Improve your service with Kontron AIS GmbH and Bitnamic

As a long-stan­ding provider of soft­ware solu­tions in the field of indus­trial auto­ma­tion, our partner Kontron AIS GmbH knows how to acce­le­rate labor-inten­sive processes. In times of the coro­na­virus, which confronts us with previously unknown chal­lenges in service and main­ten­ance, this know-how is all the more valuable.

It is bundled in the Equip­ment­Cloud®, an infor­ma­tion plat­form for service and after sales in medium-sized mecha­nical and plant engi­nee­ring compa­nies. Our remote main­ten­ance soft­ware is also inte­grated into this plat­form via API, so that support and know­ledge exch­ange can be provided remo­tely without any problems.  

Equip­ment­Cloud® — The all-round solu­tion for machine buil­ders

With tech­nical inno­va­tions come more powerful, but also incre­asingly complex machines that are sold world­wide. But as soon as such machines are sold, access to them is lost — and with it important infor­ma­tion that provides a better tech­nical under­stan­ding for the machine operator. The Equip­ment­Cloud® was deve­loped to obtain valuable data such as internal connec­tions, analyzed error reports, resolved problems, etc.

The cloud-based, agile IIoT plat­form makes it possible to map internal or external processes, collect and analyze plant-related data. It is made up of various user-friendly appli­ca­tions that provide all the rele­vant infor­ma­tion on the machines and plants in ques­tion. These apps have been desi­gned to solve frequently occur­ring use cases and asso­ciated problems:  

 

• Service & customer portal: The Equip­ment­Cloud® func­tions as a service and customer portal with inte­grated know­ledge data­base. If a problem occurs, the tech­ni­cian or customer can help them­selves. After logging in, he can access the infor­ma­tion he needs directly via the equip­ment hub — the smart general over­view.
• Data analytics/Monitoring: The intel­li­gent moni­to­ring of equip­ment perfor­mance imports data from offline to real-time and evaluates it syste­ma­ti­cally. The resul­ting data­base provides support for preven­tive main­ten­ance, AI-supported mode­ling and machine lear­ning.
• Process control: The summary of digital check­lists and mile­stones in work­flows provides an imme­diate over­view of curr­ently running processes. The clear assign­ment, inclu­ding embedded due dates, enables stan­dar­dized and trans­pa­rent process opti­miza­tion, both online and offline.
• Device Manage­ment: Device Manage­ment allows IoT gate­ways to be managed and conti­nuously moni­tored in the field. Soft­ware updates can be carried out remo­tely and any faults that occur can be effec­tively resolved.
• Remote service: This is where our bitnamic CONNECT Remote Main­ten­ance solu­tion comes into play. It offers support for service and main­ten­ance, process moni­to­ring and trai­ning. Problems on machines can be solved faster with expert assis­tance, thus avoi­ding long down­times.

 

Access to all func­tions of Remote Main­ten­ance directly from the Equip­ment­Cloud®

Our remote main­ten­ance soft­ware is inte­grated into the Equip­ment­Cloud® in form of the Remo­te­As­sistant app. It enables service calls between custo­mers or tech­ni­cians facing a complex problem and external experts who provide trou­ble­shoo­ting assis­tance via an inter­ac­tive video confe­rence.

The session is opened from within the Equip­ment­Cloud® via smart­phone, tablet or smart glasses by the expert after the tech­ni­cian has submitted a service request. A smooth tran­si­tion from the Equip­ment­Cloud® to bitnamic CONNECT takes place via an appro­priate inter­face.

As soon as the expert has trig­gered the call, the service tech­ni­cian receives a QR code which he uses to dial into the session. Thanks to the audio-visual connec­tion, the expert can now get a compre­hen­sive picture of the situa­tion. Useful func­tions such as the white­board, which can be used to create and anno­tate screen­shots, provide addi­tional support in solving problems.

Follo­wing the video confe­rence, all gene­rated or exch­anged infor­ma­tion, data and docu­ments are trans­ferred and stored in the Equip­ment­Cloud® via the secure Bitnamic API. In this way, the data­base is conti­nuously expanded and a cross-depart­mental exch­ange of know­ledge is speci­fi­cally promoted. Should the same errors occur again in the future, service tech­ni­cians have the oppor­tu­nity to look in the Equip­ment­Cloud® and help them­selves.  

 

Equip­ment­Cloud® and bitnamic CONNECT, a perfect combi­na­tion

As it turns out, machine manu­fac­tu­rers and opera­tors can benefit signi­fi­cantly from the Equip­ment­Cloud®: Not only do they deepen their own know­ledge and opti­mize processes by lear­ning more about their machines and avoi­ding unpro­duc­tive down­times through fast trou­ble­shoo­ting — a quick glance at the compre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion data­base also saves costs and increases customer loyalty.

In combi­na­tion with our Remote Main­ten­ance soft­ware, high travel costs can be avoided, too, without having to forego direct, uncom­pli­cated commu­ni­ca­tion between service tech­ni­cian and expert.