For example, with the help of basic information via the Web, you can be Mr. Fixit yourself. Or, for more complicated problems, you can get someone to share the headache. At the most costly—proxy level—the service provider continuously monitors operations, tracks trends, identifies problems, intervenes, solves the problems and then notifies you.
Since online support is upkeep focused, these services cover reactive maintenance through preventive to predictive maintenance. One such service is Rockwell Automation’s (www.rockwellautomation.com) In.Site. The two-year-old system now monitors 17 process or manufacturing lines for eight end-users, primarily in paper manufacturing, continuous processes and steel making, says Scott Lapcewich, Rockwell’s general manager of its global technical support unit at the Mayfield (Ohio) Village Technical Center. The technology captures all alarms, permissives and other types of data.
“Generally, we’ve been able to show a two-month return on investment (ROI) at sites where we have 12-month contracts,” he contends. The increased ROI manifests itself as reduced downtime. But something else some paper industry end-users have done is improve overall equipment effectiveness, or OEE, Lapcewich says. This metric, expressed as a percentage, combines three ratios: equipment availability, quality of product and performance.
ROI booster
This OEE focus means online support can cross into process optimization, another ROI booster. “What’s happening by us identifying and trending the data is that we can see that the client is sub-optimizing—how they’re running their line to compensate elsewhere.” Lapcewich says. “We’ve been able to adjust for deficiencies in the drive system and how it’s configured and operated—and help fine tune and operate it with fewer failures.”
A positive result is reduction of factory-floor maintenance staff, who can then be deployed elsewhere, he says. In addition, his service can not only provide maintenance oversight, but can also serve as a personnel trainer—“to help them get the most out of the process or controls they have,” Lapcewich says.
That’s important in companies that have reduced headcount to be leaner, and whose personnel don’t have the energy to keep dealing with maintenance problems all day long, he says. Thus, “a lot of companies increasingly recognize the value of predictive and preventive maintenance.” But Lapcewich notes that online support still encompasses reactive and preventive maintenance, as well.
At the other end of the spectrum is Schneider Electric’s (www.schneiderelectric.com) National Electric Code (NEC) 409/Underwriters’ Laboratory (UL) 508A Web site (www.us.squared.com/ul508a) regarding industrial control panels. “We’re trying to educate panel builders, maintenance repair operations (MROs)—anyone involved in panel construction, design, use or modification. If you’re beginning, we’ve got the links,” says Paul Havlik, Schneider’s U.S. manager of product development. He launched the free-access Web site in January to expose information on the new NEC 409/UL 508A product standards, which became effective this year.
A useful feature is the point-and-click nationwide map that displays the current versions of the NEC code being used by each state, Havlik says. “The idea of the map is to provide users, depending on their expertise, with either basic information, or exactly what their state is doing and requiring.
“These are living databases. This is a living Web site,” Havlik says. And that is the essence of effective online support—always dynamic and responsive to users.
C. Kenna Amos,ckamosjr@earthlink.net, is an Automation World Contributing Editor.
