From data to added value: How SITEC & in.hub are driving digitalization in mechanical engineering

Hello Christian, hello Jens, and welcome to the IoT Use Case Podcast! Christian, how are you? Where are you right now?

Christian

Hi Madeleine, great to see you! I’m doing well. I just realized that we’ve already recorded quite a few podcast episodes, but this is the first time I’m recording from my office in Chemnitz—normally, I do it from my home studio in the Erzgebirge.

You’ve got a proper podcast setup in front of you! For everyone who can’t see it: Christian has a microphone and everything set up—it looks just like a real studio. Very nice! And you’re in Chemnitz today, right?

Christian

Exactly, today I’m in Chemnitz, at our headquarters at in.hub.

Great, sending my best regards over there! Jens, you’re not too far away, are you? Glad to have you here.

Hi!

Jens

Yes, thanks for making this happen today! In fact, Christian and I are less than ten kilometers apart as the crow flies—so we’re pretty close to each other.

Nice! And is that also the main location of SITEC?

Jens

Yes, this is our headquarters, where we’ve been based since 1991.

And do you also do manufacturing there?

Jens

Yes, we cover our entire portfolio here—on the one hand, traditional mechanical and plant engineering, and on the other, our series production, where we manufacture products for our customers.

We’ll get to that in a moment. But first, how did this collaboration come about? Christian, you’ve been on the podcast before—what brought you and Jens together? How do your companies know each other? Is there a special backstory?

Christian

I did a little digging in our archives and found that our first contact with SITEC actually dates back to 2018. I vaguely remember that we were exploring the idea of integrating our IoT gateways into their machine-building projects to drive digitalization. However, we quickly realized that even the best hardware has limited value without good software.

In 2023, we took another shot at it and discovered that our services and products complement each other perfectly for our customers. This led to a strong partnership that we’re now driving forward full speed ahead. For us, it just feels like the perfect fit—there’s real momentum behind it. So I thought, why not share our story with others? It’s a lot of fun and evolving in a great way. Luckily, Jens was immediately on board and said yes!

Great, I’m really happy to have both of you here today! Jens, maybe you can give us a quick introduction—what exactly does SITEC do? What is your core business? And are there any new developments or business areas? Bring us up to speed!

Jens

Of course! Here are a few key facts: We’ve been based in Chemnitz since 1991 and also have partnerships and branches in China and the USA. Our core business is mechanical and plant engineering, with a special focus on laser processing. This includes laser welding, cutting, structuring, and much more.

We handle the entire product development process for our customers. If a customer has a specific requirement, we work together to develop the right process and industrialize it. They then have two options: either we build a system for them to operate on their own—our classic sales model— or we build the system and operate it ourselves with our own staff at our facility. That’s our series production business, which we’ve had since 1995. Today, this concept is called Equipment-as-a-Service—we offer the full package, including quality assurance, logistics, and everything else that goes with it.

Cool! So you’re both a machine builder and a manufacturing company?

Jens

Exactly, that sums it up pretty well.

Interesting! Do you focus exclusively on custom machines, or do you also have a standard product portfolio?

Jens

Externally, there is a certain level of standardization, and we try to standardize as much as possible. At the same time, our strength lies in flexibility—adapting to individual customer requirements. Our principle is: standard on the outside, custom on the inside—allowing us to cover all needs.

The same applies to our software. We have our own software development team working with high-level programming languages and a proprietary SCADA system that we’ve been using for over 15 years. Even our smallest machine series is equipped with this powerful system.

So, the logical next step for us was to explore how we could further leverage our expertise, particularly in software development. This led us to develop a new system that we are now evolving together.

That’s the perfect setup! Customer requirements are often highly individual, but at the same time, there are recurring patterns that can be addressed with data-driven approaches. That’s something I’d love to dive into. Have customer requirements gained new dynamics through digitalization? Do you have any insights from recent years? Has the digital business changed?

Jens

Yes, we’ve been noticing a significant increase in interest in digital solutions for some time now. At the same time, our customers’ systems are becoming increasingly complex. However, one of the biggest challenges is system integration.

