Remote commissioning was often born out of necessity in the pandemic, but can be another pillar of the business model in the long term.
Remote commissioning also frequently occurred prior to the pandemic when technical personnel could not be directly on site for various reasons. Reasons could include inaccessible areas or restrictive regions, or simply a lack of experts who could not be in different locations at the same time. The pandemic has contributed to the fact that companies on both the mechanical and plant engineering side as well as on the operator side have become increasingly involved with RIBN (remote commissioning). The acceptance of such “remote work” has increased overall.
According to a preliminary survey among the participants, two thirds of the respondents stated that they had already carried out one or more remote commissionings. It appeared that those who have implemented this RIBN use a wide range of technological tools to do so: Phone, smartphone and tablet, various software solutions for video communication, or just remote software updates for customer machines. In the course of the survey, the participants also had the opportunity to contribute their own questions. Aspects such as IT security, liability and practical implementation were mentioned particularly frequently.
During this ProduktionNRW event on January 20, 2022, both the technical and the legal requirements of remote commissioning were presented and how this can be successfully implemented by the customer or operator. In the case of remote commissioning, the process must be planned in advance in even greater detail and the following questions arise, for example: What problems could possibly arise? How likely are they to occur? What effects could these have and what could solutions for them look like? In terms of legal aspects, questions about liability and risks are important, among others: What happens if someone is injured during remote guidance? Who is liable in the case of RIBN or how do I hedge risks?
The startup Viewpointsystem GmbH used their smart glasses solution to show how such a RIBN can practically take place. The presented product is a plug-and-play system that can be used immediately, without installation effort, for streaming and video recording for remote communication.
In summary, the original reason for adopting remote commissioning often had health and safety considerations initially, but increasingly other benefits such as improving workflow, customer service, and reducing resource requirements have been recognized.
Organizer
The event was offered by ProduktionNRW. ProduktionNRW is the competence network for mechanical engineering and production technology in North Rhine-Westphalia and is run by VDMA NRW. ProduktionNRW sees itself as a platform for networking, informing and marketing companies, institutions and networks among themselves and along the value chain. Significant parts of the services provided by ProduktionNRW are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).