Product Reliability and Maintenance

The importance of productivity measurements with capital investments in industrial equipment especially computers should be a fundamental element when selecting a vendor where these products will be powering manufacturing processes that are vital to any company. According to the National Academic Press (Science, Engineering & Medicine) the term ERM – equipment reliability and maintenance; “encompasses not only equipment, such as machines, tools, and fixtures, but also the technical, operational, and management activities, ranging from equipment specifications to daily operation and maintenance, required to sustain the performance of manufacturing equipment throughout its useful life.”

When in the market to procure industrial computers, here are some important areas to research to ensure what you are buying can sustain both environmental and physical demands of the daily operational abuse which is synonymous with the manufacturing industry.

• Component Integrity – ensuring best of breed internal components of any industrial computer is critical to meet long term performance and support needs. Selection of the processor and chipset shouldn’t solely be based on speed and performance. It’s important that organizations take into consideration all initial and future life cycle requirements to mitigate disruption due to EOL (end of life) on these vital components.
• Long-Term Useful Life – The product life cycle expectation for industrial computers range from 3 to 5 years and support after the retirement/discontinued notice is typically available for an additional 2 years. Industrial computer manufactures unable to offer a commitment to this life cycle, product availability and support are suspect. Design specifications gathered during the initial development process would circumvent any such component obsolescence and is the guide to the product life cycle and a commitment to a long-term roadmap.
• Warranty Offerings – typically most vendors will offer a 1yr manufacture warranty that is built into the initial price of the product. It is very important to understand what additional warranty & support options are offered. Having comprehensive coverage under a 3yr/5yr support package can increase the ROI of your purchase, giving you the peace of mind that your product is coverage for years in the future.
• Proactive vs. Reactive internal maintenance strategy – most organization are not prioritizing a proactive approach to monitoring their industrial computer performance, instead a break/fix model seems to take precedence. Unplanned outages or failures in the devices that are controlling the most critical applications in any organization are extremely costly and in most circumstances the revenue lost cannot be recouped. Making sure that the product you purchase has internal capabilities to monitor performance give you the daily health check to minimize downtime and mitigate unnecessary disruptions.

As you consider your use cases for industrial computing, Comtronix is ready to help you determine the best computers for your industrial automation needs. Our consultative selling approach motivates us to seek to understand your use cases and business problems before proposing the best computer solutions for you. We design, manufacturer and support, Industrial Embedded Computers, Industrial Panel Computers, Industrial Rackmount Servers, Industrial Touch Monitors, Rugged Tablet Computers and Industrial Barcode Scanners. Check out our product online (www.comtronixus.com) to get started today.