MAAC machinery saves 50 % of support cost using Ewon Cosy

MAAC is a corporate situated in Chicago and specialized in manufacturing thermoforming machinery and other companion products. These MAAC products are used around the world and serve many sectors such as the aerospace sector, medical automotive and other.

MAAC Company quickly found out that the automation control technology was the key to succeed in the machinery sector. Leslie Adams, Director of Technical Services, as an industry veteran, has devoted the past 27 years to make MAAC machines best of class.

He’s been supporter of electronic automation since the very beginning and Ewon’s industrial gateways are now on the top of his interests. 

Extremely effective technology

According to Mr. Adams, "The communications provided by an Ewon VPN gateway is simply incredible. Using an internet connection we can connect to machines just about anywhere. We have established secure VPN connections with our machines in Calgary, Minnesota, North Carolina and Montreal in the past few weeks alone. As long as the customer has an internet connection – we’re good to go. It eliminates the need for any kind of special interface." 

The secure VPN connection that Ewon technology provides, offers full integration of IT security standards. Ewon’s unique remote access solution allows MAAC to connect to machines in the field with the same ease and flexibility as a machine in their shop.

The remote access enables the company to connect to their machine just as if they were beside them and to have access to PLC’s, Drives and HMI devices and any other device connected to the machine subnet including an IP camera.

The flux of information is delivered in real time and can help troubleshooting the issue or provide a fast solution to customers.

With Ewon, we eliminate 50-70 % of our support cost, in addition to significantly reducing hours of machine downtime.

Leslie Adams, Director of Technical Services, MAAC Industry

A solution to phone modems delay time

Before installing Ewon gateway, MAAC Machinery used phone modems to connect to their machines. But this structure had a huge problem: the delay time. "I remember the frustration associated with trying to monitor machines when it took a long time for information to make its way back via the modem connection. In one instance, we were working with a machine in Australia and the delay ran up to 15 seconds", recalls Adams.

Further, MAAC has been able to substantially improve customer service in important developing economies like China, India, Australia and other.

"The Ewon VPN gateway gets our customers away from the cost of running special phone lines into their manufacturing facility. With the Ewon solution, we have the flexibility to service our machinery using the best communication technology available locally whether it is internet, cellular, or anything else."

Cost saving

By applying Ewon and their companion Talk2m cloud service, the servers keep track of each machine with the customer location and machine type and allow the user to manage who has access to which machine on any given day. The remote maintenance which enables a quick and efficient troubleshooting has a positive impact on the customer effective support costs.

Leslie commented, "With Ewon, we eliminate 50-70% of our support cost, in addition to significantly reducing hours of machine downtime normally associated with waiting for a service technician. Travel time wasted on field trips equates to a lot of money. Sitting in airports and driving out to customer installations means a whole lot of unproductive time. Time we prefer our programmers spend working on new machines or fine tuning existing systems. When these guys are gone – they simply aren’t working on the important stuff."

"I have been monitoring a machine in California which may have a problem. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do that just a few months ago. I just saved another maintenance trip with Ewon."