Quaker Houghton Launches Digital Fluid Optimization Platform

Quaker Houghton, the global leader in industrial process fluids, has launched a new platform that allows manufacturers to measure, control, and optimize the performance of their process fluids and improve processes to achieve greater levels of efficiency.

QH FLUID INTELLIGENCE™ provides real-time monitoring and control of fluid performance and cost, delivering fast, accurate, and actionable insights. Customizable, scalable, and easily integrated into manufacturing operations, the solution helps manufacturers drive down waste, mitigate risk, and reduce the total cost of ownership. 

The platform combines four key elements: Quaker Houghton’s world-class fluids, application expertise, hardware, and software. 

Specific to hardware, the QH FLUIDMONITOR™ family of products incorporates proprietary sensor technologies to provide automatic measurement of key fluid and process parameters as well as real-time, cloud-connected data reports. Combining this readily available data about fluid temperature, concentration, pH, conductivity, flow, and pressure, QH FLUIDCONTROL™ automated control technologies then provide automatic dosing and top-ups to keep fluids within the specified control limits.  For manufacturers, this reduces manual sampling, analysis and top-ups and improves efficiency by eliminating the turnaround time associated with laboratory analysis of samples. 

These hardware families work in tandem with the third element, QH FLUIDTREND™ – an intuitive, user-friendly software for viewing real-time and historical data and analytics, as well as alerting manufacturers to potential problems. QH FLUIDTREND™ also offers insights on how to optimize fluids and processes to enhance tool life and the predictability of outcomes. Here, manufacturers can benefit from increased fluid life and reduced consumption which helps to deliver cost savings and reduce downtime, alongside improved manufacturing quality and health and safety.  

Lastly, these technologies combine with Quaker Houghton’s unparalleled knowledge of process fluids, which is on hand to manufacturers around the clock. With over 30 research and development centers across the globe, more than 400 dedicated team members support manufacturers in overcoming their process fluid challenges across a multitude of sectors including metal and construction, transportation, energy, industrial and consumer goods.

The benefits of QH FLUID INTELLIGENCE™ have already been proven worldwide, providing significant savings for major manufacturers to date. In its first year, one global automotive OEM saved $1.25M by eliminating downtime, improving production rates and reducing waste. The manufacturer also reported an approximate $90K annual decrease in lubricant costs and a reduction in consumption by 27% per unit. Meanwhile, another OEM reported a reduced total cost of ownership by $300K annually, improved productivity, and reduced downtime by 75%.

Quaker Houghton is speaking about its QH FLUID INTELLIGENCE™ solution at the upcoming International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), September 9 – 14th 2024 in Chicago and the North American Die Casting Association (NADCA) Congress & Exposition, September 20th – October 2nd 2024 in Indianapolis. Delegates will be able to learn more about considerations when selecting automated monitoring and control technologies, technology improvements over traditional manual sampling, as well as best practices in applying automated monitoring and control technologies for industrial process fluids.