SIPA PROVIDES THE PERSONAL TOUCH IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

For any technology provider, provision of post-sales technical service is a must. But SIPA has always gone the extra mile in making sure the service meets individual customer needs, and that is something much appreciated in the market. Now, with SIPA technical service having been given a comprehensive upgrade in recent months, the concept of true partnership has been further extended.

With an innovative digital ecosystem, SIPA has transformed the traditional concept of B2B service into a true partnership in which the skills of both partners are shared, with new interactive multi-channel digital solutions just a click away. SIPA has a full range of services to support customers throughout the lifetime of their plant. SIPA Life Cycle Service is a highly innovative customizable package that is “always on.”

SIPA believes that its customer-centric philosophy makes an important difference. Targeted and timely technical service can save converters significant amounts of money in ensuring that their plant is always operational, always in the best condition, consistently making products of the highest quality. This is the meaning of true partnership.

The speed at which markets, technologies, and the needs of the end user evolve means that the entire production chain must be able to adapt constantly. Behind SIPA’s Life Cycle Service (LCS) is a mission to understand the individual needs of each partner and provide high added-value solutions that stay in tune with that evolution.

SIPA introduced the Life Cycle Service several years ago, but it continues to evolve. Most recently, the range of LCS services has been extended to satisfy customer requests even more fully and guarantee the right solution with the greatest possible flexibility every time, increasing the overall efficiency of manufacturing systems.

LCS solutions now comprise just about everything a converter needs in terms of service to ensure their plant keeps at the highest level of productivity, quality, functionality and reliability: Digital Services, Technical Support, Remote Global Assistance, Maintenance Management, Technology Upgrades, Auditing, Renovation and Relocation of Existing Plant, Line Conversions, Spare Parts, Hot Runner Refurbishment, Technical Training, and Service Contracts.

Today, SIPA partners can take advantage of a team that:

• provides total worldwide support and service with a high technological value;

• guarantees production continuity, increasing performance and efficiency

• ensures a constant response to technological evolution, with special attention to sustainability;

• optimises resources and productivity;

• conceives, develops, and propose new scalable and customizable solutions.

LCS solutions can be divided into 12 different facets:

One of SIPA’s latest service innovations is the Echo System, a cloud-based platform created to connect people, businesses and resources in an interactive environment based on total skill sharing. Echo System makes it possible to have full control of system performance at all times, increasing efficiency and optimizing costs. It allows users to access information on any of its SIPA machines anywhere in the world, at any time. It is made up of several elements: XCON, Teleservice, Warehouse 4.0, XDATA, and XCHANGE.

XCON makes it possible to monitor machine performance and receive real time technical support.

TELESERVICE is the remote assistance solution that significantly reduces technical support response times and eliminates all the costs relating to transfers, by interacting directly with SIPA machines in the field. Teleservice comes with the XRAY Augmented Reality tool (more on this in a moment).

WAREHOUSE 4.0 is a high performance and customizable platform for efficient organization of all the processes involved in stock management, allowing the user to always know the state of stock and inventory, analyze the data and speed up workflows.

XDATA is an innovative solution that involves every operating phase and enhances the manufacturing performance of the machines. The XDATA supervisor provides essential information to speed up processes, improve quality with continual analysis and immediate reports, identify any operating problems and deal with them in real time.

XCHANGE is a universal communication interface that enables a processing machine to connect to enterprise-level data acquisition systems. It allows implementation of various protocols to satisfy any specific need.

SIPA now offers XRAY, an augmented reality service platform that facilitates remote interventions with the combination of smart glasses and smart phones, guaranteeing real time assistance to locations anywhere in the world, through an IoT-enabled combination of on-site and remote interventions. A technician standing by their equipment can be guided through routines by a SIPA engineer on the other side of the world. The right SIPA specialist is always assigned to the task, based on the problem to be solved. When machines are connected to the cloud, XRAY also provides direct software updates.

