Supercharged shot blasting in a workshop set-up: Hennecke goes digital with Monitizer
In a highly variable workshop production environment, transparency is hard to achieve. German contract manufacturer, Hennecke, specializing in versatile sheet metal fabrication,has changed that- starting with it shot blasting operations. By digitizing its shot blasting machine with Monitizer IIoT, Hennecke has unlocked immediate insights into resource consumption, downtime and optimization potential.
Organized in a workshop set-up, Hennecke’s production spans multiple areas and departments, covering the various work steps from welding to powder coating. Tasks and requirements change frequently, making flexibility essential. Monitizer’s modularity suits this complex production environment, enabling the roll-out of digital monitoring on sub-processes, with the option to scale and expand over time.
— Markus Rüth, Head of Production at Hennecke“The modular design of the Monitizer system appealed to us. You don't have to implement everything at once.
“What was particularly interesting was just how much you can optimize directly at the sub-process level with Monitizer. You can get started straight away. Typical monitoring and optimization tasks already exist as dashboards.”
Visibility
Real-time insight into resource consumption and machine downtime:
“We can – for the first time ever - extract data from the shot blast machine on resource consumption and downtime.”
Product-level data
Clear understanding of processing time per product for targeted optimization:
“We can clearly identify which products take up the most time on the system. We can break this down to individual products and use that information to optimize the process.”
Optimized shifts
Smarter shift planning reduces idle time and improves machine utilization:
“Monitizer enables us to plan shifts on the machine in a way so that masking is done in only one shift, with a production assistant assigned to it, so the machine isn't kept waiting and idling. The other shifts can power on without any masking work.”
Less downtime
Data-driven maintenance planning based on actual blasting hours:
“We can precisely track how long, for example,a set of wheel blades has been in use.This allows us to gradually gain a better understanding of the achievable blasting hours of key spare parts and adjust maintenance intervals accordingly.”
Improved blast economics
More accurate cost calculations and identification of further optimization potential:
“The better we understand resource consumption, the better and more accurate our cost calculations will be.[…] And of course, the data we’re getting can also reveal further optimization potential. Perhaps apart can be blasted faster or loaded into the machine more efficiently.”
Hennecke worked closely with the shot blast experts from Wheelabrator and the Monitizer team to deploy the IIoT solutionin early 2025. Since then, Hennecke has started exploring QR code scanning for work piece recognition to enable tracking of process data for individual work pieces. What’s next? The team is eyeing its paint robots for a Monitizer deployment…
“Flexibility and modularity are real strengths of Monitizer. And we consistently receive excellent support and advice from the Monitizer team – from the initial implementation and regular employee training to the day-to-day collaboration that turns ideas into reality.”
– Lucas Kurtenbach, Head of Materials Management at Hennecke