Remote Maintenance and Service Support Systems for Construction Machinery

Remote maintenance and on-site support of operators and maintenance personnel is becoming increasingly important for efficient use of complex machinery. For enterprises active in global markets. the provision and support of a worldwide service network produces high cost on top of product prices and service cost. Both imply major drawbacks for competitiveness. The use of modem ICT can support the improvement of maintenance processes and after-sales services regarding effectiveness, cost, flexibility and availability. By introducing facilities for remote access of machines from a service station and providing a cooperative working environment between the manufacturer's place and the machines in external sitcs, the support of service personnel as well as of machine operators can be heavily improved. In the following paper the basic idea, the state-of-the-art and industrial requirements from supplier's and from user's side will be discussed. An approach for solution and related technology will be described. The first realisation of an application in construction machinery will be presented.