An increase in efficiency is usually a key requirement when building new production plants or modernising existing ones. It is essential to optimise production processes, thus increasing productivity while safeguarding product quality. However, the achievement of these goals requires accurate data. Real-time information from the production plant must be available at all times. This is the only way to build a solid basis for all further optimisation measures.

Production data acquisition provides the foundation for production optimisation whilst taking product liability and quality assurance into account. The following data is basically acquired:

• Machine and process data (statuses, measured values, meters, etc.)
• Energy data
• QA-relevant data (e.g. analysis results)
• Maintenance-related information (operating cycles, operating times, etc.)
• Manual inputs (e.g. laboratory values, offline meter values, additional information)

To ensure the collected data is available throughout the company for analysis and optimisation purposes, it must be provided in a consistent and standardised fashion, ideally in a process control system. This involves, however, the realisation of specified data structures and standardised interfaces to the individual control units of the machine suppliers. We employ the Weihenstephan Standards, which we helped to develop, to guarantee this level of data standardisation.