Mr. Braun, how many years have you been working in the field of automation technology and for how many years?

Thorsten Braun: My service company was founded on January 1, 1990. My team - some permanent employees, some freelancers - is spread all over the world and is therefore available in all time zones.

What activities have you focused on?

Braun: We see ourselves as a service provider in automation technology and commission electrical systems; we rectify faults and problems during system downtimes and program programmable logic controllers in accordance with IEC 1131.3. However, we also manage entire assembly projects at home and abroad, especially in the area of assembly and wiring of German systems by the end customer abroad. Last but not least, we also offer our customers a 24-hour hotline.

We are traditionally associated with Mitsubishi Elektrik Europa. Accordingly, we have in-depth knowledge of their product range - from controllers and frequency inverters to touch panels and visualizations.

What was your job like until just over a year ago?

Braun: Before the corona period, we traveled from place to place and mainly worked on site at the customer's premises. Of course, a lot of time was spent traveling to the customer by car or plane. In addition, safety training and entrance tests are often required at the customer's premises in order to be allowed to enter the production halls at all. In foreign countries, there are running times for visas, which are also lost as working time. - All of this costs time and blocks resources. We can now make better use of this time.

How has Corona changed the situation on site at the customer's premises?

Braun: Due to corona, it was and still is often not possible to enter the customer's premises. Travel has been made more difficult or is sometimes not possible at all. A lot of time is then lost for quarantine and corona tests at the customer's premises.

How are you dealing with the situation?

Braun: We now mainly just send out a remote maintenance case, which allows us to establish a secure connection with the customer's system as if we were sitting in front of the system in person. For new systems, we make sure that the remote hardware is installed directly in the control cabinet.

What exactly does a case deployment look like?

Braun: The customer calls and has a problem with a stationary system, for example. This means his production is at a standstill and he is losing money every minute!

Until now, we used to arrange an appointment on site and had to take into account parameters such as the availability of fitters on site, visa applications or the issuing of carnets.

Today, we send the remote maintenance case with a parcel service, a cab or, if necessary, with a courier on horseback. The case therefore arrives at the customer's premises, does not have to undergo a safety test, but can be brought directly to the stationary system and connected.

The customer only has to connect three cables on site: The 230 V power supply, the Ethernet cable to the Internet - also works via WiFi or mobile network - and finally he still has to connect the Mitsubishi component. The case contains all the necessary cables for all Mitsubishi components.

And that works without a hitch?

Sample time and cost calculation for a repair job: once on-site at the customer's premises, once by remote case.

© Thorsten Braun / WFM

Braun: In the last two years, we have already completed many projects - including complete reprogramming - via the remote maintenance case and also put them into operation at the end customer.

A very charming advantage of this solution is that several colleagues can access all parts of the system simultaneously via the case. At one customer, one colleague created the programs for the touch panels, another generated the PLC programs and the third specialized in the frequency converters and servo drives and programmed the motion control. During commissioning in Japan, all three specialists were available from their home offices to provide advice and support.

A nice side effect: we saved the travel and hotel costs for three colleagues.

Do you think that the 'old' times and thus the on-site assignments will return?

Braun: No, I don't think so. Those responsible at the customer will recognize and appreciate the advantages of remote work. The cost-benefit factor is simply too obvious.

How high do you estimate the future proportion of remote work?

Braun: I personally estimate the proportion at 80 to 90 %.