Robert Rae spoke to Print Connect’s Wayne Beckett at LOUPE USA to discuss GEW’s release of EOS. EOS represents GEW’s latest innovation in power and control, and is set to be the foundation around which the UV curing systems are built over the next 10-15 years.
Watch the video or read the transcript below:
Wayne Beckett (WB): Hi, this is Wayne from Inkish and we’re at LOUPE Americas here in Chicago. It’s day one. My first interview today is with Rob Rae. Rob, really good to see you, from GEW. 12 months since we last stood in front of the camera and had a chat.
Robert Rae (RR): Yes, it was.
WB: Obviously Barcelona was massive for you, as I think as we discussed then, very busy. I mean it was a massive stand and very busy. That was when you was introducing AeroLED2. And now we’re 12 months on, we’re in Chicago and another new product.
RR: Another new, another Labelexpo. Another LOUPE, another new product.
WB: Exactly. So tell us, EOS brand new to America or global?
RR: No, this is a global new product which will replace our RHINO and RLT power and control system which at GEW has been the power and the control behind our UV systems for the last 12 years.
WB: Right.
RR: And this is you know an entirely redesigned power and control platform which will take us forward for the next 10 to 15 years of production. So gradually over the next 12 months, most of our production will switch across from our RHINO systems to the new EOS system, with huge benefits for end users and OEM machine manufacturers who integrate our equipment.
WB: Yeah, because I mean obviously, end users are very important to you, but so are OEMs. I think we’ve discussed in the past that, you know, OEMs are a very big part of your market. So as a converter or as a PSP, what’s the advantages then of moving over to EOS?
RR: Well, all of the lamps remain effectively the same on our EOS platform. There’s no major changes to the specifications of those, but what does happen is EOS makes all of the lamps become intelligent. So, we’re putting computer chips inside the lamps for the first time, and those lamps are now serialised. They’re housing information about them, all of their telemetry, hour counters, the amount of times that the lamp has been turned on and off, the number of hours it’s run, how old the reflectors are. So there’s a huge increase in the telemetry information which will be available to end users to see, and some of the requests we’ve had over the years for being able to detect the hours on their UV lamps and the hours on their LED lamps, you know, becomes possible with the EOS system, as well as EOS being a huge improvement in the power supply technology, its reliability, its intelligence. So you know we’re really excited, you know, for end users to get hold of this product.
WB: So obviously the data for this then would feed into any OEM system. Is there an element of AI involved? I mean what type of information are you feeding back into your, let’s say your, ERP system. I mean it’s, does it, does it help with production data?
RR: Yeah I mean that depends on how the OEM integrates it. So one of the things we say about this new EOS platform, is we say Flexible Power, Intelligent Curing. And Flexible Power, what we mean by that is for OEMs there are so many more options than they ever had before with GEW to integrate our equipment. Whether they want to put the power supplies in their press, whether they want to control those power supplies entirely through software with no wires or anything anymore. They want to take the telemetry information back to their press so that they can offer more diagnostics to their customers. There’s a huge, you know, increase in the capability of the system to be able to do that. Equally we can supply almost exactly the same as what we’ve always supplied to our customers. They can, they can still have that as, you know, a cabinet provided by GEW or the cooling system, the fans, the HMI, you know, for controlling the system. They can have all of that, all the way down to just a power supply cable and a lamp.
WB: Right, okay.
RR: Which they can integrate and control themselves. So there’s really a big, you know, increase in the range of scope of supply that we’re able to deliver to an OEM and then the telemetry that they’re able to gain from that, you know, it depends on how they want to integrate it and how they build their machines. We’re making ourselves available, you know, to the whole market. Whereas before we were, we were closed off to market.
WB: Right. Okay. So that could help out with job costings and that kind of thing, I guess. Is that the sort of data that they’re reading back? I mean, on the amount, on the amount of power that’s going into each particular job. I mean they’re quite, that’s critical data, isn’t it really?
RR: It is. I mean, more and more, you know, in today’s world data is, you know, is critical to running operations. You know, people want to know how efficient their machines are, what uptime they have, how much energy they’re using. And all of, you know, and all of that requires, it requires data. It requires sensors in the lamps, in the power supplies, in, you know, in the machine as well. And bringing all that data together in one place is what adds then value for the customer. And and EOS, you know, now gives us this platform to be able to feed into that, you know, internet of things, you know, sensors all across the machine, in a way that our previous RHINO system, you know, wasn’t able to do.
WB: So um, that’s yeah. It’s a real step up. It’s a real step.
RR: It is. And the big thing that comes with it as well is that GEW are going to be manufacturing this in-house. So for the last, you know, 30 years, we haven’t done that. And now we’re setting up with a brand new factory, a 5,500 square meter factory, which is just opening. A huge investment for GEW in being able to do that ourselves. And, um, that as well, you know, will come with uh, a lot of benefits for us, for our customers in, uh, the knowledge that we have in-house on this technology.
WB: Well, it’s definitely the next, it’s the next step. It’s fantastic. I love everything that GEW do. I mean, globally, it’s an amazing company. Thank you very much for your time. I know it’s only day one.
RR: It is.
WB: And we’re going to be catching up again during the week. So, I’ll let you go because there’s orders to take and products to sell. So, I’ll leave
you to get on.
RR: All right.
WB: All right. Thanks, Rob.