Many of our customers have a different focus—classic manufacturing engineering or maintenance—and the digital world is still relatively new to them. They often struggle to make these topics tangible. That’s why they are specifically looking for partners who don’t just provide them with a high-level solution but also actively support them in the integration process.

I see! We’ll get to the technical challenges and potential pitfalls in a moment. But first, one question: What is your vision for utilizing this data in the IoT space? Where are you headed?

Jens

We want to offer our customers a digitalization solution that allows them to enter our service ecosystem while simultaneously digitalizing their entire shopfloor—without the need for a massive IoT project.

To achieve this, we are developing small, tailored packages that remain commercially manageable. Our goal is to require as few resources as possible from our customers by actively supporting them every step of the way.

When you talk about packaging solutions, I immediately think of use cases. Let’s dive into what exactly you’re implementing in your joint project. What use cases are customers interested in? What are their requirements, and what ideas are emerging? Christian, would you like to start? What exactly are you implementing?

Christian

As we’ve already heard, SITEC is quite unique among machine builders—at least in my experience. Many machine manufacturers want to become more resilient, drive digitalization, and develop new business models. But often, these remain just intentions. SITEC, on the other hand, has actually made it happen.

The concept of Equipment-as-a-Service or Factory-as-a-Service is often just a buzzword that companies use as a slogan. But very few actually have a working business model behind it. SITEC has succeeded in this: after selling their machines, they provide real services that customers actually use. That’s crucial because only a product that the customer truly wants will generate long-term value. At the same time, SITEC creates additional revenue potential and scales its own business.

Our joint approach was to make these services as easily accessible as possible for users. Jens already mentioned it: The employees on the shop floor are not digital specialists. So how can we ensure that the product customers use meets their exact expectations? That there are no barriers, no fear of setting it up or using it? This is where we complement each other perfectly. Our approach at in.hub is “make it. simple. plug & play. Our IoT gateways and specialized modules are designed to connect machines quickly and effortlessly. And what has changed from 2018 until now—with SIINEOS—is that we now have a true operating system for edge devices. This makes the whole process feel smartphone-like: signals from the machine can be read out with just a few clicks.

Customers can then immediately generate value with small apps or integrate them into higher-level systems like SITEC’s connACT. Especially in heterogeneous machine parks, which are common among many customers, this solution offers enormous advantages. At the end of the day, it’s always about end-to-end processes. You can monitor 80 percent of your machines perfectly—but the remaining 20 percent, which, according to Murphy’s Law, cause the biggest headaches, are often the most critical. That’s where we come in, ensuring continuity.

Our technology combination provides a huge advantage—not just for SITEC customers but also for other machine operators who want to use our solution. Especially in economically challenging times, every opportunity to save costs, increase efficiency, and ultimately reduce energy expenses makes a difference.

Many listeners are surely interested in how this project is being implemented and what technologies and solutions are being used. We’ll talk more about SIINEOS in a moment, but first, I’d like to stay with the customer use cases. Jens, what was your goal? What specific challenges do your customers face that led to these use cases? Do you have a concrete example?

Jens

Yes, it’s primarily about keeping an eye on production and detecting anomalies early. A classic example is the shopfloor meeting at the end of a shift. Traditionally, this is still done manually: there’s a shift log or similar documentation, often handwritten. Some companies already have higher-level systems that filter and capture certain data, but they often lack the ability to derive immediate actions from it.

For instance, maintenance could be informed in a targeted way to address the three most frequent disruptions from the last shift or the main causes of rejects right away. Our goal was to establish a standard for all our machines—and we achieved that with connACT. We’ve now been delivering it as a standard feature with every machine for two years.

Our customers quickly recognized the added value. Thanks to its easy operation and fast access to relevant information, interest has grown in using the system for other machines as well.

Just to clarify: connACT is the platform that SITEC developed to implement these use cases and services. I’ll include the link in the show notes—feel free to check it out! We’ll go into more detail about it in a moment.

Jens, are you allowed to name a specific customer? That’s often a question of approval—can you reveal which customer case we’re talking about here?

