At SEW-EURODRIVE, our digital and condition monitoring specialist, James Scott, is leading the charge with DriveRadar®, a powerful condition monitoring tool already proving its value in trials with some of the UK’s leading manufacturers.

We caught up with James to find out what DriveRadar® actually is, what problems it solves, and why it’s not just smart tech, but smart for business.

Q: James, in simple terms, what is DriveRadar® and what does it do?

James: DriveRadar® is SEW-EURODRIVE’s condition monitoring solution that takes data from our drives and gear motors with the MOVILINK® DDI digital motor interface, analyses it in real time, and helps customers understand how their equipment is performing. It allows them to see when components might be under strain, using more energy, or showing early signs of wear, so they can take action before something goes wrong.

Q: Traditionally, industrial maintenance has been reactive or scheduled. How does DriveRadar® change that?

James: DriveRadar® moves you from a “fix it when it breaks” or “service it every 10,000 hours regardless” model to something far more intelligent. It uses real data from your drives to determine when action is actually needed - like if a motor is working harder than usual to move a load, it might be due to contamination or mechanical wear. It’s not about replacing your engineering teams, it’s about giving them the insight to act at the right time.

Q: Can you share an example of where DriveRadar® has been trialled successfully?

James: One great example is a trial we did at a major luxury car manufacturer’s paint shop. They were using an older communication protocol, so integrating DriveRadar® was a bit of a challenge technically, but we made it work.

We monitored six key drives and on their three spray booth conveyors and began to spot patterns in the data. One conveyor consistently required more current to run, which suggested paint build-up on the chain. It’s a simple issue, but left unchecked, it can increase energy use and eventually cause mechanical failure. This kind of insight means teams can fix small problems before they become big ones.

Q: You mentioned integrating DriveRadar® into older systems was a challenge. How did you get around it?

James: The customer’s paint shop uses PROFIBUS for its communication protocol, which the DriveRadar® SmartDataCollector cannot access or collect data from due to the software requiring an Ethernet/Ethercat comms, so we worked around it using SEW-EURODRIVE’s System Bus (SBUS) protocol. We hardwired in additional SBUS cabling from drive to drive, so we could get data back to a SEW DFE33B gateway that converts SBUS to Ethernet IP, which is compatible. This gateway is then linked to the site’s internal network, local plant PC and then sends the data off to the IoT Suite for pre-processing and visualisation. It’s a clever workaround that lets us get meaningful data out of legacy infrastructure.

Q: Are you seeing interest from other sectors too?

James: Yes - we’re currently running a trial with a major high street retail distribution group as well. In one warehouse, we compared energy use on a failing conveyor before and after replacing the whole conveyor unit and using one MOVITRAC Advanced with the DriveRadar® demo PC for data capture. The results were crystal clear; lower current draw, more stable and lower torque and power readings, and better efficiency. There was significantly less visible vibration in the scopes, proving how well the mechanical install was completed. And because DriveRadar® captures all this data in one place, they could see the benefits immediately.

Q: Let’s talk about cost. What’s the argument for investing in this kind of predictive maintenance?

James: We all know budgets are tight - especially in the UK - but the cost of downtime can be massive. One automotive customer told us that if their bodyshop stops, it can cost over £1,000 a minute.

We offer three-month trials, so if DriveRadar® helps prevent just one breakdown, it pays for itself multiple times over. Plus, the insights you gain can help you optimise maintenance cycles and extend equipment life.

Q: What’s holding companies back from adopting this technology faster?

James: In many cases, it’s not the tech, it’s the internal processes, especially around IT. Data security is a big topic. We’ve had trials stall because companies were concerned about cloud data transfer, even though what we collect is non-critical and can’t affect drive control. To address this, we’re developing edge processing units; local dashboards that allow all the analytics to be done on-site, without sending anything off-site.

Q: Where do you see this heading next?

James: The vision is to move more customers from condition-based monitoring to full predictive maintenance - not just knowing something’s wrong, but predicting when it’s likely to fail. That way, servicing is optimised, components are replaced at the right time, and unexpected failures become rare.

We’re building up the case studies and learning from every trial, and once we’re fully embedded in a few big sites, I think adoption will snowball.

Q: And finally, what’s your favourite part of the job?

James: It’s genuinely satisfying seeing something work, especially when you've had to engineer a workaround or find a creative solution. Every site is different, and the challenge of making DriveRadar® fit into complex environments is half the fun. Plus, I get to be the bridge between engineering and digitalisation, and that’s where a lot of exciting stuff is happening right now.

Interested in seeing DriveRadar® in action?

Interested in seeing DriveRadar® in action?

Get in touch with James to learn more about our DriveRadar® for Application trial packages and how predictive maintenance can unlock efficiency for your site.

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