Elevator Pitch
Node-RED is an environment for low-coders, but also for professional software developers. Examples can be experienced in the low-code model factory. Node-RED was used to develop smaller systems, but also to develop complex systems for order control, product configuration and goods carrier location.
Description
The German textile and clothing industry is one of the largest sectors in Germany, with around 1,400 companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a significant portion of the industry. The textile industry is characterized by continuous and efficient processes with high throughput rates. The trend in recent years has been towards customer-specific products in small batch sizes with ever-shorter lifecycles, as well as a shift in the product portfolio towards technical textiles. German companies in the textile industry and textile machinery sector aim to follow this trend but often find their internal IT infrastructure insufficiently equipped. Increasingly, resources are being consolidated to address digitalization tasks. IT administration is being expanded, and in some cases, IT specialists are being hired for production. However, this is rarely the case due to the shortage of skilled workers. Typically, textile SMEs have to tackle digitalization tasks with non-IT professionals. Traditional text-based programming languages are often too complex and difficult for non-IT professionals to learn. Low-code programming environments like Node-RED can provide a solution.
A low-code model factory based on Node-RED has been established at the Saxon Textile Research Institute in Chemnitz, Germany. The Saxon Textile Research Institute is a market-oriented nonprofit research institution and an affiliated institute of the Chemnitz University of Technology. With around 170 employees, the institute conducts research on technical textiles as well as digitalization and automation solutions for the textile industry. Textiles are extensively tested and certified in their laboratories. For approximately 7 years, the institute has been building the “Textile Factory of the Future” research and experimentation field within various research projects focused on Industry 4.0. The low-code model factory was part of this initiative. Through virtual tours and various videos, visitors can gain an impression of the research and experimentation field.
In the low-code model factory of the research and experimentation field, textile SMEs can experience low-code applications live within different labtours and receive training in low-code programming through the STFI Academy. Node-RED is used within the model factory as middleware for system integration in the production of the model factory. It serves as a rules engine with alarm functions for production-critical states and acts as a central tool for retrofitting and IoT applications. Node-RED was also used to create a mobile dashboard for machines with just a few clicks. Furthermore, systems for process declaration input (such as setup, cleaning, repair) has been implemented to increase transparency on machine states in production. Node-RED can be programmed both graphically and textually, providing an environment for professional software developers to design comprehensive applications as well. With over 5,400 base modules available, developers can save time and focus on complex functions. In the STFI model factory, systems for machine-level job control, product configuration, tracking and tracing, and location-based goods carrier management have been developed in the field of professional software development. Further information about our model factory can be found in the FlowFuse customer story.