Jens

Our reference and pilot customer is Webasto in Neubrandenburg. We have a close partnership, and there is a strong affinity for digitalization there. It was a great experience to implement these projects together with their team.

Webasto in Neubrandenburg—that’s over 25 million heating systems produced for various drive types. So I assume they’re heavily focused on the automotive sector, right?

Jens

Exactly, primarily automotive. Webasto manufactures heating systems for both fossil-fuel and electric vehicles and is one of the key players in e-mobility.

Fantastic! You mentioned that these are production use cases running directly on the shop floor at Webasto. So your machines are installed there?

Jens

That’s right. Webasto has been an important customer for us for 15 years, and we’ve implemented many process developments together during that time. The close collaboration and trust allow us to roll out pilot projects there as well.

With support from in.hub, we were now able to connect third-party machines for the first time. This opens up entirely new possibilities that we didn’t have before. Until now, we were limited in communication with other control systems due to interface restrictions. Thanks to in.hub’s gateways, we can now overcome these limitations.

I see. So, Webasto is implementing these use cases on the shop floor, for example, to detect NIO parts. Are there other use cases that are particularly relevant for Webasto? I’m especially interested in practical applications—maybe you can provide concrete examples or dive deeper into the data layer. Is there something we can explore in more detail?

Jens

Yes, in fact, we analyze the real-time process down to the cycle times of the PLC. We take a close look at when anomalies occur in the system and can identify cascading failures.

For example, in a laser system, it’s often not just a single error that occurs—it usually triggers follow-up issues. With our transparent data visualization, Webasto’s maintenance team can take targeted action to resolve the issue and reduce failure frequency in the next shift.

[15:46]Challenges, potentials and status quo – This is what the use case looks like in practice

You already mentioned interface management—that sounds like a technical challenge. What was the biggest difficulty? Was it primarily about accessing the different data sources? What was the biggest challenge for Webasto and your team?

Jens

One of the biggest challenges is the limited availability of resources. We have high-level developers who can program all interfaces for our systems and machines—a service we also offer to our customers. But we need to use these resources efficiently.

That’s why we looked for a solution to integrate third-party machines with different control systems—whether Siemens, Beckhoff, or others—more easily. The key was to ensure that this responsibility didn’t fall solely on our software developers but was distributed across multiple roles.

We integrated this into our service department so that our service technicians can operate the system independently. To achieve this, we needed a configurable or low-code approach. This is where SIINEOS offers a significant advantage with its open architecture. For example, we use Node-RED as a low-code interface, where we provide pre-configured building blocks and templates for our service team. These just need to be filled in—depending on the control system being used. The required variables are entered and processed in a way that our system can directly interpret.

This means that no additional adjustments are needed in the actual connACT system. Everything is pre-configured, and the service technician only needs to set up the interface accordingly. Thanks to clear documentation and a structured process, we can integrate even complex systems within just a few hours.

I see! Before we dive into connACT, the platform, and SIINEOS, I have one more question that I often hear from our listeners: Why do other projects fail? What are the common pitfalls to watch out for?

You just talked about interface management—are there any key insights from your projects where you think, “If we had known this earlier, we could have been faster”? Or are there things that should definitely be considered when implementing such projects?

Jens

Data alone is not enough—behind it are processes, and those processes need to be understood. Only when I can trace back which processes generate the data can I interpret them meaningfully and analyze them correctly in a system like connACT.

A control system generates massive amounts of data today—just as it did ten years ago.

You mean things like cutting parameters from the laser welding process, for example?

Jens

Exactly! But not just for laser processing—there’s also a flood of data in standard automation systems, handling processes, or axis systems. The key is to categorize, visualize, and make them usable for the customer.

Christian, do you see similar challenges in other projects? Are there additional best practices or pitfalls that you would add?

Christian

Yes, Jens is absolutely right. In the end, it’s about turning raw data into meaningful information—moving from Big Data to Smart Data. This could take the form of notifications, dashboards, or other types of analysis.

A crucial best practice is to actively involve the employees who work with these processes daily. Service technicians and process experts know the workflows inside out—the challenge is to digitize these processes and present relevant information in an understandable way.

