Today we announce an improvement of our award-winning solution with a set of new features where special attention has been given to each step of the machine installation process. This news remains in line with our philosophy as it leverages successful machine connectivity for machine manufacturers.
Automation engineers may spend up to half of their working time traveling. In 63% of the cases, the machine they are visiting works just fine or needs a routine check hence does not require any on-site intervention. Put those two facts together, and it should come as no surprise that HMS cares so much about how securely and efficiently you should be able to connect to all your machines remotely.
Ewon solutions are already well-known for their in-depth layered security approach that is certified and continuously monitored to comply with the highest security standards. And today, HMS is pleased to upgrade its Easy Setup functionality. Easy Setup is a set of features that help machine manufacturers to easily prepare, configure and install their routers, no matter where they deploy their machines.
Factory networks are getting more and more complex — this complexity increases network-related service calls. Today, 70% of support calls concern network configuration.
Before shipping any connectivity equipment, we believe it is critical to ensure its network compatibility. Compatibility problems reveal to be arduous as automation engineers often spend hours identifying their cause. A cause that mainly depends on an IT-owned setting. With Easy Setup, HMS provides a detailed report of the network parameters that need to be modified to ensure a successful connection with your machine.
However, preparing the network alone will not ensure successful connectivity. Often, it all comes down to the way automation engineers configure the router — a process that can reveal to be tricky. Would you allow your automation engineer wasting hours configuring routers? Neither would we. In May, HMS released a feature enabling users to set the network connectivity of an Ewon router with just a PC and either a USB flash drive or an SD card. A wizard guides the user through the most common internet connectivity settings and generates configuration files to be loaded on the device. As security is one of our top concerns, we have improved the level of encryption of the said configuration files — no need to be a network or IT expert to configure your Ewon router securely.
With the factory network prepared and your device adequately configured, the risks of a problem occurring during the installation of the router are limited. However, as the number of devices increase, so does the risk of conflicts. And how much would like your automation engineer to deal with IP conflicts when he has only one urgent goal: to troubleshoot the machine and fix it remotely. As of today, IP conflicts will no longer be an issue. In just a few clicks, you will be able to get through any network hurdles so that your engineers can focus on value-adding activities.
"Machine connectivity is key to gain a competitive edge. Our customers repeatedly share with us how our routers help them reduce their operational costs. Connectivity also enables them to expand on even more markets as their technicians can access the machine from the office, no matter where it is deployed. However, we have identified other bumps on the road to successful connectivity. At HMS, we believe that setting up a VPN connection with Talk2M, our industrial cloud, should not be difficult or time-consuming. We have, therefore put a clear focus on easiness this year." – Marie-Luce Bodineau | Head of Product Management Ewon | HMS Network