A customer success story from Ewon
Seiko, a packaging machine builder located in Japan, manufactures packaging and bottling machines in a wide range of industrial applications such as food, drinks, cosmetics, toiletry, chemical and pharmaceutical. When infrequent unplanned maintenance occurs, their automation engineers would have to rush to the customer’s rescue, even when the factory is located abroad. As a result, Seiko engineers realized how useful it would be to remotely troubleshoot their machines. An enormous amount of money, time and effort could be saved, while providing faster support to their customers!
Seiko quickly realized how Ewon could be a game changer for them. “A few years ago, we tried using a famous remote desktop solution, but our IT department required that we switch to a more secure solution That is when we discovered Ewon, which fulfilled all our needs in terms of convenience, performance and security!” stated Mr. Iga Hisato, Head of the Technology Development Division.
Operational efficiency with Ewon Remote Connectivity
With Ewon, the machine builder can now equip its machines with a secure remote connectivity solution, approved by their IT department. It is also well-received by their customers, who are reassured by the fact that the security of Ewon’s solution is regularly audited and certified by several specialized third party organizations.
Easy Set-up
Especially impressive is how easy and fast it is to get up and running with the solution. The complete installation of an Ewon gateway and its registration to Ewon’s Talk2M global VPN service can be done in a matter of minutes. It became even easier since the introduction of the “Easy Setup” feature, which allows to automatically configure a gateway through a USB drive or SD card. All Ewon gateways can connect to the Internet via an Ethernet LAN, if available, but Seiko usually selects an Ewon gateway with a backup WiFi connectivity. By doing this, they are sure that even if using a LAN is not possible, a successful wireless connection will be possible by asking someone on site to turn on the hotspot feature of a smartphone or mobile router. Using Ewon’s solution, Seiko remotely connects to the Mitsubishi Electric PLCs and HMIs controlling their machines, for troubleshooting.
Thanks to Ewon, it is easy to make machines IIoT ready for the future
They has built a robust remote monitoring service based on Ewon’s Talk2M service, allowing to easily visualize the performance of the machines at any time, from anywhere and from any device, even a smartphone. This is a perfect match with the “GOT Mobile” service from Mitsubishi Electric, if the machine is equipped with a compatible HMI. Seiko is also exploring the advanced features of the Ewon Flexy gateway, which can collect data from PLCs or sensors and display it on a local webdashboard, or make it available to an IT system. With this remote monitoring service, Seiko’s customers can check the performance of their equipment, analyze the cause of failures and optimize their production and processes, as well as the quality of their products. This is just the start. “Thanks to Ewon, it is really easy to make our machines IIoT-ready. In the short-term, it immediately provides an excellent return on investment for us and our customers. On the longer run, our machines equipped with an Ewon Flexy are ready to support any future IIoT projects we might decide to build”. Said Mr. Iga.