Industry News On The Metal Gears On Black Background27
Industry News On The Metal Gears On Black Background27
Industry News On The Metal Gears On Black Background27
Industry News On The Metal Gears On Black Background27
Industry News On The Metal Gears On Black Background27

Krohne and Samson introduce joint venture, product innovation

Oct. 17, 2019
Focus-On will be dedicated to the development, production and marketing of autonomous actuators for the process industry 4.0.

Krohne and Samson introduced the joint venture Focus-On Sept. 18. Focus-On is a newly founded company dedicated to the development, production and marketing of autonomous actuators for the process industry 4.0. Coinciding with the announcement of the partnership, the company also unveiled an innovation that unites valve and measuring technology with unique diagnostics and control functions in one device. This combination of process instrumentation and control marks the world's first intelligent process node specifically developed for the process industries, the partners say. 

Krohne and Samson have equal shares in Focus-On, which is registered in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. The basis for Focus-On is the cooperation between the two companies, which have been working together in various marketing projects and events worldwide for more than 25 years. The expansion into a strategic partnership in process instrumentation and the establishment of a joint venture was initiated by CEOs Dr. Andreas Widl, Samson, and Stephan Neuburger, Krohne. "In the age of digitization, leading innovations can only be achieved in cooperations, and here, two partners cooperate with full trust and at eye level," Widl says.

Neuburger adds, "We brought our ideas together and from this Focus-On emerged, which bundles our innovative approaches to decentralized control and predictive maintenance resulting in the intelligent process node as the first product."

Dr Thomas Steckenreiter, CTO Samson, explains the technological motivation for the development of the module, "With Focus-On, we are taking a decisive step towards the autonomous factory that can produce autonomous while also autonomously optimizing.”

Krohne CTO Dr. Attila Bilgic adds: “Developing the adaptive control function was only a first step, more important is the integration of diagnostic functions and artificial intelligence. Our autonomous actuator knows its current status, can predict future conditions, and it is capable of learning and can adapt to applications."

The intelligent process node combines three functions: sensor, actuator and control. The module measures the flow in a pipeline and regulates its valve function independently to achieve the specified set points. "We are sure that this product significantly reduces plant complexity. Other key benefits include better and more efficient control of resources and the ability to optimize a process through extensive diagnostics. Plant availability can be significantly increased,” Neuburger says. Due to the integrated measuring sensors for flow, temperature and pressure, the device can for example recognize and predict cavitation. Increased stress and the wear of the valve and the piping can be avoided or significantly reduced. Thus, plants can be operated uninterrupted and without standstill for longer periods.

Sales of the intelligent process node are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2020.