ACCESS ALL AREAS
06/02/2012 Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies
The ability to monitor and control key remotely-based industrial assets such as distant machines or far flung outstations can help drive overall operational efficiencies. For machine builders or plant operators, keeping such assets close at hand is vital and remote access capability should be a pre-requisite. It can even help reduce service calls by up to 60%. Mark McCormick from Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies (IA&DT) outlines a key operational area for companies to consider.It is often said that the world is becoming a smaller place. Every aspect of our lives points to ever-closer ties, with examples ranging from the technological marvel of Skype which links up family members scattered across the globe, to the ability to instantly shop in a retail outlet based on the other side of the world courtesy of the internet. Technology is now bringing seemingly remote elements together like never before.
The industrial sector has also seen an increasing need to link together critical assets that can frequently span large areas. Driven by cost considerations and productivity objectives, the ability to access, control, monitor and improve remotely-based machines and plant is becoming increasingly important for many companies. Whether it is maintaining machines and plants installed across the globe from a central point, or a requirement to scan data from distant outstations and mobile applications, or controlling plant-wide processes - the implementation of remote access technology solutions can reap benefits in terms of time and cost savings, operational efficiency gains and optimised performance from key remote assets.
In the background, marketplace expectations are also helping to drive innovative remote access solutions. Whereas five years ago, customers had an expectation that a fault on a production line or critical machine could be rectified within a day or two after an engineer's visit - a fault that would result in expensive downtime and lost production - the reality today is that those same customers now expect the fault to be identified and rectified sometimes within the hour! If the machine or plant is located some distance away this can cause a real issue. As a result we are seeing an increasing requirement for industrial access solutions that cater for remote access to ensure market expectations can be met and a swift resolution can be achieved.
Some critical drivers are combining to ensure industrial remote access capability is now centre stage for many. The vast increase in the use of unmanned plants due to cost considerations - previously they would be maintained by one or two local staff - has seen companies rely upon the ability to keep critical assets performing to their maximum. Just think of oil and gas pipelines with outstations and metering stations frequently located many hundreds of miles apart, or similar scenarios that exist in the water supply and wastewater treatment, power generation and distribution sectors. Critical assets will often be unmanned, but still require systems for monitoring, control and maintenance objectives.
Likewise, access to specialist local engineering staff will often not be feasible in remote locations and the absence of appropriately skilled staff can add to the issues facing companies seeking solutions to such circumstances. The advantages of technology which can deliver remote access to gather, for example, real-time process data, becomes self-evident in the absence of skilled and costly personnel.
For the machine builder/OEM that has developed and supplied critical assets for export to all parts of the globe, the ability to offer support to that machine remotely adds an attractive element to help secure orders and win business. Rather than the necessity of sending an engineer on time-consuming travel schedules to address what could be a simple machine fault or perform routine maintenance procedures, the benefit of enabling the engineer to remotely undertake diagnostic fault-finding via the internet or mobile connection delivers both substantial time and cost savings for both supplier and end user.
Linked to this, the ability to keep downtime to a minimum and productivity to a maximum is a pre-requisite these days as competition becomes ever fiercer. Quickly identifying and rectifying production line faults or developing preventative maintenance strategies that tackle potential problems or issues before they become expensive can now sit at the heart of the remote access offer.
Telecontrol and Teleservice are two services that help bring remote access benefits to life. Telecontrol involves the connection of distant process stations to one or more central control systems. Various public or private networks can be used for communication for the purposes of monitoring and control. Event-driven or cyclic exchange of processing data is performed with special Telecontrol protocols and enables the operation personnel to manage the overall process effectively from a central location if required. The combination of Telecontrol Server Basic software - connecting the control centre to the remote assets based upon SIMATIC S7-1200 technology - with the new add-on GPRS module (CP1242-7), offers a powerful remote access solution for either small-scale applications with a few outlying outstations or to meet the needs of large-scale, geographically spread plants.
Teleservice, which involves data exchange over the telephone line or via the internet with distant technical systems such as machines, plants or computers for the purpose of error detection, diagnostics, maintenance, repair or machine optimisation, offers an efficient, bespoke and resource-saving answer to diagnose distant systems, or to help plan and implement preventative maintenance. Estimates indicate that implementing such a solution has reduced on-site service visits by up to 60%. With everyone mindful of data security - especially in the light of recent high profile examples of data loss - remote access users must always ensure they select carefully to ensure remote access solutions offers comprehensive measures to prevent data falsification and loss.
For operators of plant that is spread across a wide, geographical area, or the export-led machine builder/OEM trying to secure orders in challenging times when competition is rife, being able to access remote locations to optimise performance, undertake real-time data analysis, carry out preventative maintenance measures, or simply keep plant running by minimising downtime are some of the critical contributory benefits that can assist overall operational efficiency objectives, or help secure a new order. Technology solutions such as Telecontrol and Teleservice that are modular, flexible and secure are now providing easy and efficient remote access to machines and plants and are making a tangible contribution to cost and productivity effectiveness when managing remote industrial assets.
For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk or contact 0161 446 5298 Email: Kerry.ryder@siemens.com
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