Success Story: Data-driven Process Optimization in Plastic Extrusion

The Challenge

Plastic extrusion is a complex process. Numerous parameters such as temperature, pressure, and material flow must be precisely coordinated. For a long time, this expertise existed mainly in the minds of experienced specialists. However, such experts are becoming increasingly scarce.

Additional challenges include:

• Recording production parameters required significant manual effort
   
• Long-term data analysis was error-prone and often incomplete
   
• Customers demanded full traceability and quality documentation
   
• External requirements, such as higher cybersecurity standards under the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), increased pressure

The result: Without digital support, companies risked a lack of transparency, higher scrap rates, and growing competitive disadvantages.

Technical Implementation

The solution: iBA relies on the netFIELD ecosystem from Hilscher, together with iDOO. Every new extrusion system now comes standard with a Hilscher Edge Gateway. This gateway collects production data directly at the machine through containerized software applications and makes it reliably available via the iDOO platform.

The software applications responsible for data acquisition are managed centrally via the netFIELD edge management, which also supports fleet and patch management – reducing administrative effort and cutting costs.

The collaboration for iBA’s extrusion systems can be summarized as follows:

• netFIELD ensures stable data collection at the shop floor. Thanks to buffer mechanisms, no data is lost, even during network outages.
• iDOO analyzes and visualizes the data, providing dashboards, alarms, and reports in real time.

Integration was remarkably simple: all that was needed was a connection to the production network and the Internet – the entire data pipeline was up and running within a few hours. There was no need for lengthy implementation projects or expensive pilot phases. In most cases, a machine can be fully connected to the cloud within 2–3 hours, including installation of the edge gateway and configuration of the data connection. This enables a quick start without interrupting production. This “out-of-the-box” solution based on netFIELD and iDOO proved to be a decisive advantage for iBA.

Benefits

Since introducing netFIELD, iBA has gained multiple advantages:

• Greater transparency: All production parameters are available globally, seamlessly, and in real time.
• Improved quality assurance: Complete documentation provides evidence for customers and reduces complaints. End users and customers can check production parameters accurately, regardless of whether the production date was days or even years ago.
• Higher process efficiency: Deviations are detected and corrected immediately, reducing scrap and optimizing energy consumption of extrusion plants.
• Competitive edge: iBA delivers not just machines but complete solutions – data-driven from day one.
• New services: Remote support and predictive maintenance are possible without additional hardware or retrofitting.

The iDOO services and dashboards are designed to provide a comprehensive and transparent overview of production processes. This allows process experts to monitor significantly more systems simultaneously, as all relevant process data is available in real time and optimization potential can be identified immediately. Operators receive immediate notifications, production managers identify trends, and quality assurance has reliable evidence at its disposal. Users thus benefit from over 40 years of expertise in plastics extrusion from iBA and iDO.