The Swiss Digital Economy Awards are presented by the industry association SwissICT, the Association of Swiss Internet Companies Simsa and the specialist publisher Netzmedien. The certificate honors outstanding achievements in information and communication technologies. At this year’s awards 19 finalists from a range of industrial and commercial businesses competed for the honors in four categories. Each finalist has been scrutinized by a panel of industry experts. The judging panel explained Sulzer’s nomination: “The innovative integration of IoT (Internet of Things) into an existing productive environment and, thus, the optimal use of IoT convinced the jury. An existing value chain has been equipped with IoT solutions and offers a high customer added value. The selected combination of technical, procedural and people quality is a shining example of a high maturity in the development process based on the chosen MVP (minimum viable product) approach up to the marketable product.”

The BLUE BOX™ by Sulzer is a set of smart software services leveraging the Internet of Things for asset optimization and real-time predictive maintenance. Using Sulzer’s Advanced Analytics Engine, BLUE BOX encompasses the capabilities of data capture, integration, visualization and big data analytics tied together for the explicit purpose of improving the reliability, efficiency and performance of physical assets. BLUE BOX also includes the concepts of condition monitoring, predictive forecasting and real-time actionable insights through remote process transparency. All data analysis components including data modeling, real-time predictive analytics and machine learning are performed in the Sulzer secure cloud platform. Further, this cloud-based solution simplifies regulatory compliance with a minimal IT footprint and was designed to be easily scalable.

In the oil and gas industry for example, operators face three main challenges. Reliability: Case studies revealed annual unplanned outage costs of up to USD 40 million. BLUE BOX strives for cutting these costs by 25%. Efficiency: Large pipeline Operators can pay annual energy bills of USD 50 million to more than USD 100 million. The ambition of BLUE BOX is to save 5% – recurring every year. Performance: Operators want to best leverage existing assets. As needed, BLUE BOX helps to free up throughput worth another USD 10 million annually for a typical pipeline company assuming a 5% capacity increase at an annual revenue of USD 200 million.

Marc Heggemann, Head of Group Commercial Digital Solutions, said: “What makes BLUE BOX unique is its minimal digital footprint and secure connection to process data that can be gathered without the need for additional hardware. Combined with our expertise in pump manufacturing and maintenance, this cutting-edge data analysis tool can deliver long-term improvements and cost reductions.”