“Downtime is a big concern because the cost associated with it is so high,” says Larry O’Brien, a research director with ARC who specializes in process automation solutions, adding that a single incident at the aforementioned refinery can wipe out the plant’s annual profitability. “If you have an unplanned incident and it takes you 10 days to get your plant back up and running again you can imagine how much you are losing.”
奥布赖恩说，自动化服务已成为自动化行业增长最快的领域。“我们看到了发展最快的领域：远程监控，维护，培训和教育服务以及高级管理咨询，例如警报审计。从补丁管理到版本升级和网络安全性的一切。大供应商确实可以满足需求的广度。这仅取决于最终用户的要求。技术支持往往更加临时，但随着市场的其余部分而增长。一些供应商真的很擅长。”
Magnetecs，Inc。是一个很好的例子。总部位于加利福尼亚州英格伍德的公司正在开发一个用于手术室的电磁导管指导系统。当他们从一月份开始制定控制系统时，他们的截止日期很短，并广泛依靠其供应商西门子行业公司来满足它。为了使情况复杂化，控制工程师从事PLC设计工作在近二十年中与西门子没有合作，并且从负面的经历中承担了行李。
“My experience with Siemens in the past was sketchy,” says Mason Mattenson, Magnetecs Inc. “In the early 90’s I was working on a project with an S5 PLC, we were having a problem with it and I went online and tried to get support and before they’d let me into the literature library I had to fill out an application. A day or so later I was told I couldn’t have access ‘because I wasn’t in Europe.’ Hence my use of a competing PLC vendor ever since. When I got the call for this project everything looked great but they were using Siemens because of its penetration overseas. I took the interview anyway and when I saw what they were doing I decided to see if Siemens had changed.
今天，马滕森很高兴他做出了自己的决定。“我的支持让我不知所措。我简直不敢相信。我从从未见过西门子的处理器变成了三个月内启动和运行的系统，这是我从西门子那里得到的帮助。实际上，这让我感到惊讶，因为在与另一个主要的自动化供应商合作后，我习惯了很多篮球。
“通常，当您遇到PLC问题时，这是非常不便的时间。您不想浪费时间寻找客户ID号，您只想获得一些帮助。”
“Everyone has problems. You are judged on how you react to those problems,” says Al Corcoran, a marketing manager responsible for Siemens’ SIEPRO support program. Unlike 1991, Siemens now offers a basic support package that provides free online access to all the relevant manuals and free hotline support.
“在线网站很开放，”柯克兰说。“无需参加。我们的策略是为客户提供尽可能多的信息。没有独家内容。”
Additionally, the company offers the pay-to-play SIEPRO program for customers that either have more demanding or unique needs. “Priority customers tend to be continuous process industries with very high downtime costs.”
According to Corcoran the benefits to end users are significant. “The biggie is time. You get a shorter time to solution which in turn saves money associated with downtime. Ultimately this leads to improved total cost of ownership and improved overall equipment effectiveness; two metrics that are becoming more and more important.”
Corcoran认为，与最终用户建立良好的服务关系是当前经济环境中的关键竞争因素。他是指涉及大型电信供应商的客户满意度调查的案例研究。“所有回答'您将来会与我们开展业务的受访者'是的''均经历了失败并获得了积极的服务经验。那对我来说就像是一盏灯。当客户拥有良好的服务体验时，您会通过屋顶来推动他们的忠诚度。”
| Average cost of downtime per year: |
| 精炼：1-8％ |
| 石油化：2-5％ |
| 食物和BEV：1-10％ |
| ~ Larry O'Brien, ARC |
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