SAMSON and InfraServ Wiesbaden Cooperate to Advance IIoT Solutions for Medium-sized Companies

SAMSON and InfraServ Wiesbaden Cooperate to Advance IIoT Solutions for Medium-sized Companies

Upgrade of SAMSON's IIoT web platform for smart process automation

InfraServ Wiesbaden provides IT services, mainly relating to AI (artificial intelligence), to production facilities in the German Rhine-Main area and Kalle-Albert Industrial Park

Optimized control of biological water treatment plant as joint pilot project

SAMSON AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and InfraServ GmbH Co. Wiesbaden KG are today announcing the beginning of a strategic cooperation with the goal of further developing digital solutions to make the transition to Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). SAMSON is a leading supplier of products and systems to control the flow of all kinds of media. For over 110 years, the company has been specializing in control valve engineering and is currently focusing on the integration of smart products into Internet of Things (IoT) environments. InfraServ Wiesbaden has been operating and developing Kalle-Albert Industrial Park since 1997. The park is home to 75 companies and the second-largest industrial park in the Federal German state of Hesse.

The cooperation between the two companies is concluded for an unlimited period of time. The key goal is to jointly advance an IIoT platform that digitally supports the optimization of processes and plant control in medium-sized industrial companies inside and outside the industrial park.

UBIX and GES Systemhaus, two subsidiaries under 100 % ownership of SAMSON and InfraServ Wiesbaden respectively, are both active in plant automation. The SAMSON subsidiary runs a cloud-based multi-tenant platform for the digitalization, visualization and automated control of industrial plants. The platform includes flexible interfaces for the connection of customer systems and external analytical tools. With the help of the expertise gathered by the InfraServ Wiesbaden group, which offers digital solutions under the product name 'KI Konzept', plant maintenance is to be improved based on the smart analysis of data (smart maintenance).

Dr. Andreas Widl, Chief Executive Officer of SAMSON AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, says: "We want to expand our digital portfolio based on the UBIX platform with InfraServ Wiesbaden as our cooperation partner. Our new partner strengthens our expertise in smart, networked valve engineering, flexible production processes and applications to handle challenging tasks. As a developer of industrial sites, InfraServ Wiesbaden operates its own large systems for supply and disposal. This means that they already know, understand and serve the specific needs of the on-site companies that come from many different branches of industry. We look forward to the cooperation and the synergies it will produce."

Mr. Peter Bartholomäus, Chief Executive Officer of InfraServ Wiesbaden, says: "Many medium-sized production companies are facing the challenge of having to build new, digital expertise to keep up with the evolution towards Industry 4.0. Smart automation, process control and manufacturing technologies applied in combination with computer-based big data analyses and networked infrastructures offer them huge opportunities to fortify their market position in the long run. We are very happy to join forces with SAMSON as a renowned, innovative partner in this area to drive forward the use of digital technologies to our own benefit as well as to the benefit of our customers."

Digital twins and pilot project

The main goal behind the cooperation is to jointly develop and expand SAMSON's UBIX platform. This is to be achieved by InfraServ Wiesbaden placing programming orders with SAMSON to handle specific control processes within its plants or to implement customer requirements concerning smart maintenance or plant control. The result will be 'digital twins' to simulate plant control operations, analyze the flows of energy or goods (value chains) as well as design processes for the smart, predictive, mobile maintenance of plants and equipment. In a next step, these processes can be further improved by cross-linking a larger number of different devices and systems as well as by applying special AI software tools based on big data analyses or machine learning.

InfraServ Wiesbaden will use the UBIX platform to handle customer inquiries and market solutions under its own product name, KI Konzept. To ensure a maximum level of data security, customers will have their own dedicated access to the UBIX platform through the high-performance data centers hosted by InfraServ Wiesbaden.

As part of the strategic development cooperation, the two companies launched a common pilot project. The project goal is to optimize the processes in the biological water treatment plant operated by InfraServ Wiesbaden in Kalle-Albert Industrial Park.

Ms. Bianca Litzendorff, who is responsible for the cooperation at SAMSON, says: "We are more than happy that, after evaluating different providers, InfraServ Wiesbaden decided in favor of the IIoT platform developed by our subsidiary UBIX. This cooperation extends the trustful relationship we have had with InfraServ Wiesbaden for many years into the area of digitalization. The strategies and business models of both companies are a perfect match also where digital solutions are concerned. The merging of corporate expertise and know-how on a joint IIoT platform will help us speed up the targeted distribution of the UBIX platform in industrial environments. The new functions created as a result of the cooperation will allow us to continually expand our portfolio. We will be able to offer our customers valuable solutions to optimize their plants and/or their maintenance routines."

Mr. Thomas Hohnloser, who is in charge of the cooperation at InfraServ Wiesbaden, says: "Over the past years, we have been investing a tremendous amount of work into our new product KI Konzept to optimally support our customers in making the transition towards Industry 4.0. Along with our technical services experts and the staff from our Innovation Lab, we are proud to take a decisive step forward with SAMSON. This will give us the opportunity to demonstrate and develop our expertise based on specific projects for our customers. The signing of the cooperation agreement marks an important milestone for us. We look forward to conducting projects with our customers on site as well as with medium-sized and industrial companies throughout the entire Rhine-Main region."

The agreement was signed in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on 14 October 2019. The partners have agreed to not disclose any further details relating to the financial aspects and scope defined in the cooperation agreement.