Digital Services - the new freedom from time and space

They better support those responsible in getting their maintenance and repair costs under control. The need for action becomes more predictable and the availability of the devices or systems is sustainably increased. Why is this the case?

Digital services are cloud-based. They offer all the advantages of the internet. One important factor is speed. Take a dynamic checkweigher:

It is networked with the Bizerba Cloud and automatically reports: "I'm at a standstill."; A service technician is informed directly. He connects to the system remotely and analyses the error. The basis is the recorded operating parameters.

His diagnosis is: "Component X is loose". He immediately passes this information on to your employee on site. He rectifies the fault and production starts up again. This process shows the strengths of the Bizerba Cloud and its Remote Services:

• You act quickly
• save costs because the journey of the service technician becomes superfluous
• do something for the environment because no CO2 is produced without a journey
• and reduce downtime, which has a positive effect on turnover.

What makes the digital services even more interesting: they can be accessed anywhere and at any time via the Bizerba Cloud. And because the network is global, you can always digitally contact a service technician in the global Bizerba network. This is ideal for production and service providers in shift operation, e.g. the logistics industry. In the case of complex challenges, you communicate live with product specialists worldwide. You experience a completely new quality of service.

Yes, absolutely. Bizerba Digital Services are as diverse as the industry and company size of our customers. Performance and scope are scalable to suit your needs. Let's look at a craftsman - a butcher, for example. He works with an analogue Bizerba cutting machine. He finds the Augmented Services App on the Bizerba Cloud. He can download it onto his PC or smartphone and use it.

In the app, he receives first-class support in a very uncomplicated way: a video demonstrates without using many words how to safely sharpen the cutting knife. Or he can see on the Digital Twin how to replace a worn part himself.

He can log into the customer portal. Here, with just a few clicks, he can find all the information about his cutting machine or order wear parts. Whenever and wherever he wants.

Then we have customers who use network solutions. In the trade sector, these are digital shop scales and cutting machines. In the retail and industry sector, there are also price labelling and inspection systems or waste management systems. In this environment, requirements are naturally more complex.

"From a business perspective, the exciting question is: How do I prevent faults from occurring in the first place?" This is exactly where predictive maintenance with its proactive remote services comes in.

Predictive maintenance avoids fluctuations in performance and quality and everything that goes with them: breakdowns, delivery bottlenecks and economic losses. The key is real-time monitoring.

Digital solutions that are connected to the Bizerba Cloud are permanently monitored. That is Remote Device Maintenance. How does it work?

We define limit values for certain measuring points. If the data on the dashboard shows that the value has been exceeded or not met, we act proactively. For example, we work with the plant or production manager to schedule maintenance and repair work in time slots that are outside of production. This keeps turnover stable.

Predictive maintenance is an extremely efficient tool that has been put into practice. Maintenance and service costs can be reduced by 17 per cent, uptime can be increased by 18 per cent, and turnover can be increased by 10 per cent¹.

Operations or production managers exploit the potential of analysis to optimise the Total Cost of Ownership/TCO. Proactive services increase the longevity of your equipment. By taking action early, components and spare parts wear out more slowly.

Or think about quality management, especially in the sensitive food or pharmaceutical industries. If you recognise variations at an early stage, you can take direct action. This keeps your production lines and products at a consistently high level of quality. At the same time, the services automatically support you in meeting the quality and safety standards of your industry.

IT is another important area of application. It is particularly appealing for SMEs with limited staff to integrate their digital solutions into the Bizerba Cloud. We take care of remote software updates, apply security patches or fulfil special requests.

Remote Device Management is used extensively in the retail environment. A best practice example is the fourth largest supermarket chain in the UK, which we manage remotely - around 500 shops with over 8000 Bizerba devices, all of which are networked with the Bizerba Cloud. From a central location, we upload synchronous master data or a new retail app to the scale network - an enormous reduction in workload.

Another efficient example concerned all the in-store scales at the fresh food counters: here, we rearranged the product groups centrally in the display design. What would have taken several days of staff time locally, only took a few hours centrally. In the meantime, we remotely solve 50% of all service tasks at the supermarket chain, i.e., without the need for a service technician to travel to the site.

It is the central platform for all the information we access for reactive or proactive remote services. The data transfer runs in two directions:

the network-enabled solutions send their real-time health, operational and performance data to the cloud. They are collected by sensors built into the solutions. All information is registered in databases and processed via software tools for monitoring.

If you are networked with the Bizerba Cloud, you can call up the data on the dashboard or generate flexible reports with the BRAIN2 software.

Your production becomes transparent. This is the first step towards improving your Overall Equipment Effectiveness/OEE. Every factor becomes measurable and thus controllable: performance, quality, availability. But also power consumption.

What else is on the Bizerba Cloud? All the content that we make available to customers in the Augmented Service App.

The customer portal with its entire infrastructure is installed here. For example, if you use the portal to view your digital device passport, you can access all the information that is stored in the cloud: Where is the device located? What is its ID? What software or add-ons do we have installed on it? Have we installed any variations in the hardware? How much work has it already done? How long has it been in use?

Via the cloud, we also record the automated software updates or security patches on Bizerba solutions, individually or in a network, which we have talked about. And of course, the global service network of around 1,400 employees is networked with the cloud in terms of communication.

We guarantee all companies that they retain control over their data.

"From the moment you create your service plan with us, we provide you with transparent information about which data we store, analyse and evaluate in the cloud."

The new Bizerba security architecture begins in the development process of the solutions. Here we have built security measures into the IT processes. They are closely linked to the network of measures that we have placed over the entire infrastructure of the Bizerba Cloud. All components meet the requirements of international standards and are upgraded to current security standards. All measures are permanently optimised. We do a lot to earn the trust of our customers.

The data transfer works via encryption methods such as HTTPS or SSL. We have installed security tokens. If Bizerba service technicians log into customer systems, this is only done in close coordination with the company managers. We follow their security specifications and use the defined encryption procedures.

On Bizerba's side, all systems in the Bizerba Cloud work with user administration and with the new multifactor authentication procedure. Only authorised service employees can act for customers via the remote service. We are also investing heavily in security training.