ACS Group (Auxiliary Control Solutions)
Enabling Industry 4.0 for Plastics Processing Equipment
Project Overview
About ACS Group
ACS Group (Auxiliary Control Solutions) is a leading manufacturer of plastics processing auxiliary equipment, including blenders, dryers, granulators, temperature control units, chillers, and material conveying systems. Their equipment is deployed at injection molding and extrusion facilities worldwide, serving industries from automotive to consumer packaging.
!The Challenge
ACS recognized that their customers—plastics processors—were increasingly demanding Industry 4.0 capabilities. Production managers needed real-time visibility into equipment performance, predictive maintenance alerts, and integration with MES systems. However, ACS faced several barriers to delivering a connected equipment solution:
- Diverse equipment portfolio: 18+ product families with different PLCs and control architectures
- Multiple protocols: Rockwell Micro850 (Ethernet/IP), Athena controllers (Modbus RTU), Carel PLCs (BACnet/Modbus)
- Customer IT restrictions: Plastics facilities often prohibit cloud connections from plant networks
- Global deployment: Equipment shipped to facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia
- No IoT expertise: ACS is an equipment manufacturer, not a software company
The Solution
ACS partnered with KORE Wireless and MachineCDN to develop the "ACS Digital Solutions Platform"—a turnkey IoT offering that connects all ACS equipment to the cloud via cellular, completely independent of customer plant networks. MachineCDN developed custom firmware drivers for each equipment family and built a white-label cloud platform branded for ACS.
Supported Equipment Families
- • BD Batch Blender (Micro850)
- • Accumeter Ovation Continuous
- • GH Gravimetric Hopper
- • GH-F Gravimetric Feeder
- • DD Series Digital Doser
- • AF Series Volumetric Feeder
- • NGX Dryer (Micro850)
- • NGX Nomad Portable Dryer
- • Truetemp TCU (Athena/Modbus)
- • GP Central Chiller (Carel)
- • HE Central Chiller (Carel)
- • VTC Plus Conveying System
- • T50 Central Granulator
- • FX Series BTP Granulator
- • WG Series UTP Granulator
- • SLC Self-Contained Loader
- • Bulk Resin Transfer System
Technical Architecture
- • Industrial cellular gateway per machine
- • KORE multi-carrier SIM (global coverage)
- • Ethernet/IP driver for Rockwell PLCs
- • Modbus RTU over RS485 for Athena
- • Modbus TCP/BACnet for Carel PLCs
- • Auto-discovery and configuration
- • AWS-hosted, SOC 2 compliant
- • White-label ACS branding
- • Real-time dashboards per equipment
- • Configurable alert thresholds
- • Historical trending and reports
- • REST API for MES integration
Sample Data Points Collected (per equipment type)
Scalable Architecture
MachineCDN developed a flexible pricing structure that scales with ACS's growing connected equipment base—from pilot deployments to enterprise-wide rollouts across thousands of devices.
Business Outcomes
For ACS
For ACS Customers
"MachineCDN delivered exactly what we needed: an Industry 4.0 platform purpose-built for our equipment portfolio. Their team wrote drivers for our Rockwell, Athena, and Carel controllers—we didn't have to become software experts. Now we can offer our customers the connected factory experience they've been asking for, all backed by KORE's global cellular coverage."