Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on industry 4.0 solutions. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we want to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising industrial asset monitoring startups.
Heat Map: 5 Top Industrial Asset Monitoring Startups
Using our StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally, we looked at innovation in the field of industry 4.0. For this research, we identified 638 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and technology among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing innovative industrial asset monitoring solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 638 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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ElastiSense – Displacement Sensors
All types of moving machinery utilize displacement sensors to measure positional changes, vibrations, expansions, and inclinations. The sensors convert these measurements into electrical and magnetic signals to analyze the data with cloud-based software applications. Displacement sensors, which usually use linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs), potentiometers, or linear encoders, find useful applications in industrial automation, aerospace, hydraulics, and power turbines, among others.
Dutch startup ElastiSense is a spin-off of LEAP Technology and specializes in the integration of its patent-pending Electroactive Polymer (EAP) sensors, specifically designed for industrial automation applications. EAP sensors are able to tolerate the off-axis shear motion of a machine as the core sensing element is made of rubber, making it highly stretchable. The ElastiSense Monitoring Systems, which comprise of an industry-standard controller and multiple EAP sensors, receive real-time synchronized data, analyze it, and then send this information to a machine controller, operator, or a supervisory controller.
Sensoteq – Plant Maintenance & Efficiency
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, factories were looking for economically feasible solutions for equipment monitoring. Low productivity rates and gaps in information hinder many companies from running efficient factories. Advanced Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms enable manufacturers to collect data from equipment such as temperature, humidity, and pressure to detect any irregular patterns and keep machinery operating efficiently.
Based out of the UK, Sensoteq is a startup that designs and manufactures bespoke low-power wireless sensors for remote machine health monitoring. The startup’s Plant Maintenance Efficiency System (PMES) monitors key parameters such as vibration and temperature of critical points throughout a factory. The system relays the data, in real-time, to the startup’s web-based interface and delivers warnings about faulty equipment. The system enables manufacturers to predict machine failures such as bearing defects, mechanical and structural loosening, imbalance, and misalignment in compressors, motors, and robots.
3d Signals – Asset Performance Monitoring
In large production plants, where multiple types of machinery operate simultaneously, it is essential to monitor both factory-level and equipment-level data. Startups are working on solutions to equip entire factories with IoT sensors and network systems, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. These collate vast amounts of data to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and enable factory-level optimization.
Israeli startup 3d Signals enables manufacturing and production companies to digitize their machines and allow for real-time monitoring. The startup’s offerings generate real-time visibility and actionable insights using a range of advanced, non-invasive sensors as well as a cloud-based asset performance monitoring platform. The startup’s software, dView, provides visibility into every machine while its hardware, dEdge, is a data acquisition system that integrates data from vibration, current, or acoustic sensors, among other sensors.
FitMech – Downtime Monitoring
One of the main goals of installing asset monitoring systems is to enable predictive maintenance. Machine downtime affects overall productivity and also causes challenges for sales and operations planning (S&OP) teams to achieve their targets. Therefore, tools that allow factory managers to track the performance of their machines and schedule data-driven maintenance and equipment replacement are vital.
FitMech is a Polish startup developing industrial production monitoring systems designed for easy self-deployment. FitMech provides sensors and software equipped with machine intelligence to offer a low-cost monthly subscription model for clients. Their cloud-based processing solution provides factory managers with insights about processes and their effectiveness, downtime management solutions, as well as AI-enabled classification and detection of production cycles.
KEYPROD – AI-Based Vibration Monitoring
One reason to closely monitor machinery is to find ways to improve its individual output or to make plans for raising overall, long-term production levels. AI-powered algorithms analyze data from vibration sensors placed on machines to identify anomalous behavior and send relevant alerts for taking further action. Vibration sensors track acceleration, displacement, or the strain borne by machinery. This allows companies to dynamically view and make decisions pertaining to machinery and equipment.
French startup KEYPROD utilizes advanced industrial IoT (IIoT) devices to collect data for analysis for its eponymous software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. KEYPROD is a real-time machine monitoring, production tracking, and manufacturing data collection system with customizable reports and charts. This solution enables manufacturers to view information related to production processes, OEE, material waste, downtime, and more. KEYPROD also offers a manufacturing execution system (MES) to track workflow and interact with existing enterprise resource productivity (ERP) systems.
What About The Other 633 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence to enable you to achieve your goals faster. The 5 industrial asset monitoring solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 638 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
