Ewon Cosy enables Cofresco's remote maintenance solution

The leader manufacturer of home solutions for the fresh keeping and storage of food, Cofresco, is constantly developing new products solutions and new complex automation for the household. Cofresco Europa manufactures film products mainly for Toppits, Albal, Glad, Handy Bag and PrimaPackamong among others Cofresco implemented a remote maintenance structure for each of its supplier in order to be able to find them virtual.

Control machines start-up

"It is really important to us, especially in the start-up phase", stresses Friedrich Niedernolte. "It takes a while before a new machine is properly up and running". As many plant engineers buy in programming from outside, the programmer is often already working on the next project and in the worst case scenario somewhere abroad. If we then need to make adjustments, it is very difficult to do this in the short term without remote maintenance.

Interface standardization

As many engineering companies have their remote maintenance system, the company wanted to uniform this structure in a standard one in order to avoid errors due to the multiple VPN certificates. This standardization could also bring a more simple and unique interface, facilitating the use for the employees. « The handling is also different in each case and our employees have to get used to completely different user interfaces. We wanted to put an end to this chaos », adds Friedrich Niedernolte. After a period of search, the company chose Ewon remote maintenance gateway in conjunction with the Talk2m online service portal.

We have found the ideal company standard in Ewon & Talk2m and do not wish to pass on the numerous options offered by this industrial gateway.

Friedrich Niedernolte, Cofresco

Secure process

"In our company, we have strict security guidelines for IT which are revised on a regular basis", explains an IT expert. " We do not want to give anyone access to our network and would rather look after everything ourselves. This is no problem with the Ewon gateways. We configure the system once, create a virtual network with a single access point through the firewall and thus have sufficient capacity for our systems. If another one is added, it is integrated via a switch and the job is done within five minutes", explains the IT expert.

Cofresco implemented a remote maintenance structure for each supplier in order to be able to find them virtually. After a period of search, the company chose Ewon remote maintenance gateway in conjunction with the Talk2m online service portal.

Multiple features 

Most importantly, Ewon gateways are fully robust and suited to industrial use. The Ewon system can incorporates a camera which points directly at the connected PLC so it is possible to see remotely if variables are correctly adjusted.

Talk2m industrial cloud 

"Before we changed our delivery terms, we had a case where a supplier had not planned for remote maintenance and the relevant gateway was not there", explains Friedrich Niedernolte. "But with the Plug’n’Route option from Ewon, it was still no problem as the Ecatcher commissioning assistant can read all addresses. This means that the controllers from all conventional manufacturers can be maintained remotely - even if they were not specifically designed for this purpose in the first place. Access can also be configured easily via a smartphone or tablet."

The access to both the Talk2m server and the relevant Ewon gateway is protected by access data such as account, user and password. If a camera is connected, access to this is secured separately.