Festo AX Automotive Industry

A “One-Stop” Predictive Optimization Solution for OEMs and Parts Suppliers

A well-known automobile manufacturer sought to collaborate with Festo to leverage Festo AX’s intelligent monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities to optimize product quality and reduce production efficiency losses caused by unexpected equipment downtime. The customer focused on the operational status of key production line components such as swing arms and grippers, aiming to achieve predictive maintenance for pneumatic actuators across the entire production line.

Pain Points:

  • Data Silos
    a) Most cylinder-level PLCs were not directly connected to
    the factory LAN, making direct collection of equipment operation data impossible.
    b) The IPC connected to PLCs ran Windows XP, causing system compatibility and data forwarding challenges.
  • Production Efficiency and Quality Risks
    a) Equipment failures could not be predicted in advance, leading to sudden downtime and affecting overall line efficiency.
    b) Traditional maintenance relied on manual inspections, making efficient and accurate predictive maintenance difficult.

Festo AX Solution:

  • Innovative Data Collection Compatibility
    • Developed data collection plugins compatible with Windows XP/10/11 to address the client’s legacy IPC OS issue, enabling efficient PLC data forwarding.
    • Through data relay, Festo AX comprehensively collects all cylinder operation data without hardware replacement.
  • Predictive Maintenance Capability
    • Festo AX performs real-time data acquisition and intelligent analysis of equipment health status, detecting potential faults 3–5 days in advance.
    • Established a predictive maintenance system covering the entire production line, significantly reducing unplanned downtime risk and decreasing gripper failure downtime by 37%.

Additional Application Cases:

• Early detection of welding process anomalies reduced unplanned downtime by 25%.
• Improved maintenance processes in sub-processes to reduce defect rates and save energy, including:
 1) Predictive maintenance of welding clamp drive systems
 2) Predictive quality management of weld points
 3) Predictive maintenance of pneumatic fixtures
 4) Predictive maintenance of riveting processes
 5) Predictive quality management of riveting
 6) Predictive maintenance, quality and energy consumption monitoring for arc welding, MIG/MAG welding, and stud welding
 7) Predictive maintenance and quality management of clamping cylinders
 – Real-time monitoring of clamping cylinder pressure and action status to identify abnormal wear and leakage risks early
 – Optimization of clamping force to ensure stable clamping quality and reduce clamping-related defects

This case demonstrates how Festo AX provides OEMs and parts suppliers with a one-stop predictive optimization solution that overcomes data silos, enhances production stability, improves quality, and reduces maintenance costs through intelligent edge computing and open, flexible system architecture.

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