Manufacturers Advantech and Secomea are collaborating to meet the remote communication security challenges arising from the growth of Industry 4.0/IIoT. As a result, Secomea’s secure remote connectivity software solution is now embedded in Advantech’s ruggedized Uno IPCs and HMIs. Embedding the Secomea Site Manager software into its Uno IPC provides a secure remote access capability. It enables Advantech/Secomea Uno customers to offer seamless and secure remote maintenance for their equipment from anywhere in the world. Also important, in the cooperation was that customer implementation should be easy, as well as safe and reliable. The modularity of the Advantech/Secomea solution addresses the widest range of application-specific tasks. Moreover, it offers numerous performance and cost-saving advantages, including complete HMI control and monitoring and customization. The resulting products support fast integration and deployment, reduced system downtime, lower maintenance costs, and support for future expansion.

To address the growth of Industry 4.0/IIoT and also environmental issues, demand is growing for remote connectivity with cybersecurity. With this in mind, the function of the Advantech/Secomea Site Manager solution is to address the remote monitoring cycle for production machinery. The Advantech/Secomea collaboration is unique as it provides factory owners and machine builders with secure remote machinery access. It also removes the need for service engineers to travel to the location of the remote machine. Furthermore, it increases the productivity of the equipment throughout its life cycle. A machines typical life cycle consists of commissioning followed by the machine going into production. Regularly assessing the operation and performance of the machine increases its earning potential. The level of maintenance support needed by the user depends on the sophistication of the machine or equipment. The more advanced the machine, the greater the need for the machine provider’s remote involvement.

The remote monitoring circle comprises of three key elements, corrective maintenance, preventative maintenance and predictive maintenance. The type of maintenance that addresses all parts of the cycle is corrective maintenance. This covers actions like troubleshooting, reprogramming, firmware updating and remote control. It is a specialist area in which Secomea has become a market leader. Preventive maintenance addresses the daily operation of the machine, ensuring uptime by handling consumables and spare parts and ensuring operator efficiency. It also addresses operation monitoring; operator help, and error handling. Finally, the predictive element will exploit the experience from the operation of the machine and other similar installations to increase uptime by optimising machine utilisation and predicting wear and tear. For example, efficiency tracking, machine learning, and error prevention. Users can optimise earnings from a machine’s everyday operation through the knowledge of the machine provider. This helps them in adjusting or calibrating a machine as well as suggesting retrofitting the machine with new components. From the Advantech/Secomea collaboration, the market can enjoy a secure one-stop solution enabling the control of Industrial PCs from secure remote locations. Further, it helps improve productivity and even manage legacy devices connected to the IPC.