Diemme Filtration (Aqseptence Group Srl), founded in 1921, today part of the multinational Aqseptence Group, is an international leader in the design and production of technologies for industrial solid-liquid separation, dynamic thickeners and special filter presses.

Aqseptence Group, a multinational company active in multiple sectors and industrial applications relating to solid-liquid separation and water treatment, currently has around 1,300 employees distributed in 29 production and commercial sites, strategically located in 5 continents and with a consolidated turnover of over €300 million. Its success is based on its manufacturing and process expertise, R&D and continuous improvement.

In the context of a structured digital transformation process, Aqseptence needed a safe and reliable tool to gain knowledge of the use of filter press systems, installed all over the world, to optimise their efficiency and provide new value-added services.

The solution conceived with 40Factory, based on MAT (Machine Analytics Tool) technology, consists of an app, distributed on the SIEMENS MindSphere industrial cloud, capable of managing all aspects of the connected filter presses: it is possible to monitor the main efficiency KPIs, energy consumption, alarms, the state of wear of the filtering cloths, as well as to identify the underlying causes of low productivity and the filtration cycles that require more attention; this last feature is supported by the innovative GCA (Golden Cycle Analytics) algorithm, based on machine learning technology, able to learn from the information provided by the operators.

In a second phase of the project, the CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) module was integrated. Through the latter, Aqseptence has an integrated tool to manage all the maintenance activities, both ordinary and extraordinary, associated with each individual filter press; this allows for the possibility to know the maintenance status of each component, record maintenance interventions, analyse the most frequent breakdown events and even generate and send the order of spare parts needed for the next maintenance to the Aqseptence e-commerce portal!

The next step is to add an environmental camera management module to monitor the working status of the production environment on which the Diemme Filtration filter presses insist.

With 40Factory, Aqseptence lays the foundation for combining a service business model with the classic model of designing and supplying machinery, thus exponentially increasing the value of supplies to its customers. For the success of this challenge, Diemme Filtration is not looking for a traditional supplier-customer relationship in 40Factory, but rather a real strategic and operational partnership, with the aim of making the final customer’s user experience complete and satisfactory, and the business model solid and durable.