thyssenkrupp Materials Services Spin-off Paves the Way for Industry 4.0

New thyssenkrupp Materials IoT GmbH offers customers an integrated solution for connecting production and digitalizing their value chains

thyssenkrupp AG

Sept. 18, 2019

3 min read

The company connects machinery and digitalizes processes for other companies
The IIoT platform toii optimizes, automates, and visualizes data flows in production
toii enables machinery from a wide variety of generations and manufacturers to be equipped with self-learning systems and smart data functions
Spin-off drives strategic "Materials as a Service" approach

Materials Services has now consolidated its know-how in the area of production process digitalization (Industrial Internet of Things and Industry 4.0) in thyssenkrupp Materials IoT GmbH, or tkMIoT for short, with the aim of supporting other companies in their transition to digitalized production. Materials Services is passing on its knowledge to customers, enabling them to benefit from the experience it has gained in the optimization and automation of production processes over the past 15 years.

Platform for digital transformation
One of the first core products is toii. The IIoT platform developed in-house creates the conditions for machines of different makes and generations to communicate with each other around the world. The aim is to automate processes along the entire supply chain and make them more efficient.

Newequipment Com Sites Newequipment com Files Toii Grafik C Thyssenkrupp

"With toii we have succeeded in bringing the digital transformation to the core area of our business: in the plant shops, machinery and warehouses," says Axel Berger, CEO of tkMIoT. "We now want to help other companies take this step too." Materials Services has successfully implemented toii at more than 30 sites since 2017. One plant has increased its annual production by almost 10,000 tons while other locations have reduced downtimes by up to ten percent.Digital transformation is essential "The pace of innovation has picked up significantly in recent years and processes are becoming increasingly digitalized and connected," says Axel Berger. "In this environment, it is becoming more and more important for companies to have competent partners they can rely on for innovative solutions to help secure competitive advantages and gain a foothold in Industry 4.0. We established tkMIoT to respond to this need." The step is also an important component in the further strategic development of Materials Services: With its "Materials as a Service" approach, the largest materials distributor & service provider in the western world is systematically expanding its service portfolio.Start-up meets tradition tkMIoT supports its customers throughout the transition to Industry 4.0: From advice on implementing IIoT technologies to support during the entire lifecycle of solutions and operation of the underlying platform. The company has an experienced team with extensive experience in industrial projects and combines a start-up culture with the traditions of a global group with more than 200 years of industrial experience.

About the Author

thyssenkrupp AG

With around 480 locations - including 271 warehouse sites - in over 40 countries, thyssenkrupp Materials Services is the biggest materials distributor and service provider in the western world. The broad service spectrum offered by the materials experts enables customers to concentrate more on their individual core businesses and spans two strategic areas: global materials distribution as a one-stop shop - from steel, tubes and pipes, nonferrous metals and specialty materials to plastics and raw materials - and tailored services in the areas of materials management and supply chain management. An extensive omnichannel architecture offers 250,000 customers worldwide cross-channel, round-the-clock access to more than 150,000 products and services. A highly efficient logistics system ensures that all requested services are smoothly integrated into customer production processes "just-in-time" or "just-in-sequence".