STADLER Digital Solutions : Transforming recycling with smart, data-driven plant optimisation

STADLER is transforming recycling plant efficiency with its digital solutions specifically tailored for sorting plants with a focus on optimising operations. Through its comprehensive cloud-based platform STADLERconnect, the company offers recycling and sorting plants a single-access-point solution for its digital products, helping them unlock the full potential of machine and material data to drive impactful operational improvements. It is designed to deliver added value to recycling plants of all types and sizes and offers customized views for both operators and management.

With digital solutions taking on an increasingly critical role in the recycling industry, STADLER has made it a core strategic priority – both in its operations and in the sorting plants it designs. Julia Stadler, Chief Digital Officer, explains: “At STADLER, we view digital solutions as crucial for maximizing the performance of recycling plants, positioning them as a core part of our innovation leadership. Our strategy centres on sustaining our role as the market leader and a pioneer in designing and building turnkey recycling facilities.”

Predictive Maintenance, one of the STADLERconnect modules, enables a proactive approach to equipment maintenance using sensors to provide operators with instant alerts of critical changes in sensor data before potential problems arise. This early warning capability allows for immediate inspections, minimising costly production delays and reducing the risk of sudden breakdowns.
Andreas Stöcker, Deputy Operations Manager at REILING, has seen significant benefits from the system: "The installation of Predictive Maintenance has made maintenance easier and allowed us to plan service work in advance, as any small change to the machine is reported immediately. Before we decided on this solution, some bearing damage would occur very suddenly. With the measuring system we can prevent this from happening. From the short time we have been using the measuring system, I can say that it should be installed on every machine from the outset, although it makes sense to install it later as well".

"From a planning perspective, we've seen a significant improvement," says Pieter Van Camp, Lead of Maintenance at INDAVER, another customer using STADLERconnect in its sorting plant. "With a high level of technical availability (95%), any downtime has a major impact on production. With the implementation of these sensors, we feel more secure knowing that we can continuously monitor the condition of our machines. For example, by monitoring the ballistic shafts, we can monitor their condition in real time and detect any drop in performance. This capability allows us to extend their life and accurately determine the optimum time for replacement. As a result, we're saving both time and money! Overall, our experience with the wireless sensor system has been transformational.

In developing its digital solutions, STADLER has pursued a twofold objective: delivering added value by using key data insights to enhance plant operations, and applying these insights to improve both plant design and after-sales service.

“Our digital solutions are purpose-built for sorting plants, directly addressing the needs of plant operators,” says Julia Stadler. “Leveraging our extensive OEM expertise, we ensure greater accuracy in areas such as determining conveyor equipment status. Our team combines software development and engineering expertise. This approach goes beyond simple data collection and visualisation: our solutions leverage new and existing data points to drive meaningful operational improvements.”

“There is strong momentum for digital innovation in the recycling sector, with a growing number of recyclers adopting these solutions to lower operational costs and boost plant performance,” adds Julia Stadler.

STADLER's portfolio of digital solutions can be accessed through STADLERconnect. This cloud-based platform uses machine and material data to maximise the availability, performance and overall process efficiency of sorting plants.

Powered by real-time plant data and artificial intelligence (AI), STADLERconnect is an integrated solution that adapts to different plant configurations and needs. It focuses on two core areas.
The first area revolves around machine data and comprises four modules:

• Predictive maintenance: Prevents equipment failure
• Blockage detection: Automatically alerts operators when blockages occur
• Downtime Tracker: Identifies and analyses equipment downtime
• Support Portal: Facilitates communication with customer service
  

The second area focuses on material data and includes

• Material Split Control: Balances material flows to improve performance
• Production Report: Visualises production data and in particular material output
• BaleCheckIn: Analyses material input at bale-specific level
• BaleCheckOut: Analyses material output at bale level

“STADLERconnect’s digital tools leverage AI and intelligent processing of material and machine data to optimize plant performance across key areas,” says Dr. Xiaozheng Chen, Material Analysis & AI Specialist at STADLER. “The modules work together to create a seamless flow of information, enhancing plant reliability and supporting operators at every stage—from tracking material quality in real time to automatically controlling processing steps and predicting maintenance needs—all designed to deliver maximum value to our customers.”

By automating various parts of the plant, STADLERconnect improves operational performance while reducing the workload for operators. STADLER’s material analysis tools increase transparency on both quantity and quality. This enables consistent product quality while reducing the need for costly manual quality checks. Additionally, the company’s digital maintenance solutions make service events more predictable and enable rapid responses to unforeseen issues, minimising downtime.

“Through STADLERconnect we provide a unified platform that integrates data from multiple plants and data sources, offering the plant management a centralised, remote overview of all facilities,” explains Julia Stadler. “Our data-driven insights help improve key performance indicators (KPIs), for example by identifying and addressing frequent downtime causes or by avoiding blockages that lead to plant stoppages.”

STADLERconnect is designed to adapt to the evolving needs of recyclers, with regular updates, and feature and security enhancements to all modules provided at no additional cost to customers.

“The patented STADLERconnect modules have been successfully implemented in several plants. The next phase of the platform’s deployment is its rollout across STADLER turnkey recycling plants worldwide. We are expanding our portfolio with new modules, such as Windshifter Automation and Infeed Decision Aid, which will be available soon. Additionally, we are not only focusing on integrating data from our own equipment: as an integrator, we are in a unique position to aggregate data from all the equipment in our plants. This will be the next significant step for STADLERconnect. Our ultimate aim is to implement a truly smart sorting plant,” concludes Julia Stadler.