Key metrics like OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), quality, output, and maintenance data must be visualized in a way that makes them intuitively usable. At in.hub, we often talk about retrofit, meaning the digital upgrade of existing machines. But just as important is getting employees on board. There are digital natives, but also a generation that is less digitally inclined. The critical factor is real, tangible benefits—even the best system will fail if it isn’t used.

Pragmatism plays a big role here. The goal is not to immediately capture every single one of the five million variables from the control system. What’s more important is starting with the most relevant data—often, just a few key values are enough to generate the greatest impact. These can then be refined over time.

With an experienced partner like SITEC, who knows exactly which data is crucial, this process can be made highly efficient. And when customers can make their own adjustments, adoption increases.

As Jens mentioned earlier, connACT is delivered as a standard feature with SITEC machines. Once customers see how simple and valuable the solution is, they are much more willing to actively use it—and that’s essential.

That leads me to a follow-up question: What types of data are we actually talking about here? Jens, can you give some practical examples? Many listeners are implementing or planning similar projects. Are we dealing with real-time data? Which data types are relevant? Are we talking about cutting parameters or other values? Maybe you even have examples from your own production environment.

Jens

In our own production, we have equipped all systems with connACT—both our own machines and third-party systems, including some from competitors. This allows us to cover a broad spectrum of data.

The starting point depends on the customer’s requirements. Most of the time, we begin with operational data, meaning the fundamental operating states of a machine. This involves recording when a system is running or when a malfunction occurs. We also capture error messages, ideally with error codes and corresponding descriptions. This gives customers a quick overview of the main issues with their machines. The next step is process data, which provides deeper insights into production processes. This can start simply—with a distinction between IO (in order) and NIO (reject) parts. From there, we move on to detailed process values, which we visualize as measurement curves or trend analyses.

Another important area is resource tracking. Christian mentioned it earlier—energy savings is a big topic. Depending on the installed hardware, we record electrical energy consumption, compressed air usage, or technical gases. Ultimately, we integrate all relevant data that is associated with the system and accessible.

You are absolute process experts—you know your machines inside and out. Over the years, you’ve surely analyzed many failures and know exactly which spare parts need to be reordered regularly. This knowledge can be leveraged perfectly to make data-driven decisions, provide recommendations, or establish monitoring for previously untracked data. In terms of processes, you are true specialists!

Then you decided to bring in in.hub. You had already worked with them in the past, as Christian mentioned. What were your requirements? Why did you choose in.hub? What was important to you?

Jens

It was a perfect fit—right from the start. Our requirements weren’t fully defined at first, but we knew we needed a solution to connect third-party machines. We had already looked at various systems, but what mattered most to us was finding a partner, not just a supplier.

We wanted a collaboration at eye level with someone who could provide solutions tailored to our exact needs. in.hub had the right portfolio, and their gateways met the precise requirements of our service team. The system is easy to configure, intuitive to use, and allows us to extract the first data points from a machine with minimal effort—even before our connACT system is fully operational. The onboarding process is quick and simple.

Within just a few minutes, we can get an initial impression of the machine data, provided we know which variables are relevant. During our discussions, it quickly became clear that this solution was a perfect fit for us. So we said, “Let’s build this together!”

[24:57]Solutions, offerings and services – A look at the technologies used

You have your own system—I’ll call it an IoT platform as a buzzword. That’s your service platform, connACT—written as “conn” and then “ACT” in uppercase, correct? It’s designed to implement use cases together with customers.

What exactly do you source from in.hub? You already mentioned the gateways, but does this also include the operating system, or does their solution only extend up to the gateways?

Jens

Exactly, we source the gateways from in.hub—not just a single type, but potentially various models, depending on our customers’ needs.

This applies both to machines and systems whose data we want to capture, as well as to energy monitoring and control. in.hub offers different products that fit perfectly into our system and integrate seamlessly with our connACT platform.

In short: We use in.hub gateways to connect the field and processes to our connACT platform and our ecosystem.

Christian, a direct follow-up on that: This is all about integrating data and making it available within this system. How does your SIINEOS operating system complement this setup?

