Explosion Power GmbH - Focused data analysis

„We have found a good data analytics partner in iRIX. We get fast, solution-oriented results and can benefit from the in-depth integration know-how.“

Peter Weber, Manager QM and Organisation, Explosion Power GmbH

The challenge
Explosion Power GmbH was founded in 2009 and is a medium-sized Swiss company specialising in the development and manufacture of devices for the innovative online cleaning of power plant boilers. Explosion Power's flagship product is its clever shock pulse process, which stands for maximum cleaning efficiency and has proven itself to date in more than 700 installations in over 20 countries worldwide. Thanks to the system's online interface, an increase in boiler efficiency is achieved by means of the collected data. At the first sign of reduced performance, the customer also receives an immediate message in his own customer portal.

While the manual data collection and analysis of the Shock Pulse system served its purpose in the beginning, the handling became more challenging as the number of clients and data grew. Also, the existing systems were not suitable for useful BI evaluations.

In order to counteract future growth in data volume, Explosion Power sought support at the beginning of 2020 and found a competent partner in iRIX, which has many years of experience in complex analytics topics.

Our solution

Another challenge was that due to the development of the new SPGr device series, the data was delivered in a proprietary format that made automatic processing impossible. Likewise, the data could not be used sufficiently for product development, as it could only be collected in the customer portal, but not evaluated on the basis of raw data.
From this starting point, iRIX developed a multi-level solution approach for Explosion Power:

The external data of the power plant boilers are now transmitted hourly in encrypted form via interface from the worldwide plants to the central computer centre. In a second step, the raw data is tested for consistency using the data integration tool Talend and written uniformly into the analytical in-memory database Exasol. Thanks to an additional built-in business logic, only relevant data is collected and inconsistent data is rejected. An analysis of the raw data is carried out with the visualisation tool Microsoft Power BI. In a further processing step, customer-relevant device data is prepared for the customer portal, which offers end customers access to their devices and data at any time.

The added value for the client

Thanks to the introduction of the new solution, Explosion Power GmbH benefits on several levels:

Many manual process steps are eliminated. The Exasol database is the right foundation for processing and collecting the continuously growing amount of data. In a next step, further data from various peripheral systems such as CRM and ERP platforms will now be integrated. This will provide the customer with reliable evaluations regarding the SPGr boiler efficiency. With the evaluation options of Microsoft Power BI, a reliable instrument has also been implemented to provide maximum support for customer support by means of data analysis, to drive product development forward and to make the right business decisions.
Thanks to the new customised system environment, Explosion Power GmbH can further improve its innovative shock pulse technology and help customers achieve longer operating times, higher plant availability and lower maintenance and operating costs. We are looking forward to supporting Explosion Power GmbH on its further journey and to mastering new challenges in the business environment together.