OREANDA-NEWS. Digitization and Industry 4.0 are key technologies for ThyssenKrupp: The “internet of things” will help further optimize the availability of elevators. Intelligent and connected monitoring system takes safety and reliability to a new level.

At the CeBIT show Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG, said that the digital transformation of his company was a top management issue: “We are systematically driving digitization and consolidating our leading position on the world market by investing in the cloud and the internet of things,” he explained. Together with Microsoft and IT service provider CGI, ThyssenKrupp has developed an intelligent connected monitoring system. Its elevators are connected via the cloud to allow all functions to be monitored – from cab speed to capacity to door mechanisms. Using Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, ThyssenKrupp has succeeded in establishing a completely new preventive maintenance system. Instead of responding to problems, service engineers can now access real-time data and take measures to prevent elevator breakdowns before they occur. Customers benefit from significantly longer up times.

“Together with Microsoft we are digitizing our industrial products and turning big data into smart data. We are extending our business model and so securing a significant competitive edge,” said Schierenbeck. “It will enable us to offer customers predictive and even preventive service for their elevators.”

This topic is also of importance for other areas of the Group, explains ThyssenKrupp’s technology chief Dr. Reinhold Achatz: “At ThyssenKrupp we are convinced that Industry 4.0 will become widespread.” The Group is already implementing Industry 4.0 concepts in many areas by connecting mechanical-electronic components with IT and software elements to form cyber-physical systems, through seamless engineering and the cross-business process integration of value chains.

At the opening of CeBIT, Andreas Schierenbeck, Dr. Klaus von Rottkay from the management board of Microsoft Deutschland, and Matthias Dornbracht, managing director of fittings manufacturer Dornbracht, highlighted the potential of key technologies such as Industry 4.0 and put the case for investment and innovation. “In Germany’s success story as a business location, we can write a new digital chapter if we create the conditions for a digital economic miracle”, said von Rottkay.

In the future, smart elevators will provide condition reports automatically, enabling breakdowns to be reduced to a minimum. This will be of immense benefit in medium-size and tall buildings, where elevators are the key means of internal transportation. Large modern cities therefore depend on efficient and reliable elevator systems. And continuing urbanization means this dependency will grow: Since 2014, the majority of the world’s population has been living in cities. According to estimates from the World Health Organization, seven in ten people will live in cities by 2050 – three billion more than today.