Christian

As Jens just mentioned, SITEC uses a wide range of devices—from gateways and energy monitoring modules to vibration monitoring for predictive maintenance. The common denominator is SIINEOS as the operating system, which we specifically developed for condition monitoring and continuously improve.

Our goal is to make the operation of complex IoT devices as simple and fast as possible—similar to a smartphone. As soon as a physical connection is established via Ethernet, analog or digital signals, Modbus, or other interfaces, SIINEOS automatically handles the parameterization. This process takes just a few seconds: signals are detected, values are read, and threshold values can even be monitored immediately. This means that users don’t have to set up a dashboard first—they see live data right away and can track trends instantly. This is particularly helpful for service technicians, who, like during “open-heart surgery,” can immediately check if everything is connected correctly and signals are being transmitted properly.

With modular applications that function like smartphone apps, SIINEOS offers various options for direct usage. SITEC, for example, uses Node-RED, which can be installed as an app on SIINEOS—just download and use it without writing a single line of code. The refined data can then be seamlessly connected to connACT. Looking ahead, we’re considering simplifying this process even further. There may be a connACT app in the future that covers everything service technicians need—without requiring them to work with Node-RED.
Another advantage: Even customers who don’t yet use SITEC machines but have SIINEOS running on other equipment can become aware of connACT. They immediately see the added value of the platform and how seamlessly the system integrates. That’s the key benefit of our collaboration: make it. simple. plug & play. And this is exactly where we and SITEC complement each other perfectly.

That’s exciting! With your modules and software libraries, you can implement virtually any use case—not only those mentioned by SITEC, but also others like vibration monitoring, filter monitoring, or acoustic monitoring. Essentially, anything that falls into the category of condition monitoring.

And looking ahead, is there a possibility of linking these solutions with an app store, where customers can access ready-made applications?

Christian

Exactly! You can see us as the digital foundation on the shop floor, creating the connection to IT. And this usually happens through apps or generic low-code tools like Node-RED. The possibilities are very diverse.

Yes, exciting! About two weeks ago, I conducted a survey on this topic. The question was: How relevant are IoT marketplaces for technology procurement? The results were interesting: 22% said it’s just hype, 38% found the topic quite interesting, and 27% considered it highly relevant for their business. Of course, this isn’t a representative market study—you would need partners like IoT Analytics for that. But it shows that the topic is emerging. Even though it still sounds like hype at the moment, it could become a relevant channel for technology procurement in the future. I’m curious to see where this is headed!

Christian

It’s simply the natural progression. I often say this in my presentations: No one buys an iPhone or an Android smartphone just for its precise GPS coordinates. No, everyone uses Google Maps or Apple Maps.

Exactly, in the end, it’s always about why you should use a technology. What is my app, what is my specific need? The need, as you mentioned, is the NIO parts or specific customer cases like Webasto. But many other companies come with similar requirements, where there is a real business case behind it.

Christian

Exactly.

Have you already conducted a return-on-investment calculation for this? I know it’s difficult because it depends on the individual use cases. But have you made any assumptions with Webasto? Have they calculated their investment to determine, for example, the savings in time and costs?

Jens

We’re not quite there yet, but we have already identified the key points where we need to collect data to conduct an ROI analysis. Especially in energy monitoring, the goal is to make the operating costs of a system transparent. There is an investment in the digitalization solution we offer, but it is often followed by measures the customer needs to take. And these also need to be economically assessed: Is it even worth implementing these measures? Or are they so expensive that it makes more sense to stick with the status quo and optimize in other areas instead?

This is exactly what we want to offer our customers. We don’t just leave them alone after implementing the digitalization solution—we also support them in the subsequent processes. For us, connACT means not only connecting but also taking action. We bring our expertise from plant engineering and series production directly into the customer’s entire shop floor. If there are challenges, we don’t just assist with digitalization but also support them in all other relevant areas.

Yes, absolutely! I think it’s extremely important that you position yourselves as partners for your customers. You don’t just bring expertise in your own systems but also in third-party equipment and recurring use cases that create real value. At the same time, your customers are the true experts when it comes to their own processes. The operators on the production line know exactly when a fault occurs or when a failure is imminent.

