The Challenge

Smolsys wanted to add IIoT functionality to their production cells. They needed an easy-to-use, flexible system to interconnect sensitive measuring devices and unique, specialized machines—a system that could enable data transparency and visibility, and allow Smolsys’ applications to comply with regulations, particularly because the company was expanding distribution to the US, UK, and Korea. In addition, their applications did not provide real-time alerts.

It was time for a change—time to integrate IIoT into their products.

Smolsys selected UniCloud, the end-to-end IIoT platform developed by Unitronics—a natural choice, since Smolsys uses Unitronics controllers to automate many application tasks.

The Results

The CEO of Smolsys, Daniel Jakob, estimates that Smolsys saved approximately $250, 000 by using UniCloud, a do-it-yourself platform that was easily adapted to their needs, instead of trying to build or commission a custom-built Cloud solution. When asked why Smolsys selected UniCloud, Mr. Jakob gave the following reasons:
“Safety -
UniCloud enables us to get real-time access to relevant data for the monitoring of environmental conditions, assuring both staff and public safety. One of our favorite features is the Dashboard, displayed in our labs on a big screen—we were able to create this dashboard ourselves using UniCloud’s drag & drop widgets. This dashboard is used by all Smolsys staff. It makes us feel safe, because it displays continuously updated vital data to operators and radiation safety staff such as tritium concentration, ventilation speed, air exhaust volume, room temperature, and oxygen levels. The availability of real-time data is a “make or break” deal for all companies working with highly sensitive or hazardous material. UniCloud proved to be a fast and reliable way for all our customers to get real-time access to relevant data for the monitoring of environmental conditions”
“Data visibility—
we use UniCloud to harvest selected real-time data, and display it in graphs with multiple “y” axes in different scales.This enabled us to identify the form of Tritium in the air—important because oxidized, tritiated water vapor is poses a much greater health hazard than does pure Tritium.”
We also use charts to compare actual values to predicted value—these are valuable metrics.”
“Eliminates the need for 3rd-party applications--previously, we used external analytical tools to analyze our tritium measurements. Now we do this within UniCloud—no need to export the data to a 3rd party application-
In addition, values are now provided from the cloud directly to staff; there is no longer any need to read and manually record values.
“Real-time Alerts—
this was a feature we wanted to add to our existing—and new—applications. UniCloud allows us to easily create alerts and send them directly to authorized staff.”
Smolsys is now able to implement preventive maintenance, by continuously monitoring sensitive sensors and alerting staff at the first sign of deviation from set values. Their staff can then immediately intervene to prevent problems, thereby improving system overall health and avoiding downtime.
UniCloud’s ability to collect and log historical data, and automatically refine it into reports allows Smolsys to discover where their systems and machines can be improved. In addition, reported data can be used to comply with regulations and standards.

Summary

UniCloud allows Smolsys to easily track sensitive and potentially hazardous data, present visible data graphically on dashboards for their staff, alert staff and enable them to rapidly intervene as required, raise safety levels, create logs that can be used for compliance with standards—and has enabled them to implement and benefit from IIoT Cloud technology with a minimum of time, effort, and expense.

CEO of Smolsys, Daniel Jakob reports:

“The availability of real-time visible data is a “make or break” deal for all companies working with highly sensitive or hazardous material. UniCloud proved to be a fast and reliable way to improve safety conditions for our applications.  Our customers now get real-time access to relevant data—with UniCloud, we gained IIoT functionality while avoiding the costly route to a custom-built solution, saving an estimated $250, 000.
I definitely recommend that other companies consider UniCloud for their IIoT needs”.