itelligence of Things competition prize money for best innovation projects

Press Release

Bielefeld / Ulm, December 7, 2018 – BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH and the maintenance service provider XERVON Instandhaltung GmbH are the main winners of the “itelligence of Things” competition organized by itelligence. Each will receive consulting services worth 50,000 euros. And the other finalists will receive support from itelligence in putting together a business case.

“In the course of our digitalization, we are becoming a lifecycle service partner for our customers,” explains Lars Engels, Executive Director at BHS Corrugated Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH from Upper Palatinate, global market leader in the development and production of machines for manufacturing corrugated cardboard. So-called corrugating rolls form the corrugations in the cardboard and therefore represent the centerpiece of any corrugated cardboard machine. The produced shape is maintained by gluing an additional paper layer onto the corrugated layer. Customers lease the rolls under a pay-per-use model. Maintenance work is carried out on the rolls at irregular intervals, depending on the amount of use. To allow this process to be adequately planned, a tracker allows both users and BHS Corrugated to see the roll’s current position in the maintenance cycle at any one time. To increase efficiency further, the on-site data automatically initiate processes, such as restocking, in a second step.

The second main winner of the digitalization competition is XERVON Instandhaltung GmbH, headquartered in Münchsmünster in Bavaria. The subsidiary of REMONDIS Maintenance & Services GmbH & Co. KG from Cologne, one of the leading service providers to the manufacturing industry, makes installations intelligent via machine learning. Through the analysis of sensor data, the operation of pumps in the cooling towers of energy suppliers can be optimized so as to minimize wear by reducing the frequency of them starting up. In sewage treatment plants, sensors test the waste water, helping to ensure that the purification is performed in the most ecological and economic manner possible. “Smart control processes allow us to initiate the most appropriate operation for the particular circumstances,” explains Volker Osdoba, Managing Director of XERVON Instandhaltung GmbH.

Norbert Rotter, CEO of itelligence AG, praises the IoT competence of the competition entrants and welcomes future collaboration with them: "Innovative companies are currently setting the course towards IoT and are networking machines, means of production and logistics systems to create cyber-physical systems. The consultants at itelligence know the effects of these innovations on the process chain and are developing smart IoT solutions through co-innovations.”

Digitalization pioneers point the way to innovation

The digitalization campaign “itelligence of Things” assists companies along their journey into digitalization. Through a competition, itelligence and NTT DATA offered consulting services worth 50,000 euros each to two main winners. “Many companies are still underestimating the dynamics and value of digitalization,” reports Hans Rauwolf, Head of Business Area Internet of Things (IoT) / Industry 4.0 at itelligence. “With the awards from this initiative, we seek to foster companies that gain competitive advantages through innovative steps.”

The award ceremony took place at the “Companies of the Future” conference on December 6, 2018 in Ulm. The award jury comprised Dr. Carsten H. Hahn, a professor in the Faculty of Management Science and Engineering at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, as well as digitalization experts Stefan Eller, Hans Rauwolf, Tobias Wahner, and Mark Albrecht (all from itelligence AG). Together with Dr. Rüdiger Eichin (Research Director at SAP), Professor Carsten H. Hahn is also a co-initiator of project “Action Learning and Founding (ActiF)” at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences.

The award competition was all about identifying scenarios for the Internet of Things (IoT) that would boost the efficiency of a business process. 25 applications were received by the deadline of October 31, ten of them very concrete ideas for IoT and/or Industry 4.0 projects. “We got to know a great variety of interesting projects in our digitalization competition,” reported Dr. Andreas Pauls, Head of SAP Business Unit Germany at itelligence. “We intend to pursue several exciting ideas emerging from the competition.”

Karlsruhe students become business angels

All the finalists can consider themselves winners of this competition. itelligence is offering them individual support in developing their business cases. Professor Carsten Hahn has invited them to an expert panel discussion on the campus of Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. Students doing an MA in Entrepreneurship have been called upon to contribute their expertise to help the innovations succeed, as the start-up expert announced: “With the IoT initiative, itelligence is enabling the participants to implement digitalization step by step. Following on from the discussion about numerous exciting project applications, I am pleased that both platform ideas and specific IoT digitization cases will receive support. I shall be glad to follow and assist itelligence’s further activities in this area with my students.”

itelligence

itelligence is one of the leading international full-service providers of solutions in support of SAP solutions, employing more than 7,500 highly qualified employees in 25 countries. As a frequently awarded SAP partner, itelligence is an SAP Hybris Gold partner and global value-added reseller. itelligence is an SAP-certified provider of cloud services and an SAP platinum partner. itelligence realizes complex projects in the SAP solution-based environment worldwide. The company’s services in support of SAP solutions range from consulting and licensing to application management services and hosting services to proprietary industry-specific solutions. In 2017, itelligence generated total sales of EUR 872.2 million.