NEXEEDit Summit 2020

NEXEED is the name of the Industry 4.0 software portfolio from Bosch Connected Industry. The NEXEED software is used in the large part of our roughly 250 Bosch plants worldwide and is a crucial part of our manufacturing and logistics processes. NEXEED controls the machines (Nexeed Automation), manages the gateways (Nexeed Device Portal), controls production lines (Nexeed Manufacturing Execution) and monitors production processes (Nexeed Industrial Application System. The Nexeed Industrial Application System will eventually provide all those solutions in one coherent platform. It is developed in a consistent and agile manner, focusing on the real needs of its users. With version 2.2, the first applications are already available with many more to come.

You can start now by implementing first improvements that help during the current situation. For example, using and testing remote access solutions or installing first software to increase the transparency of your production will help you be better prepared for future crises.

Both cloud and on-premise are possible to hosting the Nexeed Industrial Application System.

We believe that openness of the different platforms and applications is crucial for collaboration and market acceptance. Therefore, our Nexeed Industrial Application System offers open interfaces (API) where applications from other companies or in-house solutions from our customers can be easily integrated. We also take an active part in shaping future IIoT platforms to fulfill the requirement of openness e.g. as steering member of the Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP).

It is very important. Without inspiration and motivation, projects will take longer and cost more. New technologies and improved processes without the required mindset are doomed to failure. Many people are easy to motivate because they enjoy working with new technologies. However, it is crucial to not leave those behind who are reluctant to accept changes. People need the freedom to try things out and to make mistakes on the way, without losing the main focus on the holistic approach. Moreover, communication of success is key element in every change project.

We assume that “360 degrees connectivity” refers to a full horizontal (e.g. machine to machine) and vertical (e.g. sensor to cloud) connectivity. From a pure connectivity perspective, several technical communication protocols such as OPC-UA are available. However, the real challenge is not the connectivity itself. It consists in the seamless integration of the different legacy (IT) systems, i.e. their interoperability, and in the semantic interpretation of the raw data (e.g. does the data “42” refer to pressure or temperature, what is the physical unit, the time stamp etc.). To cope with this massive challenge, we have developed a general semantic data model for our NEXEED software solutions that represents the digital twin of all assets and is based on open industry standards such as the asset administration shell.

Bosch started very early with online learning offerings for its employees. While possibilities are developing with regard to content and digitalization, this offer is expanded continuously to different working contexts and technical functionalities such as mobile learning, virtual learning as well as informal community-based learning.

Our UX team is actually involved in all departments of Bosch Connected Industry. And most importantly, the team is involved in technology development. While UX will never substitute change management, it does add another important perspective, especially in the early stages of software development, when user feedback is among the most important aspects.

The Security Engineering Process (SEP) is an important part of our software development process, i.e. we systematically take security into account from the very beginning. Our experts and development teams pay close attention to state-of-the-art technology to develop secure software solutions.

In the mid-term, we are concentrating on the detection of anomalies and event sequences in production. Here, AI will help us to inform and alert the people involved in manufacturing and will make suggestions based on the algorithm results. The final decisions that lead to concrete actions and resolve the issue are taken by the shop floor experts.

We have an ambitious vision for the factory of the future – and are approaching this vision in clearly defined steps that we call “now” (available today), “next” (market-ready in the next 1-3 years) and “beyond” (time horizon of 5-10 years). Looking back to the time we created the vision, we are delighted to see many of our products already in operation, such as our brand new ctrlX control units, our autonomous transport system Active Shuttle, or our software solutions like the continuously growing NEXEED portfolio that bring our vision to life on our customers’ shop floors.

What’s missing most is also influenced by the needs of our customers. Examples on our roadmap to come are seamless 5G connectivity, mobile autonomous robots and upgrading our products with advanced AI-features so that they become truly intelligent assistants in the factory of the future.

5G opens new opportunities and enables new use cases in the factory. Therefore, it is an important element in our vision of the factory of the future at Bosch. Higher flexibility is one benefit that we will address with 5G. Others are safety applications or time-sensitive applications. We are currently setting up several pilots in our own production plants, for example also in Stuttgart-Feuerbach.

To achieve carbon neutrality in scope 1 and 2, we use four levers: one, we increase energy efficiency (up to 1.7 terawatt-hours by 2030); two, we expand the supply of renewable energy (renewable in-house generation and exclusive long-term power-purchasing agreements); three, we use green electricity; and four, we offset unavoidable CO2 emissions. We will further improve the ecological quality of our carbon neutrality until 2030 by increasing the share of green electricity and thus reducing the carbon offsets. In scope 3, our target is to reduce emissions by 15% by 2030.

Bosch has successfully pursued a rigorous environmental management policy for years. Our in-house environmental management system was in place as early as 2007, when we first decided to reduce the CO₂ emissions of our locations by 20% by 2020. Ever since, we have consistently exceeded our targets. Our efforts are paying off: in 2019, Bosch emitted about one-third less CO₂ than in 2018. This is based on numerous energy efficiency projects to reduce energy consumption and thus reduce emissions.

We have already implemented numerous use cases for stock management and transport management in several Bosch facilities and are rolling them out to customers across the globe. In the future, the supply chain will be digitalized further by using traceability solutions, central transport management and dynamic material flow.

At Bosch, we use the Nexeed Energy Platform to support us with monitoring and optimizing energy consumption. Automated controls can be one of many options of how to reduce energy and are available on the Nexeed Energy Platform.

The dynamic milk run is the result of a first observation to determine how many stops you really need. Our experience shows that it is always possible to reduce milk run drives dramatically. However, if we can always reduce a complete milk run drive depends largely on the volume and number.