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Digitalisation in the Sprint – Remote Services in Corona Times

The sudden travel restrictions last year presented new challenges for customers and machinery exporters: Machines and equipment could be delivered, but not installed and commissioned at site.

In the same way, service visits and plant inspections already planned could not be realised at site.

 

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HWS faced this challenge and worked with the customers to develop individual remote solutions tailored to the local infrastructure.

“Remote solution” means that a team at our headquarters works together with a team at the customer's site with the help of digital tools. For example, data from the plant and pictures from the local webcams are evaluated and transmitted in real time to the team at site to provide assistance.

In May 2020 already, i.e. 6 weeks after the first lockdown had started, a moulding machine and a pouring machine were successfully commissioned in China using remote commissioning.

Preconditions for remote commissioning are:

At HWS

  • HWS has set up an operations centre in compliance with the hygiene guidelines.
  • The working hours of the team were adjusted to the time zone of the customer. Partially in double shifts.

At site

  • Qualified employees of the customer at site
  • A comprehensive digital infrastructure for the transmission from live cameras, data records, …
  • „A time schedule with some leeway“, i.e. it must be expected that installations might not be completed within the planned timeframe (logistics in corona times, etc.).
  • Also helpful is the assistance at site by external experts.

In this way, HWS together with its customers and the respective local service organisation, has commissioned several moulding machines, pouring machines, V-process equipment and entire moulding plants in Asia and North America.

Also some inspections were carried out in a similar way during the past months. More “remote inspections“ are being planned for the near future. This underlines that these new services are possible and needed.

Conclusion:

The world has changed during the past months. Due to the present pandemic situation, travelling is currently extremely restrictive or even impossible. Many visits have been substituted by web meetings and along with this, digitalisation with all its possibilities had to be pushed, expanded and implemented very promptly.

From the point of view of the customer and HWS, these remote services are successful and can be expanded. However, remote services cannot fully replace conventional visits at the moment.

HWS will continue to work on this business model.

Company Info

Heinrich Wagner Sinto Maschinenfabrik GmbH

Bahnhofstrasse 101
57334 Bad Laasphe
Germany

Telephone: +49 (0) 2752 907 0

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