Power Distribution Services to Minimize Downtime.
Today, reliable power distribution is a business issue—not merely a technical one—for industrial companies and operators of building and electrical infrastructure. Systems must meet ever-increasing energy demands while ensuring the highest level of operational reliability and integrating renewable energy sources, all while the cost—and thus the risk—of a single failure or unexpected outage continues to rise.
At the same time, even the most reliable and durable equipment is subject to wear and tear and obsolescence, as it is often used for decades. Therefore, medium- and low-voltage power distribution systems also require careful maintenance, regular upgrades to keep pace with technological and cybersecurity challenges, and continuous service monitoring.
Siemens Zrt.’s Smart Infrastructure division offers services to address these challenges, ranging from design and consulting through the entire lifecycle of the equipment.
Business Continuity: Availability and Maintenance
Reliable operation is based on regular inspections, as well as the prevention of faults and their rapid, on-site resolution.
This is ensured by the company’s maintenance and availability services, which were also utilized by a factory built as part of a greenfield investment in a rural area. As part of this, the service team handles any malfunctions and specialized issues that require resolution to support the local staff responsible for continuous monitoring.
The most recent contract covers approximately one hundred different switchgear units and several hundred additional devices, including equipment from other manufacturers. The production plant can also use an online fault reporting platform to track the status of equipment and reports, as well as access related documentation and maintenance work orders.
Furthermore, customers can request assistance even in the event of an unexpected malfunction: requests for one-time troubleshooting or replacement parts can be submitted with just a few clicks on the service website.
Digital Solutions for Avoiding Failures
Diagnostic and digital services are playing an increasingly important role in prevention, as they can identify potential failures that could later lead to downtime or equipment damage.
Predictive, preventive maintenance and the installation of IoT sensors take operations to a new level: through these, and with the help of cloud-based monitoring systems, the performance of electrical systems can be continuously monitored. This allows for the timely detection of changes in equipment status—such as a rise in temperature—enabling the service team to take the necessary steps before a failure even occurs.
Cost-Effective Modernization: Retrofit Solutions
Medium- and low-voltage switchgear, circuit breakers, and other electrical equipment eventually become obsolete, and the availability of spare parts becomes limited, while they must continue to meet high availability and safety requirements.
Retrofit solutions—that is, modernization solutions—offer operators the opportunity to increase the reliability and service life of their systems without replacing the entire equipment, by utilizing the existing infrastructure, while reducing the additional maintenance costs associated with the equipment’s advanced stage of its life cycle.
After assessing the condition of existing equipment and analyzing the technical and economic options, a solution tailored to specific needs can be developed. This may involve, for example, replacing obsolete equipment, retrofitting components, adding digitalization features, or even entering into comprehensive maintenance contracts.
“In this way, these services offer opportunities for optimization, leveraging technical advancements, increasing cost-effectiveness, and ensuring up-to-date operations to address cybersecurity challenges,” summarized Péter Homolya, head of the Smart Infrastructure service division at Siemens Zrt.