ZEISS predictive service

Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH

Connecting State-of-the-Art Microscopy Technology

Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH is a global leader in microscope manufacturing, offering devices such as light, electron, ion beam, and X-ray microscopes, enhanced with advanced image processing and documentation software.

In collaboration with Zeiss, we developed a remote service portal to enhance service and support.

Built on the IoT platform ThingWorx, the portal provides on-demand remote access to log files, collects device parameters, and enables their analysis and interpretation across various systems and microscope types in Zeiss research facilities and laboratories worldwide.

Increasing customer satisfaction

IoT Remote Service Platform for Efficient Process Optimization

Customer satisfaction is a key success factor for modern service organizations, requiring fast response times, reliable systems, and robust security. Leveraging the IoT platform ThingWorx, doubleSlash developed a web interface that provides an instant overview of microscope system conditions.

With this software, support and service technicians can remotely access machines worldwide via a web-based interface, enabling them to identify, analyze, and resolve anomalies directly. The ability to promptly import updates or download log files enhances access to information, facilitating faster troubleshooting and maintenance.

Automation and networking of these workflows contributes significantly to reducing service costs and site visits, allowing service technicians to work even more efficiently leaving more time for other tasks. A higher level of customer satisfaction is achieved thanks to simpler and faster support, quick maintenance, individually tailored consulting services, or early fault detection before the customer is even affected.

We chose doubleSlash as our integration partner because they had experience with both Axeda and ThingWorx. doubleSlash guided us through the project in a structured way, enabling us to network 450 systems in just one year. That was pretty impressive. – Dr. Christian Schwindling, Head of Remote Services & IT Support, Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH

Our strategy

Predictive Maintenance: The Key to Eliminating Downtime

„ZEISS Predictive Service“ is committed to minimising the risk of unplanned downtime and optimising maintenance intervals and service technician deployment in the long term. This goal can only be achieved in several small steps. We started by assessing the current state with Zeiss so that it could be evaluated strategically and in terms of business value.

The following questions were asked:

Which machines and machine components generate the greatest service effort?
Which data is already being collected?
What’s the quality of the data?
Which data ideally needs to be collected in order to predict failures ahead of time?

The questions were answered in close consultation with the relevant experts.

To evaluate data quality, doubleSlash utilized a Python software stack with Pandas for analyzing tabular data and Psycopg2 for connecting to a PostgreSQL database. A Data Science Virtual Machine on Microsoft Azure served as the analysis environment, enabling interactive data exploration and detailed visualization of results.

Insights from the data analysis are already being applied to enhance the platform. With planned improvements, the quality of the collected data will continue to increase, paving the way for achieving predictive maintenance in the project's next stages.

Seamless Networking for Faster Troubleshooting, Easier Maintenance, and Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

The services and technologies are collaboratively defined and planned within a joint project team. Using the agile Scrum methodology, the development team maintains the flexibility to quickly adapt to new insights. An individual Remote Service Portal was created to deliver enhanced transparency. This portal benefits not only the service organization but also departments like sales, after-sales, and R&D by providing valuable new insights. Customers also enjoy significantly improved service quality and personalized consulting tailored to their specific needs.

Our benefits

Our Services

Agile project management
IoT backend development
testing
IoT architecture
front-end development
Agile software development
Design and functionality

Our tools

Technologies Used

ThingWorx
Continuous Integration with Jenkins Build Pipeline
.NET
Docker
Java
Microsoft Azure
Jupyter Notebooks
ThingWorx extensions
Python software stack (e.g. Pandas, psycopg2)

get in touch with us

Carl Zeiss