Remote maintenance services for OEMs are a way for them to access and diagnose issues with their equipment, without the need for a technician to be on-site. EcoStruxure remote monitoring software, provides the machine builder with access to real-time data from their equipment. This allows them to collect information on machine performance as well as conducting remote diagnostics and troubleshooting.
Some of the benefits of remote maintenance services for OEMs include:
- Cost savings. Remote maintenance reduces the cost of on-site maintenance, by eliminating the need for technicians to travel to the equipment’s location.
- Increased efficiency. Remote maintenance allows manufacturers to diagnose and resolve issues with their equipment, which can minimise downtime and increase productivity sooner.
- Improved customer service. Remote maintenance allows manufacturers to provide faster and more effective customer service, by identifying and resolving issues with their equipment.
- Predictive Maintenance. With remote monitoring software, OEMs can predict the failure of certain parts and schedule maintenance before it happens.
- Scalability. Remote maintenance allows manufacturers to service more of their equipment, regardless of their location.
Remote maintenance services can help OEMs to improve the uptime and reliability of their equipment, while reducing maintenance costs and improving customer service.
Developing Remote Maintenance Services
Increased on-site and remote servicing efficiency can help reduce time for corrective actions by up to 50%. Consider the amount of time saved when locating needed documentation alone. When working with digitised machines, diagnostics and troubleshooting tasks are both faster and more accurate. Service engineers can track the installed base of machines from anywhere across the globe and check in real time the condition of each machine.
If there are deviations from normal operating parameters, the system can trigger alarms and warnings directly to the OEM and end-user maintenance teams. This allows OEMs to guide their customers to solve technical problems even before they occur and cause unplanned downtimes.
End users can move from reactive to predictive maintenance which will reduce their service costs and increase asset utilisation. Furthermore, such digital tools also help OEM service managers to compensate for the loss of skilled technicians who retire or leave. As the pool of educated and experienced service specialists dwindles, the staff that remain must do more with less. Digital tools empower them to multitask in more ways.
Enhanced client support efficiency
By transitioning to remote maintenance, technicians can manage more accounts to reduce travelling times. Machine information is available with a click and digital digitised interfaces can serve as a mechanism for training new employees. Even when travelling they can work on multiple accounts from one location. This means that on-site service work is faster as data and documentation are much easier to access.
EcoStruxure Machine Advisor is a digitised maintenance model. Once deployed, it begins to connect and link the key business processes, allowing them to become more streamlined. Using its ‘track, monitor and fixed’ functions, engineers can follow a machine remotely to perform diagnostics or condition-based monitoring with an option for performing predictive maintenance analytics.
Moreover, EcoStruxure Augmented Operator Advisor enables a level of operator self-empowerment by defining access points around the machine that need to be transparent and visible via augmented reality, and assigning the right interface information flows. The service can run on devices like tablets or other handhelds with no additional hardware needed.
EcoStruxure Augmented Operator Advisor allows real time access to relevant field information such as known variables and process documents for operations and maintenance. This can include machine history, process variables, and product installation and electrical diagrams and instructions.
All information necessary for servicing the connected machine is remotely available to OEMs service staff for helping to guide the on-site end-user team. EcoStruxure can generate notifications when encountering machine health anomalies or when exceeding operating thresholds. It provides OEMs with the on-site software to manage issues and exceptional events.
