Sandvik Coromant and Microsoft Digitally Connect Production Chain
The venture has resulted in the creation of Sandvik Coromant’s CoroPlus, which connects people, machines, tools and data on a single platform to drive customers’ decision making. It can also adjust equipment, notify technicians about maintenance requirements, and warn managers about potential problems.
Posted: April 23, 2020
Sandvik Coromant has embarked on a venture with Microsoft to drive the development and digitalization of the manufacturing industry. Combining Sandvik Coromant’s expertise in machining with technical solutions from Microsoft, the collaboration will seek to link up parts of the production chain to create solutions for the next generation of manufacturing.
The contract also includes an acceleration of the internal digitalization network for Sandvik Coromant.
Sandvik Coromant’s CoroPlus connects people, machines, tools and data on a single platform to offer the company’s customers a better basis for decision making; it also provides an overview of the various developments in the manufacturing process, which can create cost savings by reducing machine downtimes, for example. Developed in part with Microsoft, the digital product is based on Azure IoT Suite, Cortana Intelligence Suite and Dynamics 365 for Field Service.
“We see this collaboration with Microsoft as key to the success of our digital strategy,” says Nadine Crauwels, president of Sandvik Coromant. “We have a historic relationship with them and look forward to continuing our journey, creating value by working together to develop and implement solutions for the manufacturing industry to guarantee efficiency, sustainability and growth. This unique partnership represents a new way for our companies to work together more closely to develop our competence.”
A distinctive aspect of Sandvik Coromant’s CoroPlus is that data is gathered at machine level to adjust equipment, notify technicians about maintenance requirements and warn managers about potential problems. Data is also gathered at tool level, which means that the customer’s industrial tool becomes “smart” and can be adapted and adjusted at any time for efficient use and to prevent production stoppages.
The partnership with Microsoft adopts an integrated approach to digitizing the data, expertise and experience used on a daily basis by Sandvik Coromant to guide their customers, and will serve as an additional tool to facilitate streamlining of production.
“Sandvik Coromant is a world leader in machining and has a track record of driving development in the industrial sector both in Sweden and internationally. It is incredibly inspiring that they have chosen to take the next step of the journey with us, and this is a really striking example of how digitalization can create new opportunities for the company to develop and become even better at what it does,” states Hélène Barnekow, CEO of Microsoft Sweden.
The new joint venture between Sandvik Coromant and Microsoft gets under way in the first quarter of 2020 and will involve operations both in Sweden and abroad.
