IoT for medium-sized businesses

The IoT TeamViewer Remote solution pre-installed in the sysWORXX CTR-700 allows you to combine remote access and control with remote monitoring. Thus, you are able to access and edit your data remotely, reduce the risk of damage and save time and of course money. Now, finally, the corresponding case study has been published, which presents the challenges and the corresponding solutions.

TeamViewer supports Predictive Maintenance for medium-sized companies

The networked factory is a reality. At least for the industrial giants. Medium-sized companies are sometimes faced with major challenges when it comes to getting started. However, with the support of TeamViewer IoT, SYS TEC electronic AG offers its customers a decidedly simple solution for remote monitoring and predictive maintenance.

Erich Köster is annoyed. This is already the fourth call today from a customer reporting a problem. Köster works as a technician at a medium-sized mechanical engineering company and is always the first point of contact when a customer gets stuck with a system. He actually enjoys troubleshooting. However, when the calls for help pile up - as they have today - he can't do anything else. After all, some time ago his company integrated the sysWORXX CTR-700 edge controller from SYS TEC electronic into almost all of its machines and systems. This has already brought a significant gain in efficiency and reduced the customer's machine downtime. The controllers enable customers to monitor machines and systems live by reading out the data they generate and making it available. With this - and the necessary expertise - faults can be detected before they occur. And processes and maintenance intervals can be optimized. Particularly practical: The sysWORXX CTR-700 also supports so-called retrofitting. This means that the controller can also read out the data of older machines, and existing systems and machines can be easily upgraded and digitized in terms of data technology.

Predictive maintenance and convenient maintenance via remote access

Today, however, Erich Köster is once again thinking how much easier and more efficient his work could be if the machine data were not only accessible on site directly at the machines, but from his office. A solution that allows monitoring, maintenance and control of the machines from an external location via a communication interface to the Edge Controller from SYS TEC electronic.

This is exactly what SYS TEC electronic has now realized together with TeamViewer, as Nadine Mensdorf, Head of Product Management at SYS TEC electronic, explains: "We see ourselves as a premium provider of electronics services, and our solutions are always customer-specific and individual. It's practically part of our DNA to think about how we can solve our customers' problems." Many of them are medium-sized manufacturers of special-purpose machines, for example. And they are increasingly pushing in the direction of Industry 4.0. "On the one hand, they want to use the value-added potential of IoT, especially in the areas of live monitoring and predictive maintenance, for their own production facilities. But another important aspect is the added value they can offer their own customers through additional services based on IoT."

The need for suitable solutions is there - and it is growing, Mensdorf explains. Initially, SYS TEC electronic used various partner solutions for remote access to its controllers, which could be used with any cloud. "However, the handling was not that easy. And especially in medium-sized companies, there are great reservations about cloud solutions because of concerns about whether the data in the cloud itself and during transmission to it are really secure."

Secure networking of critical production facilities

Thus, the search was on for a solution that would provide access to data not only via the cloud, but also within the customer's local network. And one that was also simple, secure and quick to implement. With TeamViewer IoT, the right solution was found. Now SYS TEC electronic offers its customers the possibility to flexibly access the data collected by the edge controllers via TeamViewer IoT. Flexible because the user decides where his data is and who is allowed to access it.

"Our customers and also their end users are thrilled with the fact that they have complete control over data access. The users and machine owners decide completely autonomously whether the data can be used within their own network or whether the machine manufacturer, for example, is granted access from outside." In the process, all TeamViewer connections run over fully secured data channels that are built with a 2048-bit RSA public/private key exchange and encrypted with 256-bit AES. Since the private key never leaves the client computer, this procedure technically ensures that intermediate computers on the Internet cannot decipher the data stream.

With TeamViewer IoT integration, performance and status data as well as the current maintenance needs of a machine can be recorded without a technician having to do this himself on site. Technicians can remotely keep an eye on equipment "health" from their office, setting thresholds and setting alarms to match. In this way, early signs and signs of wear can be detected and corrected before they become serious problems. Thanks to predictive maintenance, the overall costs of a plant can thus be significantly reduced.

Easy entry into Industrial IoT

"It is a lean, commercially interesting solution that is very easy to integrate and easy to scale," says Nadine Mensdorf. "This also opens up an easy entry into Industrial IoT for our customers. Instead of having to start a large and expensive IoT initiative directly, they can approach the topic with our solution. We support them along the way and help with implementation and scaling." Incidentally, he says, it is helpful that TeamViewer is well-known in Germany and enjoys a very good reputation and a high level of trust. "That makes it easy to convince our customers of this solution." TeamViewer IoT is integrated into the sysWORXX CTR-700 edge controller as standard and is used within various integration projects at customers.

In parallel, the company is exploring the additional possibilities that this solution opens up. This involves questions such as: What new values can we capture for monitoring so that the customer gets even better input? Which additional access options to sensors and actuators in the machines can be used for predictive maintenance scenarios?

Linking TeamViewer IoT with other device management tools

With each new project, SYS TEC electronic gains new experience for the application-specific use of the solution and can thus further develop it. Currently, the company is working on the integration of data from a structure-borne noise and vibration analysis of motors within the machine for predictive maintenance. The aim of SYS TEC electronic is to use the experience gained in the integration business to establish the whole as a standard solution with application-specific modules. A link between TeamViewer IoT and other device management tools from SYS TEC electronic is also being considered. In short: SYS TEC electronic and TeamViewer are currently opening the door to the networked factory and IoT-driven predictive maintenance for many medium-sized machine builders. Simple, fast and cost-effective. This is how Industry 4.0 is emerging in medium-sized companies.

You candownload the complete case study here. Do you have any questions about this solution or the sysWORXX CTR-700?

Just contact us, we look forward to hearing from you!

Or read oursuccess story about the partnership with TeamViewer!