Case Study: ZPMC (Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company) achieves real-time global machine monitoring and predictive maintenance with Microsoft Azure

Port machinery manufacturer ZPMC transforms its business with Azure IoT

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. (ZPMC), a global maker of port cranes and automated logistics equipment, needed a way to collect, monitor, and analyze high‑frequency PLC signals from quay cranes, gantry cranes, and AGVs that were previously siloed on on‑premises OPC servers. Facing the business goal of transforming from an equipment manufacturer into a comprehensive service provider, ZPMC required centralized, real‑time visibility, alarm notification and the ability to move toward predictive maintenance and global remote monitoring.

Working with Microsoft Developer Engagement, ZPMC built a cloud solution using Azure IoT Hub for device ingestion, Azure Stream Analytics for real‑time processing, Azure SQL/Blob storage for persistence, and Power BI for interactive dashboards. The team secured device‑to‑cloud traffic with AMQP and enabled database encryption, delivering centralized near‑real‑time monitoring, actionable insights and alarm reporting—creating a scalable, maintainable foundation for predictive maintenance and expanded service offerings.

ZPMC