The latest maintenance ideas and new products will be pitched to industry expert ‘Lions’ at a Dragons’ Den-inspired contest that will be staged at easyFairs Maintec show on Thursday 1 March 2012. The interactive session will be staged at 1.20pm at the show, giving the panel and the audience an opportunity to vote for the best product available.
However, there will be no sign of Duncan Bannatyne or Peter Jones – instead, Graeme Coyne, Business Manager – IA&DT Service, Support & Training Development at Siemens, Paul Dennis, Technical Facilities Manager at Experian, and Leighton Parker, Maintenance Manager from Alliance Boots, will form the Lions’ Lair judging panel and will be casting their critical eye over an array of the most pioneering products put forward by four exhibiting companies.
The first company stepping into the Lair will be Schad, who will be pitching EXTEND7000, the world’s first fully functional mobile SCADA application.
EXTEND7000 is an award-winning mobile SCADA system that allows engineers supporting automated systems within distribution centres, airports, manufacturing plants, utilities companies and any other automated environments controlled by PLCs (programmable logic computers) to monitor, control and maintain multiple systems remotely, using any mobile device from any location.
“We are at the tip of the iceberg as the use of mobile applications within business starts to really take hold, thanks to the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets that already run many aspects of our lives,” says Christian Schad, Founder and CEO of Schad GmbH. “It is a natural extension to apply a new layer of enterprise mobility to help companies using automation systems gain better control and reduce the costs of system downtime – and as more companies introduce automation in the distribution centre, production facility or for transportation services the issue of downtime reduction will be increasingly important.”
James Hannay, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Schad, adds: “The launch of EXTEND7000 offers organisations a huge opportunity to introduce mobility to a completely new area of the workforce – namely the highly skilled maintenance engineers responsible for managing automated systems monitored by SCADA and controlled by PLC technology. Many companies already have a wireless infrastructure so it’s a logical transition to put this to greater use with mobile applications to reduce downtime.”
The second company looking to take on the Maintec lions will be Idhammar Systems with its ‘Andon Signalling and Business Alerts’ product.
Idhammar specialises in integrated maintenance and manufacturing systems – CMMS and OEE Systems. As part of the reporting output from the OEE System, it provides tailored Andon Signalling – to keep the shop-floor informed of progress on its shift and business alerts – sent by SMS directly to pre-defined managers, depending on the severity of breakdown/production issue.
Pickering Lifts, the third company looking to take on the Maintec lions, will be demonstrating its new HVLS fans, designed to provide an energy-efficient solution for large spaces and which also require much less energy than traditional HVAC systems.
Also looking to impress the Lions is C-Cubed. The company will be presenting its new EXPiDERO Inspections system – a system for carrying out and verifying machine, plant and building inspections using low cost widely available technology.
The Lions’ Lair contest will be taking place on 1 March 2012 at 1.20pm, with all four companies competing. Only one company will be awarded with the Lions’ Lair accolade, with results being announced at shortly after the session.
As well as the Lions’ Lair competition, MAINTEC 2012 will also include a programme of learnShops seminars, free to attend for visitors. There will be around 30 learnShops seminars running over the three days, with speakers from major brands such as Siemens, Schaeffler and Britvic, all revealing their secrets to help those visiting succeed in 2012.
MAINTEC 2012 takes place from Tuesday 28 February to Thursday 1 March 2012 at the NEC, Birmingham. For more information or to register for the show please visit www.easyFairs.com/MAINTECUK, and for stand bookings and exhibiting enquiries contact Jerry Dawson on +44 (0)20 8843 8823 or email Jerry.Dawson@easyFairs.com.
