Hirschvogel Group: Increasing Line Output

The Hirschvogel Group, a leading Tier 1 automotive supplier, is using i-flow to increase line output and create the basis for realizing the Smart Factory vision at its production sites worldwide.

5–100× higher performance 5:1 simpler 80% faster

Customer

Hirschvogel Group

The Hirschvogel Group is a leading manufacturer of steel and aluminum components. The company focuses on innovation in product design and manufacturing technology and is known for its high level of vertical integration and quality. With 8 production sites and around 6,200 employees worldwide, Hirschvogel is one of the most important automotive suppliers.

Challenge

Line Performance and Scalability

The Hirschvogel Group is facing major challenges in implementing its vision of a smart factory. A complex IT/OT architecture, silos and a lack of standards at the production sites represented significant structural hurdles. These include:

Complex IT/OT architecture limits line performance and scalability
IT/OT data silos make it difficult to access data
Lack of standards compromises data quality and scalability

Solution

i-flow's High-Performance Data Infrastructure

Hirschvogel Group uses i-flow’s Industrial Unified Namespace (UNS) as its central data hub. The UNS of i-flow creates a high-performance, high-availability data infrastructure in the productions sites worldwide and lays the foundation for realizing the smart factory vision.

The implementation was done in 2 steps:

Realtime control of production lines: Implementation of the i-flow Edge for real-time control of production lines. The aim was to minimize the latency of production control data streams in order to increase line output. In order to guarantee continuous production operations, it was essential to ensure a high-availabliblity infrastructure through redundant i-flow setups.
Central IT/OT interface: Implementation of the i-flow Broker as a central interface between IT and OT systems. The aim is to break down silos and maximize the availability and quality of data. With its 1:n integration between OT and IT systems, the UNS from i-flow becomes the central data hub for the Hirschvogel Group. This simplifies the implementation and scaling of smart factory use-cases.

“The i-flow software offers the fastest communication times between machine controllers and IT systems and is the most scalable and comprehensive solution we have tested on the market.”

– Philipp Steuer (IT Administrator)

Why i-flow

High-Performance Solution and Outstanding Customer Service

The strategic decision in favor of i-flow’s Industrial Unified Namespace (UNS) was based on a comprehensive market evaluation. The following factors, among others, played a key role:

High-Performance Solution: i-flow offers a modular infrastructure that is designed for maximum performance and realtime data processing.
Outstanding Customer Service: i-flow is an outstanding customer-oriented company with fast support and short response times.
Scalability and User-Friendliness: i-flow combines a highly intuitive software for quick payoffs with the ability to scale easily.

“Working with i-flow sets new standards: the team impresses with its deep technical understanding and first-class customer support. i-flow combines highly intuitive software that enables quick wins with the ability to scale easily.”

– Dominik Malek (Program Lead Smart Factory)

Benefits

Increase in Line Output

Thanks to i-flow, the Hirschvogel Group was able to implement an open, event-based and scalable architecture that ensures the long-term flexibility and future readiness of the company and provides the foundation for realizing the Smart Factory vision.

The advantages in detail:

Massive performance increase: 5–100× faster data transfer reduces latency in production-critical data flows and increases line output.
Radically simplified architecture: A standardized data infrastructure reduces middleware by 5:1, significantly lowering operating and maintenance costs.
Drastically accelerated digitalization: 80% faster digitalization – new use cases are created and scaled in a fraction of the time.

DOWNLOAD FULL SUCCESS STORY

What does Hirschvogel do?

Leading automotive supplier
6.200 employees, 15.000 machines worldwide

Challenge

Complex IT/OT architecture
Lack of standards compromises data quality and scalability

Solution

i-flow as a central IT/OT interface
Realtime control of production lines

Benefits

Massive performance increase
Radically simplified architecture

Massive performance increase

5-100x

faster data transfer

Radical Simplification

5:1

less middleware

Drastic Acceleration

80%

faster digitalization

Together with Ingenics

Strong Partnerships Drive Successful Transformation

Successful Smart Factory transformation brings together strategy, technology, and execution. At Hirschvogel, i-flow and the international consulting firm Ingenics worked together to drive this transformation forward.

Ingenics is an international management consultancy specializing in the transformation and digitalization of business models, products, and processes. In collaboration with i-flow, Ingenics implements high-performance digital infrastructures for globally operating clients.

Explore the Partnership →

PROVEN AT SCALE

750 Mio. Data Operations per Day

Over 750 million data operations per day in production-critical environments demonstrate the scalability of the software and the deep trust that customers place in i-flow.

Whether PLC, sensor or ERP data, i-flow provides the basis for a modern IT/OT architecture in manufacturing companies.

i-flow Operations this month: -

Over 750 million data operations per day in production-critical environments demonstrate the scalability of the software and the deep trust that customers place in i-flow.