TPT September 2021

I NDUS T RY

Remote commissioning of a Compact Weldac THE Covid-19 pandemic has brought several unforeseen challenges for many industries. Travel bans, closure of do- mestic and international borders, quar- antine requirements and restriction of visitors have caused serious delays in repairs and commissioning – particu- larly where specialised personnel are required from manufacturers. engineer from EFD Induction India should complete the job.” However, as the Covid situation in India quickly evolved into a full-blown crisis, travel restrictions became ever stricter. “The customer is quite familiar with EFD Induction equipment, so we were confident that they would have no trouble on their side of the process,” Mr Haugerud said.

Consequently, companies have had to look for alternative ways to ensure that production and services can be maintained. When a major steel products manufacturer in the Middle East ordered a new Compact Weldac tube welder last November, a new approach was required to successfully complete commissioning, and this is where the digital control system has come into its own – turning a problem into an opportunity. “Remote commissioning solved our problem when we couldn’t get to the customer,” said project manager Pål Haugerud from EFD Induction Norway. EFD Induction has a longstanding

relationship to the customer that has previously purchased three other Weldacs, most recently another Compact Weldac that was successfully delivered and commissioned earlier this year. The latest order, which arrived at the customer in April 2021, originally included commissioning and start-up by an EFD Induction service engineer who would spend three days on site. “Because of the new wave of Covid, we realised we may run into problems sending a service engineer from Norway”, Mr Haugerud said. “So, we alerted the customer and agreed it would be better that an

First, there were two video conferences so that both parties could present their requests and agree on which preparations had to be completed before the commissioning could take place. When the date was set, the customer’s team knew exactly what to do and who to call if they had any questions. “The customer prepared the ethernet connection to the Weldac control system, so that our service engineer had remote access to the machine,” added Mr Haugerud.

EFD Induction www.efd-induction.com

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SEPTEMBER 2021