Offset Printing

Koenig & Bauer Coding Receives Steinbeis Foundation Transfer Prize

Thursday 10. October 2019 - Award for Koenig & Bauers artificial intelligence: For the project Kyana - predictive maintenance with a digital twin the subsidiary Coding received the Steinbeis Foundations transfer prize - the Löhn Prize - on 27 September 2019. The award has been presented since 2004 for outstanding projects and achievements in entrepreneurial knowledge and technology transfer.

The award ceremony took place as part of the Steinbeis Day, the annual network event of the Steinbeis Group. The network creates a platform for business start-ups and projects. Around 6,000 experts implement projects in research, development, consulting and qualification in an entrepreneurial and practical manner.
The Löhn Prize honoured Koenig & Bauer Coding GmbH (Würzburg) and the Steinbeis Design and Systems Research Centre (Würzburg) with one of a total of four trophies. “The trusting cooperation between the two project partners has resulted in a unique pioneering achievement,” says Oliver Volland, Managing Director of Koenig & Bauer Coding GmbH. The fusion of artificial intelligence, digitally enhanced imaging and innovative interaction models allows innovative product enhancements that can be of great benefit in the areas of training, monitoring and maintenance. Continuously self-checking systems reduce the number of service calls on site, ensure higher availability and can thus be operated much more economically.
Together with Koenig & Bauer Coding GmbH, the Steinbeis Design and Systems Research Centre developed the “Kyana” digital extension for the alphaJET marking system. The continuous inkjet printers allow products with variable data to be coded directly on the production line at maximum speed and precision.
Kyana is an AI-based software solution that communicates via voice control and uses augmented reality to illustrate and interactively communicate the complex inner workings of the printing system. As an intelligent assistant, Kyana will be responsible for a wide range of tasks in the future. In addition to training and operation, she independently explains maintenance processes and service procedures and determines wear and material consumption at an early stage. At the same time, the system learns to analyze all external influences over the duration of its use. In this way, it is to ensure permanently high print quality and maximum availability on the basis of the knowledge gained.
Augmented reality helps Kyana maintain its spatial presence. The expanded visual perception allows a deeper understanding of the hardware and its functionality. The digital overlays allow an exact view inside the printer and, in combination with the voice output, ensure simple maintenance or repairs. In addition, the AI extension also allows the integration of “virtual hands”. In the case of supportive remote maintenance, this makes it possible to work on a digital twin. This means that possible faults can be rectified more quickly and time-consuming travel by service technicians can be avoided.
“Kyana shows the immense opportunities of integrated digitalization,” says Sandra Wagner, head of sales and marketing at Koenig & Bauer Coding. Koenig & Bauer Coding GmbH thus offers its customers an effective solution for the challenges of industry 4.0. It goes far beyond the previously known applications of IoT (Internet of Things), especially in the B2B sector.
Around 450 guests from Germany and abroad attended the Steinbeis Foundation’s transfer award ceremony in Stuttgart. The awards in honour of the former chairman of the board of the foundation and today’s honorary curator, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Johann Löhn, was awarded for the 16th time this year.