Time saved on remote access configuration led to quick ROI for Nidec

Nidec Netherlands, a branch of the international Nidec Corporation, is a supplier of drive solutions. They supply drives, motors, and generators to customers in a wide range of sectors, from the steel industry and shipbuilding to food processing and fairground attractions — as long as there’s a motor on board.

'We weren’t really looking for a remote access solution. If a customer specifically requested it, we’d use it. But that was it,' says Michael Eling, Service & Application Engineer at Nidec Netherlands. 'Which is how we ended up with a proliferation of solutions that we weren’t completely happy with. We decided that it was time to choose one standard, reliable solution.'

Time spent on configuration dropped from two hours to twenty minutes.

_{Michael Eling Service and Application Engineer at Nidec}

Easy configuration, as it should be

One of Nidec’s customers has a chemical terminal which deals with cleaning soil and destroying chemical components. If this customer has an issue with the main exhaust fan, it’s crucial that Nidec can easily access the installation remotely. But if the existing VPN solution regularly fails to work properly, ensuring easy access and continuity can be tricky. 'Through one of our customers, we found out about IXON,' Michael explains.

They ended up choosing IXON as their standard remote access solution. Time saved turned out to be the deciding factor. 'Sure, we had a product that mostly worked, but it was difficult to configure,' says Michael. 'If you’re spending two hours configuring a router, that quickly becomes a nuisance. When you can do the same within twenty minutes, that’s a huge difference.'

The industrial VPN router is, in fact, a tool that should support Michael and his colleagues in their work. 'With IXON the set-up is easy,' Michael remarks. 'Simply put it on a USB stick and it’ll configure itself. Just the way it should be.'

We saved about twenty on-site visits for minor, non-billable bug fixes.

_{Michael Eling Service and Application Engineer at Nidec}

Every hour saved is money earned

The first Nidec installation that featured an IXrouter was a brand new engine test field in The Netherlands, about a 2.5-hour drive from the Nidec office. The project’s software was written completely manually, which meant that minor bugs fixes were certainly on the horizon. 'That was a whopping success,' claims Michael. 'The IXrouter just worked and the IXON Cloud platform has a really nice interface. It’s helped us resolve numerous issues remotely.'

But the main result that’s been achieved? Nidec saw a quick ROI. 'I think we saved about twenty on-site visits,' Michael proclaims. And, with a scarcity of skilled people and hourly wages going up, every hour saved is money earned. 'Twenty roundtrips, plus the cost of manhours, just to fix some minor bugs that you usually won’t be able to invoice. It’s not difficult to calculate that we recouped our investment by more than twofold.'

Besides a sharp return on investment, Nidec is now able to uphold the expected support quality as agreed upon in their service contracts. A great example is a customer for whom they installed a driver for the extraction fan. 'The VPN solution which was installed initially would frequently disconnect,' Michael recalls. 'Always at the most inconvenient time of course.' They switched the VPN solution with an IXrouter. 'That way we can ensure reliability and continuity, and live up to our service agreements,' Michael concludes.

Benefits IXON Cloud offers Nidec:

• Less time spent on configuration
• No more unnecessary and costly on-site visits
• Quick return on investment
• Comply with service level agreements

Want to know more about remote access with IXON Cloud? Learn more

Would you like to save or share this case study? Download the PDF version here.