Remote support saves you time – and money
Unexpected downtime doesn’t just cause production and financial losses – there are other hidden costs and adverse effects associated with lengthy delays in restarting production. But our improved Remote Support service minimises such disruption more than ever thanks to industry-leading innovations and features, giving you predictability and peace of mind.
The dreaded scenario
For food producers operating production plants, one dreaded scenario looms over all others – unplanned downtime. Doubly so when this occurs outside regular office hours, if you operate in remote locations, or if you have complex equipment or capacity restraints. Dispatching the requisite expert for a site visit can take 24 hours or longer; add that to the time taken to actually solve the issue, and the result is a severe headache for plant managers. This is why our improved Remote Support service is geared to offer an invaluable quality – predictability.
“Operational predictability allows customers to achieve accurate production output from their forecasts,” says Vic Stockman, Vice President of Services for Tetra Pak® US and Canada. “It’s key when it comes to planned and unplanned equipment downtime.”
As such, Remote Support leans heavily on the concept of “remote” – as Stockman puts it, “the service places a subject matter expert in the middle of troubleshooting efforts virtually and over the phone, bypassing the delayed response time that comes with having a technician travel to a site. It brings fast and immediate support to our customers’ counterparts on site while working to resolve a problem or issue.”
Years of experience at your service
Of course, the concept of remote support is not new. But customers benefit from the accrued excellence and expertise gained since our original service launched several years ago. As Alexander Starck, Service Sales Manager for Tetra Pak® (Schweiz) AG, notes, our remote support offering has been tested and developed over several years to become the global solution it is today. “We have teams of world-class experts on duty, day and night – this gives the customer a guaranteed reaction time of less than one hour,” he says.
“We have put enormous efforts into setting up a structure that has the right tools, systems, and supporting technical staff, in the right time zones globally,” adds Stockman. “That gives customers a fast response and the right level of technical coverage, all in a convenient and straightforward service offering.”
Industry-leading innovations
And such an unrivalled track record of success – in 2021, Remote Support’s resolution rate for Packaging and Processing was 80%; for Automation, it was 100% – is now being augmented with the latest digital tools and industry-leading innovations. For example, there’s 24/7* access to world-class experts through a single entry point, and virtual support is available through the channel of customers’ choice, with real-time text-to-text translation in over 100 languages via WhatsApp and email.
Then there’s Visual Assistant, the new, industry-leading virtual channel that employs real-time assisted reality annotation and interaction alongside live video speech-to-text translation, to give greater clarity and understanding. By “sharing what you see”, Tetra Pak® experts can now walk customers through troubleshooting like never before, instantly identifying issues and possible solutions.
The benefits are clear
The ability to get support around the clock without delay, no matter where operations are based, and a rapid response and solution are just two benefits of the improved Remote Support service. Not requiring the physical presence of an engineer reduces travel costs by 5% and required car and air travel by up to 10% (equivalent to a CO2 reduction of 220,157 kg), lowering your overall carbon footprint. It also maximises production – an average plant will increase uptime by up to 130 hours per year.
This makes Remote Support a key tool for Tetra Pak® customers to ensure that unpredictable situations are addressed as quickly and swiftly as possible. And with multiple service packages available – “the level of service can range from an ad hoc basis without a contract through to a pre-allocated number of support calls/sessions per contract or an unlimited hours arrangement,” says Stockman. “It’s all a matter of sitting down with the customer and defining their needs.” – Remote Support is flexible too.
It all adds up to a modern approach to issue resolution that saves time and money, and gives you greater convenience and peace of mind, wherever you are in the world.