SIPA operates a technical service network to provide solutions all over the world. Over 200 qualified technicians are connected to each other to guarantee fast, thorough problem solving wherever the customer is located.

Proper operation of every machine is based not only on care and correct use, but also on a post-sales service entrusted to experienced hands. Scheduled and preventive maintenance of machines is essential to guarantee contractual performance levels, safety compliance, optimum operation, and reliability over time, but also to reduce the overall costs measured over the machine’s lifetime.

SIPA offers a full maintenance service, based on customized contracts, according to the model, age, and workload of the machines in question, to restore the system to “like new” conditions. Machine stoppage can be planned with the customer, optimizing the intervention period, and increasing operating availability of equipment.

To maintain a high level of reliability for bottling machines and lines over time, and above all to increase performance and the value of investments, the SIPA Life Cycle Service Team offers all customers the availability of technological upgrades to make their machines future-proof, efficient and productive, as well as providing support to develop containers that are always cutting edge.

Technological Upgrades comprise technical improvements to existing machines or lines, the feasibility of which is assessed following an on-site visit by a team of experts. The results include improved plant performance and quality; a reduction in of energy consumption; reduction in the weight of containers; quicker format changes; and even improved safety conditions with new generation safeguards.

SIPA Life Cycle Service audits help customers identify losses in efficiency along the production line, and make the right improvements to keep performance high and optimize investment plans. SIPA technicians can provide the SIPA Life Cycle Service Team with a detailed picture of the state of the plant, so a targeted maintenance plan can be drawn up and a list of required spare parts set out. This is the key to maintenance that will restore the machine to its original conditions.

If a customer needs to upgrade or transfer a production unit or entire production line, the SIPA LCS Team is available to transfer the plant, from dismantling to repositioning, until it is made new. Activities include preliminary analysis and feasibility studies; detailed plan of intervention; dismantling, packing, and shipping of equipment and reassembly; retrofitting and maintenance of machines using original SIPA spare parts; start-up and final testing; and training.

SIPA can assist customers to convert existing SIPA plant, to help insert them in production sectors where there is a higher demand than those in which they already operate, and to allow transformation of the production processes with new technology and new functions, in line with current safety regulations, adapting the machines quickly and safely.

The use of original spare parts guarantees the SIPA standard of quality and ensures that the performance and lifespan of the systems will remain unchanged in the medium and long term. SIPA has developed a logistics process and strategically located warehouses, fully integrated with each other to allow widespread distribution of spare parts. The supply chain has also been fully re-engineered to complete all orders in a timely manner. The spare parts catalogue is precise and easy to consult. It is available in the 3D manuals supplied as an integral part of the machine, and through the ECHO platform.

SIPA offers a series of preventive maintenance and regeneration plans for the hot runner components of injection molds, designed and guaranteed to reduce unplanned machine stoppage costs to a minimum. There are three service levels: preventive maintenance; intermediate regeneration (returning the HR to an optimum state, eliminating all air and PET leaks); and full refurbishment. SIPA experts have the know-how and ability to restore SIPA hot chambers of any generation. They can offer a flexible range of treatments and costs.

Staff responsible for operation and maintenance of the machinery have to be adequately trained and constantly updated. SIPA offers different training levels and plans, including customized ones, to improve and develop the knowledge of operators, maintenance teams and all the professional figures involved in the manufacturing process and in product quality control.

SIPA believes in the importance of preventive maintenance and a first-class post-sales service, to provide customers with the latest technology available on the market. It has designed specific flexible, modular maintenance plans, based on contracts that aim to improve the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and extend the working life of assets.

The overall aim is to reduce both unscheduled machine stoppage time and total maintenance costs. The contracts consist of a series of services: from regular, scheduled inspections to training of technical staff, and they are only stipulated after adequate analysis by specialist staff, who assess conditions, age, and use of the machine to construct a made-to--measure package of interventions.