“We were interested in finding an AI solution that would help us lower our scrap rate as much as possible,” says David de la Cruz, CIO at Condals Group. “DISA offered a complete solution with Monitizer. Other competing solutions only look at parts of the process in detail and only optimise certain parameters – mould alignment, temperature, porosity – whereas Monitizer | PRESCRIBE optimises the entire process to reduce scrap. That was exactly what we were looking for.”

At its two Spanish and Slovakian locations, Condals Group’s three DISAMATIC^® moulding lines produce over 43,000 tons of iron castings each year for customers in the automotive, railway and construction sectors. As an experienced digital innovator, Condals wanted more value from its process data and to supply staff with a single, trustworthy source of information.

Monitizer can support any foundry at any stage of its digital journey, whether they are novices or experts. Monitizer’s modular approach lets foundries start by collecting data, then move quickly to more sophisticated digital applications – gaining value at each step.

Using Monitizer | CIM with DISA machines, individual foundries can collect data, implement automatic process control and perfectly synchronise their DISA equipment – cutting out the need for manual intervention. Monitizer | DISCOVER collects data from any vendor’s equipment across multiple foundries, lines or sites, and presents it in real time to users who can monitor and analyse it, then use the learnings to inform improvements.

By November 2020, Condals had 12 systems connected to Monitizer | DISCOVER in Spain, with almost 2000 different data points available through over 40 different dashboards. In Slovakia, there’s currently two systems connected supplying over 500 data points to six dashboards.

“Now anyone can connect and see the data from anywhere,” said de la Cruz. “We fitted the NoriGates in Slovakia ourselves which was very easy. For less digitally experienced foundries, the NoriGates in particular help make implementation faster and the Monitizer products are straightforward to implement and work with. Considering the global situation, the whole installation went amazingly smoothly.”

With the data foundation in place, Monitizer | PRESCRIBE was the next step. Powered by DISA’s award-winning AI partner DataProphet, PRESCRIBE’s automated AI-driven analytics deliver dynamic, real-time process analysis across an entire production line to significantly reduce scrap and improve profitability.

The team extracted, transformed and loaded Condals’ historical production data into the Monitizer | PRESCRIBE platform. Over 700 parameters described the processes for the initial five test patterns.

“I can for sure recommend the complete Monitizer package,” said de la Cruz. “We have been able to unify all our data in dashboards and that’s a clear advantage. PRESCRIBE relates all the process parameters from the entire production line to one output – casting quality – and it’s a very easy solution to understand and use. The prescriptions are pointing us in the right direction, for example, in showing us which variables have the most influence on our process and so what our priorities should be.”

“With their willingness to innovate and great experience in foundry technology and data, Condals has been the perfect foundry partner for this project,” said Kasper Paw Madsen, Global Product Manager for Digital Solutions at DISA. “We’ve seen three sets of technical experts working together towards a common goal and I’m very excited to see the results for the next stage as we expand the number of patterns that Monitizer | PRESCRIBE is providing prescriptions for. Condals will soon have prescriptions for each pattern they use and the optimum settings for each process – with no new machines required.”