Orkel turns machine data into value with Clarify

The goal: making industrial and agricultural machine data a useful tool for farmers, mechanics and product developers

Orkel manufactures and delivers agricultural and industrial compactors around the globe from their headquarters in Fannrem, Norway. Orkel compactors help farmers get more out of their crops to produce healthy and sustainable food, as well as helping industrial companies handle bulk materials and waste more efficiently.

Every compactor generate valuable data that could be useful for both Orkel as well as their end customers, and together we set out to explore:

• How can data from the machines be used to improve manufacturing and life time maintenance?
• How can data from the machines be used to innovate and give Orkel customers new value? 

"We have developed industrial and agricultural compactors for 30 years. With ever more data being generated by our machines, Clarify helps us turn that data into value for product development, maintenance and for our end customers around the globe".  
Gjermund Kambestad, Innovation Manager, Orkel AS

The Challenge: making continuously streaming data from machines worldwide available and useful for a wide variety of users

Every machine has an industrial control system onboard, generating data about the operation and health of the machine, as well as quality measurements of the compacted material. Data from onboard systems has even more value when combined with other relevant data from internal systems, as well as open APIs such as onsite weather observations.

But as in many industrial cases, data exists in silos (not the farming kind) and is not easily available for usage. The core challenge was making data available and useful for Orkel internally as well as for their end customers.

The solution: Integrating machine and process data with Clarify and using the Clarify API to power new Orkel data products.

Clarify connects directly to the Epec Globe control system onboard every machine. This can in turn be combined with other relevant data sources, such as weather observations and production systems through Clarify's open API.

This makes data from every machine easily available and explorable for Orkel through Clarify. Giving domain experts and teams one common interface to explore and collaborate around machine data. Data that can be organized in timelines for benchmarking, predictive maintenance, end user consulting and so on.

In addition the data gathered is made available through the Clarify API and SDK for other uses, enabling Orkel to build tailored apps and fleet management solutions for their end customers under their own brand. By doing so Orkel creates new touch points and business opportunities based on the data they already have. Delivering even more value to their customers and strengthening their competitive advantage through data driven innovation.

The effect: Easy access to data for problem solving, improvement and innovation

Easy access to all machine data, for both human and machine use

Fueling data driven innovation, predictive maintenance, product development, etc. through Clarify timelines and API.

New digital touch points and added value for Orkel customers

On top of the Clarify API, Orkel has built 2 mobile apps for Android and iOS. Giving specific end users designated apps for machine and fleet management. This adds software and new data driven services to Orkel's commercial offering.

Do you want to understand how Clarify might help your business or go through this case in more detail? Request a demo and we'll get back to you shortly.

*Pictures used in this article are owned by Orkel.