The team behind aimi
The software department of IMA Schelling
Since the end of 2019, the software divisions of the IMA Schelling Group at its production sites in Austria and Germany were regrouped in one central department that works for the Group as a whole. The bi-national team, which consists of almost 60 software specialists, is managed by Stefan Rische from the Lübbecke site. “We design and develop customer software solutions for our tailor-made plants and accompany the customer throughout the entire process from the initial planning stages to servicing of plant and equipment. In this process, we combine internal and external knowledge,” he explains the role of his department which covers two different business segments.
The part of the team assigned to “Technology & Innovation” is primarily responsible for developing the new aimi software, the first software project for the Group as a whole. With aimi, IMA Schelling will introduce a new HMI and new automation software that converts HMI operation into work sequences. The goal is to develop and introduce a homogeneous software environment for all products of the IMA Schelling Group.
The other members of the team are directly assigned to the “Systems” business segment. Their tasks include job scheduling, customer-specific data import, integration of the optimisation systems and supply of all production-relevant data. In addition to this, the team produces customer-specific plant control systems and assists with developing interfaces allowing the connection of existing systems to aimi.
The development of the new software landscape is the first project of the young team for the Group as a whole. The project started in January with a big software & technology workshop. Meanwhile, the concept for the software architecture has been ratified and the team has started bringing the project into being.