Smart Factory

Ordering application for a Smart Factory from KUKA

The challenge

In 2017 and 2018, KUKA presented a smart factory at the Hannover Messe and Automatica in Munich, where visitors could order, produce and track personalized products such as puzzles or robot models – user-friendly, individualized and safe.

KUKA

The Augsburg-based automation company, KUKA is a globally engaged, leading group for robotics and plant engineering, as well as a specialist for networked and digitized industry and production.

How we helped

The cloud application developed by XITASO not only provided a high level of user comfort, but also ensured secure communication between the terminal and the protected internal production network. The application also synchronized the orders with the production line on the trade fair stand.
The app thus represented an important component of the Smart Factory, a fully automated, networked and customizable production system.

Technologies

HTML5 Angular ASP.NET Azure

Smart in many ways

Without ease of use, cost-effectiveness and security, a smart factory is inconceivable. After all, in a fully digitized and automated system, humans must retain control over the production process and the machines and robots involved in it. In addition, the respective company must achieve added value, while simultaneously hackers must be denied the opportunity to steal data or manipulate the manufacturing process. B2B apps for smart production are characterized by much more than a pretty design with a high level of ease of use. They are the steering, monitoring and controlling headquarters for the manufacturing companies and are developed according to the principles of Security by Design. This is what XITASO specializes in.

Communication between people and machines

Automation solutions interact and integrate with cloud solutions and modern usability concepts. Communication between man and machine is, of course, essential but cross-functional collaboration between specialists such as automation engineers, software engineers and UI/UX experts is equally as essential.
XITASO has acquired this understanding and domain know-how through many years of project experience and a broad base of experts from various disciplines such as computer science, configuration and design, economics, engineering and natural sciences.

Partnership and expertise for the smart factory

XITASO has been a technology partner of the Augsburg-based automation specialist KUKA, since 2016. The user apps for the Smart Factory presented at the KUKA stand in HMI and Automatica 2017 and 2018, were an illustrious example of this collaboration.

Extensive
control know-how

Connection to warehouse management systems

Costs and business value always a focus

Current industry requirements such as a responsive design in the user interface, secure communication between users and the production network via the cloud as well as the connection to the warehouse management system SynQ of the KUKA company Swisslog for the execution of the production process, formed the core of the project.

The combination of control know-how and the competences in front-end and back-end development made XITASO the ideal partner for KUKA. In addition, comes their in-depth knowledge of surface design and HTML5, as well as expertise in Angular, ASP.NET or asynchronous communication via SOAP protocol.