Wood processing manufacturers face unique production needs
In the wood processing industry, each mill has unique needs, prompted by different ways of measuring productivity and addressing challenges such as unplanned downtime, productivity loss, and quality control. All told, every facility operates under different demands, and any technology intended for deployment across multiple facilities has to be flexible enough to easily handle those different requirements. This has proven to be a notable challenge for suppliers.
BID turned to PTC’s ThingWorx to create a flexible, purpose-built IIoT solution for customers
The BID Group, a leading supplier of turnkey solutions to the wood processing industry, set out to modernize industry operations and provide the best experience for their customers. Having recently undergone their own successful digital transformation and hoping to accelerate industrywide progress, BID developed a new customer offering using PTC’s ThingWorx, an end-to-end Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform that allows users to make intelligent decisions based on real-time data. The new offering, known as OPER8™, provided customers with a purpose-built IIoT solution for gaining visibility into production and asset health with real-time data analytics and a rich array of insights and production reporting.
Any solution that intends to optimize equipment performance and increase throughput has to overcome some serious challenges. It must accommodate each mill’s unique way of looking at productivity and account for process complexities such as highly variable raw materials. OPER8™, developed with ThingWorx at its core, provides the flexibility needed to meet any wood processing facility’s needs. Specifically, OPER8™ was developed to wrap and extend around new and legacy equipment and can be quickly deployed across site-wide facilities. Leveraging ThingWorx and the “single pane of glass” view within OPER8™, customers benefit from real-time visibility analytics into the health of their machines, the quality of raw materials, and the continual flow across all stages of their operations.
Experience and wisdom have guided BID’s commitment to customer needs
Customers who choose OPER8™ receive more than just a solution built specific to their needs— they get the benefits of a product designed by an industry expert and backed by the IIoT market leader. BID’s 35 years of industry experience went a long way in their ability to offer the flexibility and customization their customers need. “We bring the sawdust in our boots—we immediately bring industry expertise to the table in the conversations we’re having with customers,” says Steven Hofer, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at BID. “There isn’t anyone in the industry that can connect as many disparate pieces of equipment into a common platform like OPER8™, as we demonstrated utilizing the PTC technology suite,” says Hofer.
Customers who choose OPER8™ receive more than just a solution built specific to their needs—they get the benefits of a product designed by an industry expert and backed by the IIoT market leader.
BID started out as a company committed to providing value to their customers. With OPER8™ now helping to modernize and transform customer facilities everywhere, that commitment to customer service is sure to lead the industry to new heights.