Robotic Maintenance and 24/7 Response service

For over ten years ABB's UK robotics business has provided a valued partnership for the long-term service and support required by IAC Group, which provides integrated interior and exterior systems to automotive manufacturers worldwide. With 40+ ABB robots installed today over four of IAC's UK sites, the company continues to build on its investment in ABB's Maintenance and 24/7 Response service agreement packages to support and add value to its own service strategy.

In today's competitive environment, business profitability often relies on demanding production schedules that do not always leave time for exhaustive or repeated equipment health checks. With manufacturers often lacking the resources, knowledge or time to check robotic equipment regularly, remote monitoring of a robot's health anywhere in the UK with ABB's Remote Service Technology is invaluable, and IAC UK has now invested in this.

With IAC's substantial investment in robotic automation, over a quarter of the robots installed are now also activated with ABB's Remote Service Technology.

Critical support

Tony Pearce of Central Purchase at IAC Group states: "We are committed to exceeding the expectations of our customers in an OEM market that is highly competitive. Therefore it is critical for us at IAC to ensure we have in place the right levels of service and support initiatives to support our business on a day to day basis."

This technology, launched by ABB in 2007, offers customers the benefits of monitoring the robot's health while in its working environment and has the ability to gather critical information on the wear and tear and also the productivity of the robots. This service automatically generates alarms notifying ABB field service engineers who can remotely access detailed data and quickly identify the fault. Customers using this feature of a service agreement package from ABB have already experienced results of 70 per cent of stoppages being solved through rapid support via just a telephone call, thereby significantly reducing production downtime.

Andy Eyre, a Service Agreements Account Manager at ABB, comments: "Developing a better understanding of our customer's own service strategy and focusing on their real needs is paramount to building value-based service and support solutions for their production. With UK manufacturing needing to invest in robotics to reduce costs whilst increasing productivity and quality, a superior service support network can be a key differentiator when choosing a supplier. ABB Customer Service is determined to be the reason why customers choose ABB and continue to partner with us in their future investments."

For more information about ABB's Maintenance and 24/7 Response service agreement packages, go to www.abb.co.uk/robotics.