MANN + HUMMEL
the way the company works with agriculture ,” he explains . “ We are pushing out individual algorithms for every machine , taking into account the different type of dust and the different weather conditions . A great benefit of digitization is that we can customize products without having the cost of developing separate products . It ’ s about using big data and machine learning and converting the raw data into useful information like how many hours of safe operation they have left .” The internet of things in action Developing smart filters may have been Vaillant ’ s original objective , but digitization goes much further . “ The other piece is the data that we have at our disposal now . On the one side we can have our engineers design better products now that I am collecting data from equipment all over the world . I can see how my product is performing in a real-world environment . In the past we were working with very small samples – today , every single filter can be part of my test fleet . Over the past 75 years MANN + HUMMEL was using mainly lab data to confirm a product performance . Today , analytics and data science are a major part of our work and a new skill set for a company like us .”
As global CTO , Vaillant is responsible for a team of developers working on a comprehensive range of digital solutions , from sensors and interfaces to cloud programs . At the hub of this effort is MANN + HUMMEL ’ s IoT lab in Singapore . At this facility , system , hardware , firmware and software engineers and data specialists are working on the development of intelligent technology for filtration . The focus is on intensive cooperation with established technology groups and startup companies . “ We have between 15 and 20 people at Singapore , and we are running out of space because we ’ re growing so fast . The world is our sandbox . We decided we want to be close to our customers , to research centers and universities . By doing this you run a very decentralized organization . Most of our people in Singapore speak Chinese fluently ; they are in the same time zone as China and there ’ s now an extension of our IoT lab in Shenzhen , China .”
88 June 2018