Identifying the cause of a problem and finding the solution quickly is critical, especially when it concerns downtime in a factory, whether its food or non-food production. Deadlines and delivery times are important for the producer and their customers.
A 4-hour drive for an engineer to the customer’s factory or a flight to another country is unproductive time that could be better spent.
A.M.P Automation recognised this and have been incorporating remote access systems into their machines for several years. Whilst having someone on the ground physically inspecting a machine is often reassuring for the customer, it can sometimes cause machine downtime to be longer than it needs to.
It has never been more evident, than in the last few months, how important remote access can be for all parties involved.
An instance very recently reinforced this for A.M.P Automation when a customer had a problem with their machine. The customer was based in another country and flights out of the UK were restricted.
The remote service team accessed the software, found the problem and had the machine up and running very quickly, however the line stopped again after only 5 minutes. After a quick investigation a problem with a motor was identified, the error code showed it was overheating.
A replacement motor was required.
The time taken between the initial phone call from the customer to the new motor being packaged and despatched by courier was 6 hours. This is a very quick turnaround, and a much faster scenario than someone flying out to another country to identify the problem.
The service provided was not over – on the motor’s arrival the next day, the customer was asked to phone A.M.P Automation to help with installation. The design of the machine made it easy to access the area and replace the motor.
A simple step by step guide was sent to the customer showing how to calibrate the new motor with the machine. Whilst the customer was able to do this themselves with the guide provided, an option of the service team member from A.M.P Automation remotely accessing the customers laptop and be on the phone at the same time to calibrate it was available.
Remote access to machines in a factory offers a realistic chance to provide a 24-hour service to the customer with real time results saving hours, and sometimes days, of production time.
