers. They have been able to help their mining customers save anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars by using IoT-enabled condition monitoring to prevent catastrophic breakdowns. In one case, Flexco enabled their customer to save $24K in materials, contributing to that customer’s waste management initiatives. Another customer was able to avoid up to $144K in lost production time. In addition to the financial benefits, this approach has also enabled them to reduce waste by minimizing the need for costly repairs or replacements, freeing up valuable resources for other activities.

Cumulocity IoT helps “…predict when interventions are needed without having to constantly send out expensive field inspection teams and save money by optimizing production.”

Travis Vliem, Digital Product Manager, Flexco

ERA Championship

The ERA Championship (Electric Racing Academy Championship) is another great example of IoT-enabled sustainability through truly connected racing. By using electric race cars that are powered by renewable energy sources, the series is able to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable transportation. In addition, the series uses IoT to monitor and optimize energy usage, reducing waste and further minimizing its environmental impact. ERA utilizes IoT to optimize battery life, ensuring efficient use of energy while maintaining performance. Cumulocity IoT is used to pull performance data from the cars and present it live to the analytics teams in the pit lane. Live information on battery use, heat, and other key vehicle updates enables the race teams to make up-to-the-minute adjustments to race strategy and advise on driver performance. By monitoring real-time data, the racing team is able to predict battery degradation and adapt their strategy accordingly. This results in a 10% reduction in battery usage and a corresponding decrease in environmental impact.

“I am convinced that we can bring about some really positive changes to motorsports when it comes to sustainability and diversity. …We are also setting goals for ourselves to improve as an organization, such as using renewable energy and offering fans an alternative to plastic in the paddock.”

Beth Georgiou, Sporting Director, ERA Championship

Mayekawa

Mayekawa, the Brazilian subsidiary of a Japanese-founded manufacturer of industrial refrigeration and cooling systems, has been using IoT to help its customers reduce their carbon footprint. By implementing IoT-enabled monitoring systems, Mayekawa is able to optimize energy usage and reduce waste in its customers’ refrigeration systems. Mayekawa installed sensors on their refrigeration systems and collected data on their performance, allowing them to identify areas for optimization. This approach has resulted in spotting inefficiencies and errors much faster, resulting in less down-time, lower energy use, streamlined processes, and reduced operating expenses, thus increasing customer ROI. With Cumulocity IoT connected to over 170 devices with over 4.2 million data transactions per week, it has improved their customer experience by offering tangible energy and cost savings, as well as improving their operations. 

“With energy efficiency as a top priority for most companies right now, we are able to use our machine-learning platform to identify opportunities that deliver real value.”

Jair Junior, Automation Projects Manager, Mayekawa

GeicoTaikisha Group 

GeicoTaikisha Group, a provider of automated painting and coating systems, has also been using IoT to promote sustainability. Geico is the world’s first company to offer a zero environmental impact paint shop, reducing consumption by 70%. By using IoT-enabled sensors and monitoring systems, the company is able to optimize its painting and coating processes, reducing waste and improving efficiency. This approach has helped to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions, while also improving product quality and reducing costs.

“…we designed new services targeting condition and efficiency monitoring to save clients’ costs and promote sustainability. Now these are live on the client side, powered by our new IoT platform.”

Abdelrahman Khalil, Automation Integrator, Geico S.p.A, Italy

Geico implemented Cumulocity IoT and a predictive maintenance use case, to reduce downtime and service costs. They monitored real-time data from their equipment and were alerted to any potential failures before they occurred, allowing them to perform maintenance proactively. This resulted in a reduction in downtime and a decrease in service costs. As a result, increasing energy and equipment efficiency, and lessening the need for costly reactive maintenance. Geico’s smart paint shops launching at several large automotive manufacturers, these are in turn looking at Geico’s system advantages and capabilities which include, and are not limited to, smart connected data, remote monitoring, high levels of customization, predictive maintenance, real-time monitoring, and ever-improving sustainability metrics. 

GreenFlex

Finally, GreenFlex, a French energy management firm, supports companies and territories in all their sustainable development, decarbonization, and energy efficiency issues. GreenFlex creates practical solutions to bring energy-efficient and low-carbon performance projects to fruition, which aim to reduce energy usage and improve performance for their clients. Their strategy incorporates the use of distributed Industrial IoT sensors to measure and regulate energy equipment.

“With Cumulocity IoT, we can move faster and operate with more stability, so we meet our customers’ needs and enhance our ability to deliver energy efficiency.”

Sébastien Trédan, Chief Technical and Data Officer, GreenFlex

GreenFlex has been using IoT to help its clients reduce their energy usage and carbon footprint. By using IoT-enabled monitoring and analytics tools, GreenFlex is able to identify areas where energy usage can be optimized, and waste reduced with their GreenFlexIQ platform built on top of Cumulocity IoT. GreenFlex has helped its clients reduce their energy usage by up to 30%, resulting in significant cost savings and a lower overall environmental impact. 

Overall, the use of IoT is playing a critical role in enabling sustainability across a variety of industries. By helping organizations optimize their processes, reduce waste, and improve energy efficiency, IoT is helping promote a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future. With the help of IoT-enabled solutions and tools from companies like Software AG, organizations can continue to make progress towards their sustainability goals and create a better world for future generations (which as depicted by Forrester’s sustainability maturity model, is the last step to sustainability maturity). 

By providing companies with the tools they need to optimize their operations, reduce waste and emissions, and promote sustainable practices, Software AG is contributing to a more sustainable future for us all through the deployment of solutions ranging from IT, Business Process Management, Integration, and IoT. A digital backbone that supports all your sustainability efforts, a connected layer of technology that can assess, track, and report on everything you do.