· Schaeffler’s award-winning OPTIME: Red Dot Design and Industry 4.0 Innovation Award

· With OPTIME, Schaeffler provides comprehensive, user-friendly and automatic condition monitoring

· Analytical system behind all Schaeffler condition monitoring solutions ensures long advance warning periods and specific recommendations for action

· With OPTIME, customers reduce downtimes and increase the profitability of their machinery

With the introduction of OPTIME to the market in 2020, automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler presented an innovative condition monitoring system for machines and systems. The system is easy to put into operation, can be used without any specialist knowledge, and is so economical that it pays off in large numbers. With the latest update, OPTIME now also integrates Schaeffler’s condition monitoring systems (CMS) SmartCheck and ProLink. OPTIME therefore covers condition monitoring for a very wide range of machines and often even entire plants.

OPTIME is now available in Singapore and Korea, in addition to Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and India, in Asia Pacific. “With the release of Optime for Singapore, we are expanding our scope in the Asia Pacific to provide analysis which enables maintenance teams to predict machine problems and act appropriately. As a result, our customers reduce downtime and increase the profitability of their machinery,” says David Nevin, Industrial President, South East Asia.

Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia will be available soon.

Avoid downtimes, increase profitability‍

Particularly for companies operating in system-intensive process industries, avoiding unplanned downtimes means greater profitability. Via the smartphone or desktop app, customers with OPTIME have a constant eye on the status of their plant, even with hundreds of machines, as the messages are user-friendly and prioritized according to criticality. As a result, in-house maintenance personnel or even service companies can plan maintenance measures, personnel utilization, and the procurement of replacement parts in a timely and cost-efficient manner. They have the flexibility to decide whether they want to draw on other services and if so, which ones. The modular service concept offers online, remote or on-site services.

Condition monitoring can be easy‍

Users of digital services in the industrial environment also expect the information provided to be easily understood and the hardware and software to be uncomplicated to get around. Condition monitoring systems by Schaeffler can be used without needing extra qualifications because with the help of the Schaeffler know-how, the system configuration and data analysis are largely automated. This integrated knowledge is integral not only to the highly scalable OPTIME solution with wireless single-channel sensors, but also to the two systems for machines with dynamic speed and load conditions and involving environments with temperatures in excess of 85 degrees Celsius – the single-channel CMS SmartCheck and the multi-channel CMS ProLink. With condition monitoring solutions from Schaeffler, operators and maintenance personnel have an expert eye tracking the condition of practically every machine in the plant via the app.

OPTIME, winner of the prestigious Red Dot Design and Industry 4.0 Innovation Awards

The innovative condition monitoring solution OPTIME is a winner of this year’s Red Dot Design Award in two categories. A jury composed of designers, professors, and journalists from various specialist fields awarded OPTIME in the categories of “Smart Product” and “Industrial Design”, thus confirming the outstanding product design, functional configuration, and high level of innovation demonstrated by the digital service solution from Schaeffler. “Our passion for technology and innovation is a key part of our DNA,” says Dr. Stefan Spindler, CEO Industrial of Schaeffler AG. “OPTIME receiving the award proves that we can successfully expand our portfolio with digital services that prioritize the benefit to the customer.”

Just a few months after OPTIME condition monitoring system was launched in Europe last year, it has won the Industry 4.0 Innovation-Award, presented by VDE VERLAG GmbH in cooperation with the “ZVEI” and the “Standardization Council Industry 4.0”, confirming the automotive and industrial supplier’s ambition to shape progress that moves the world.

Schaeffler OPTIME: With the latest update, three IoT-capable hardware solutions can now be connected, making condition monitoring for a very wide range of machines and often even entire plants a possibility. Status reports for all systems are clearly visualized in the OPTIME app.

The analytical system behind all Schaeffler condition monitoring solutions provides an advance warning period of several weeks and specific recommendations for action. As a result, in-house maintenance personnel or even service companies can plan maintenance measures, personnel utilization, and the procurement of replacement parts in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

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Schaeffler Group – We pioneer motion

As a leading global supplier to the automotive and industrial sectors, the Schaeffler Group has been driving forward groundbreaking inventions and developments in the fields of motion and mobility for over 70 years. With innovative technologies, products, and services for CO₂-efficient drives, electric mobility, Industry 4.0, digitalization, and renewable energies, the company is a reliable partner for making motion and mobility more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable. The technology company manufactures high-precision components and systems for powertrain and chassis applications as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions for a large number of industrial applications. The Schaeffler Group generated sales of approximately EUR 12.6 billion in 2020. With around 83,300 employees, Schaeffler is one of the world’s largest family companies. With more than 1,900 patent applications in 2020, Schaeffler is Germany’s second most innovative company according to the DPMA (German Patent and Trademark Office).

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