Coming together to act as partners offers enormous potential. This close collaboration with customers helps unlock valuable synergies. And it’s really exciting to see that you are working with companies like Webasto—as well as many others that we’re not naming today, but with whom you are collaborating on a whole new level as partners.

Christian

In the end, anyone can make a simple calculation when it comes to digitalizing machines. The hourly rate for a machine may ideally be around 60, 70, or 80 euros—but for highly automated production lines or high-tech systems, this can quickly reach the lower three-digit range.

If you then consider how many hours you can save through digitalization or how many unplanned downtimes can be avoided, you quickly arrive at a productivity gain of several weeks per year. For some companies, a use case pays off within just a few weeks; for most, the ROI is typically between six months and, at most, a year. That’s the great thing about digitalization in manufacturing: While it’s difficult to quantify a clear business case for something like a document management system, in production, you can calculate exactly what a machine hour costs and how much can be saved by avoiding downtime. The revenues and costs align very directly here—and that makes it so tangible.

Absolutely! I could probably talk with you about this for hours. If you’re listening and find this topic exciting or are working on similar use cases, feel free to reach out directly to Christian and Jens. I’ll include their LinkedIn profiles and other contact details in the show notes.

Jens, can people actually visit you? You have your own production facility—do you have some kind of showcase factory where people can experience this live?

Jens

Yes, exactly! The collaboration with in.hub can be experienced directly at our site. We have a connACT demonstration factory where the entire system is showcased in a practical way. Additionally, we’ll be at the Maintenance trade fair in Dortmund on February 19 and 20. Anyone interested is warmly invited to visit us there! We also have some extra tickets available, which we’d be happy to provide. So just reach out—I’d love to meet you!

Great! If you’re listening to this episode before February 19, 2025, take the opportunity to visit the trade fair. Otherwise, take Jens up on his invitation and set up a meeting to see the solutions on-site. I think there’s a lot to gain from these best practices. Christian, you and in.hub have already implemented many exciting projects. Exchanging experiences with you is certainly valuable as well—you’re also present in our network, so if any questions come up, just reach out!

And finally, Jens—I know I’ve asked you something similar before, but if you were to implement this project again, is there anything you would do differently? Anything that should be particularly considered?

Jens

Start with a low entry barrier—don’t be too ambitious, but take a pragmatic approach following the 80-20 principle. Especially with digitalization projects, you can achieve significant production optimization with relatively little effort.

Great point! Maybe also start with a partner, pick a specific use case, think it through, and just get started. Following the 80-20 approach—starting small but implementing effectively. Thank you both for your time today! I found this conversation really exciting, and I think the case studies clearly illustrated the challenges and how you tackle them. In particular, the importance of data integration—whether through in.hub’s gateways or the SIINEOS modules—became very clear. This enables companies to leverage existing software modules and libraries instead of starting from scratch—a huge advantage for seamless integration.

If you’re interested, you should definitely check out connACT, SITEC’s solution. There’s also plenty of additional information on in.hub’s website. I’ll include all the relevant links in the show notes.

Thank you both for joining us today! I’ll give you the last word.

Christian

The most important thing is to just get started! This collaboration shows that you can achieve a lot with minimal effort. Digitalization doesn’t just create value—it can also be a lot of fun. I highly recommend it—take a look at what we’ve built together with SITEC. Even if your machine park is outside of SITEC, there’s a lot of potential and valuable insights to gain.

Jens

I can only agree: just get started! If you have any questions or face challenges, feel free to reach out to Christian or me. Together, we’ll find the right solution for your shop floor.

Thank you very much! And before I forget—Jens, you’re invited to join our Best Practice Community! This is a monthly meetup where users share their experiences and exchange insights. The group consists of industry professionals who, like you, are passionate about driving digitalization and shaping the market. If you’re interested, just let me know!

Jens

Thank you very much!

Christian

It’s definitely worth it!

All right, thanks again, and have a great rest of the week!

Christian

Thanks, you too! Bye!

Jens

Thanks, bye!