With both personnel and technology being strained, suppliers have had to develop new ways of keeping production lines running during the COVID-19 pandemic. With travel limitations preventing on-site calls, Vetaphone has discovered a new way of providing remote support for users of its corona and plasma surface treatment systems.

Søren Kusk Pedersen, one of the Vetaphone on-call support team, explains how the remote service tool has been set up. “We created the software in-house as a diagnostic tool for our generators. It allows us to see and change the state of the input and output signals, read the error log, and modify all the parameters. We can also upload and change all the settings in the generator, so it effectively acts as a remote troubleshooting service for any Vetaphone customer.”

The proof of the concept in action came recently with a customer 10,000 kilometers away in Durban, South Africa, where Advanced Labels was having issues with one of its Nilpeter narrow web presses.  P.J. Prinsloo, one of the service engineers at IPEX Services KZN, Vetaphone’s representative for southern Africa, outlined what happened: “Advanced Labels has a Vetaphone 2kW corona treater fitted to a Nilpeter and it was failing to start up, although the display on the press was not showing an error.  By having the Vetaphone service tool on my laptop I could log in and see what the issue was with the generator.”

Having found the source of the problem, IPEX was able to order a new generator from the Vetaphone factory in Denmark and it was shipped and delivered in days ready for installation. After commissioning, the new generator was tested using the service tool and all readings confirmed as normal. 

“It’s so good to have this facility on our laptops – it really has given us a new way to support our customers wherever they are located,” says Prinsloo.

Speaking for Advanced Labels, managing director Richard Jones adds, “We were delighted with the speed of response from IPEX and the way in which the problem was diagnosed and resolved.  It was a fine example of customer support from the brand leader and highlights the advantages of today’s communication technology.”

With Vetaphone surface treatment systems working around the world, and supported by more than 70 agents, the addition of this remote service tool not only shows its commitment to providing a first class service, but empowers its remotely located service personnel by allowing them employ all of the skills available at the company’s HQ in Denmark.