German firm Himmelsbach GmbH is a pioneer of 25 years in the field of automatic identification, registration and inspection of rail wagons. The company’s analysis systems have been deployed in a host of countries, ranging from Kazakhstan and European countries to Saudi Arabia. General manager Michael Himmelsbach spoke to RailFreight.com about the company’s RECOGNITIONPoint solution.
Himmelsbach GmbH offers an automatic AI wagon registration system, aptly named REGISTRATIONPoint. It is a video gate which can detect and recognise various things that need to be registered. One such thing is the unique identifier for wagons – the UIC number.
Artificial Intelligence reads the UIC numbers and accurately identifies the delivered type of scrap. The collected data is combined with the weighing data of each wagon and transmitted to the central system via an interface.
State-of-the-art video technology
The RECOGNITIONPoint monitors scrap wagons from all angles during delivery using state-of-the-art video technology. It can record and document freight wagons during transit using state-of-the-art sensors such as cameras, lidar, radar and induction sensors.
For over 25 years, Himmelsbach GmbH has been developing and producing RECOGNITIONPoints for steel plants to make the delivery of scrap and steel products more efficient and transparent. Besides UIC numbers and scrap, the system can read the “open dome” of tank wagons.
“Trains are coming in around the clock”, says Michael Himmelsbach. “Checking the trains manually is very costly and time-consuming, with our RECOGNITIONPoint this process is automated. No person is needed and the results with video and reports are available in the IT network for further use.”
Operations in many places
Himmelsbach GmbH began the AI development and work on the first installations more than 10 years ago. By now, they operate around the clock in numerous countries in Europe, Asia and the GCC states – including for leading steelworks such as ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp, Dillinger Hütte, Pittini Italy and HKM.
