Vecoplan Technology Center

In 2014, Vecoplan opened its own Technology Center, one of the world's largest and most modern development centers in the field of recycling management. The VTC (Vecoplan Technology Center) conducts 220 tests per year. With 10 installed shredding machines, it is considered the center for shredding technology and tests for customer applications. Digital applications are also tested at this site before they are used by customers.

Back in 2008, Vecoplan was already offering its customers remote access to the machines - but driven by the new Technology Center, the plans quickly expanded and Vecoplan worked on its vision for machine connectivity. "We knew we could get a lot more out of connectivity," says Daniel Kessler, Head Of Electrical Department at Vecoplan. In 2018, the vision emerged of not only connecting machines in the future, but also collecting, evaluating and visualizing machine data in real time.

Vecoplan Smart Center as a central portal

The vision quickly turned into concrete development projects and test runs, until finally, in January 2021, all machines were equipped with the Ixon solution. At Vecoplan, the digital service offering runs under the name VSC.connect and includes a wide range of features, from remote access and data analysis to live camera monitoring via smartphone (remote monitoring).

"There were many reasons for our partnership with Ixon, such as the guaranteed IT security and the non-existent license costs for remote access. Ultimately, however, the decisive factor was the rapid implementation. We had our own app and branding up and running in less than two months," summarizes Kessler.

Vecoplan's first IXrouter was then also used on the other side of the world. "We have a system in Peru, and we did the commissioning from here. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to travel there to commission the machine. That was probably the first time an Ixon router was used," recalls Daniel Kessler.

Standard connectivity

The first connected machine became many more. Today, Vecoplan equips its machines with the IXrouter as standard. As a result, Vecoplan can now offer a more effective service. "At the moment, we mainly use the VPN and notification functions. However, we want to enrich our portfolio with further added value and smart services," reports Kessler. "We also establish a connection to a camera via an HTTP tunnel so that we can take a live look inside the machines via the Ixon Cloud."

The company from Rhineland-Palatinate offers the latter to its customers as an option. "The camera is in use when the customer books the option," explains Kessler. The special thing? This service is free of charge for customers. "We offer this service so that the customer has a greater interest in bringing the machine online. In the past, we often had the problem that the customer only wanted to connect the machines if there was an acute problem. The camera function creates real added value for everyday use".

Machine performance always in view

This service is very popular with Vecoplan's customers, as user errors are not uncommon and the shredding and recycling systems are too large and cannot be seen. "Our machines are relatively high and closed. Even on site, it's not easy to look inside. The camera feature helps to check the machine fill level and optimize the machine for the material being fed in," says Daniel Kessler.

But what motivates Vecoplan to offer this service free of charge? "Because the machines are always online, the live machine data gives us feedback on the performance of our machines in the field. As a machine builder, you only know how the machine behaves when it's new. The data helps us to understand how the machine will behave after X operating hours".

Machine data for the optimized machine 2.0

This machine data is then used for the design of new machines, but should also be of use to the application engineers. "Our application engineers are close to the sales department and help our customers to offer machines that are tailored to their requirements. The more feedback we have from machines that have actually been installed, the better the learning curve for our technicians to select the right machines".

In future, Vecoplan would like to roll out its service offering further. "We now want to focus more on data logging with Ixon Cloud, as we have just developed a business concept for this," announces Daniel Kessler. "This data will help us take the step towards predictive maintenance. We want to trigger customers about ineffective use of the machines, but at the same time prepare our After Sales department to send out offers for spare parts".