MAN Roland recently announced two initiatives
designed to benefit owners of its presses in the areas of remote press service
and spare press parts.
MAN Roland is streamlining its Parts and Supplies
department in North America to ensure that its growing customer base is supplied
with spare parts and consumables for their presses and finishing systems.
The company will relocate its spare parts and
supplies warehousing and distribution operations from the East Coast to a more
central site. The transition, from the company’s logistics center in
Middlesex, N.J., to a new facility near its headquarters in Westmont, Ill.,
began last month and is scheduled to be completed by early summer.
Dick Wauer, vice president of parts,
said that the shift west will improve emergency service to his customers in
three ways: “Chicago offers O’Hare and Midway next-flight-out service, which
means we can provide same-day delivery of emergency parts in many instances.
Second, operating in the Central time zone extends the normal shipping day an
extra hour. And third, the close proximity to our division headquarters provides
additional management oversight into daily operations.”
MAN Roland Chief Executive Officer Yves Rogivue
noted that it makes sense for an organization that serves printers throughout
the United States and Canada to have its supply operation located closer to the
heart of North America.
“E-mail has made ordering parts a real-time
experience,” Rogivue said. “But when it comes to delivery, you still have to
deal with the realities of geography and distance. Locating our operations in
the air transport hub of North America will help us supply all of our customers
more effectively.”
Moving the parts operation is not expected to be
a simple task. MAN Roland stores multiples of more than 20,000 separate items in
its main inventory, supporting the full range of web press, sheetfed and bindery
systems it installs. In addition the company’s parts operation provides a
complete range of consumable items for its customers.
“We maintain a large inventory of maintenance
items, such as bearings, oil, grease, brushes, wash-up blades and filters,”
Wauer said. “These are very popular, and we plan to expand this segment of our
service. Customers who run MAN Roland presses can operate more confidently when
they use MAN Roland consumables.”
The reorganization will allow MAN Roland to offer
its customers a new program that delivers maintenance supplies on a regularly
scheduled basis.
“That service will take out the guesswork and a
lot of the administrative costs of keeping their equipment in shape,” Wauer
said.
During the relocation period, MAN Roland will
continue to provide service from its New Jersey facility, while gearing up its
new central operation. As a result, customers ordering parts or supplies will
experience no lag in response times.
The toll free number for making parts inquiries
and placing parts orders will remain the same: 800.676.5263. Customers can also
still e-mail orders to sheetfedparts@mru.com.
The North American operation will maintain close
ties with MAN Roland’s German manufacturing facilities, which have an
additional inventory of more exotic parts and components. The international
network can ship items directly to North American printers to minimize emergency
response times.
MAN Roland applies e-eyes to press servicing
MAN Roland also recently introduced ServiceVision,
a new innovation that puts the company’s technicians virtually inside a
printer’s press. The wireless device equips service specialists and a printer’s
pressman to better effect repairs via remote control, eliminating the time and
expense of an on-site service call.
Currently in operation as an alpha prototype,
Service-Vision works in conjunction with MAN Roland’s Remote Service
Diagnostic system to provide real-time, full-motion views of a press in action.
Members of the company’s Rapid Response Team can combine ServiceVision’s
live action perspective with real-time RSD data to troubleshoot virtually any
component on a press, even if the machine is on the other side of the world.
MAN Roland’s Rapid Response Team is
adding
the sense of sight to its Remote Service Diagnostic
capabilities with ServiceVision, a wireless webcam
that virtually puts the technician inside the press.
Photos courtesy of MAN Roland
“ServiceVision is the perfect complement to our
Remote Service Diagnostics system, which we’ve had on our presses since 1992,”
said Matt Braun, a member of MAN Roland’s Rapid Response Team. “RSD gave us
a way to analyze, monitor and fix the electronic components of a press over a
dial-up modem line. Now ServiceVision lets us see the components of the press in
motion. That vastly increases the types of solutions we can apply remotely,
which saves time and money for our customers.”
ServiceVision combines a number of digital
communications technologies, incorporating a digital camera, a video monitor, a
wireless transmitter, and a broadband Internet line. When a press requires
service, an operator simply points the ServiceVision module at what he believes
to be the trouble spot. The video image is transmitted to a receiver attached to
computer connected to the Internet, via T1, DSL or other broadband connection.
The service technician, located in MAN Roland’s Westmont, Ill., headquarters,
can see what’s causing the glitch so he can plan his repair accordingly.
“We’ll encourage the pressman to stay in
touch with the technician via cell phone, while he’s using ServiceVision,”
Braun notes. “That way the technician can direct him to show us other areas of
the press that might require attention.”
Matt Braun, a member of MAN Roland’s
Rapid Response Team, uses a ServiceVision view
to repair a press via remote control.
A standard broadband Web link serves as
the connection.
Photos courtesy of MAN Roland
Via the Remote Service Diagnostic module the service specialist can monitor all
of the press’ vital signs, while he watches the live camera scenes. In most
cases, the solution involves instructing the press operator on how to make an
adjustment or replace a part to get the press up and running.
ServiceVision also plays a role here, allowing
the remote technician to observe the repair so he can supervise its proper
completion. With ServiceVision and RSD, the press can be virtually put on the
MAN Roland technician’s desktop, enabling him to monitor the effects of
adjustments and the installation of new parts.
If the work required is beyond the capabilities
of the pressman, a MAN Roland technician will be dispatched to the printer’s
facility, armed with the information and the proper replacement parts, thanks to
the ServiceVision and RSD analysis.
MAN Roland offers Remote Service Diagnostics as
standard equipment on all of its digitally controlled presses. The system is an
integral part of the company’s Pecom command and control system.
More than 30 MAN Roland presses are connected to
the RSD system in North America. Even before the launch of ServiceVision, MAN
Roland technicians have been able to apply over-the-phone solutions to
approximately 90 percent of all service calls on RSD equipped presses.
“RSD lets us see here in Westmont exactly what
the press operator sees on the press’ Pecom console,” Braun said. “So we
can make adjustments or even download data for analysis by the factory to make
sure any problem is solved quickly and without the need for an on-site visit.
And now with the launch of ServiceVision, remote diagnosis will be more
effective than ever.”
