Evaluating the use of multimedia tool in remote maintenance of production machinery in the automotive sector

Remote maintenance offers several advantages to manufacturing. However, it is also important to understand the challenges and changes that such an implementation will bring to the enterprises and the stakeholders, from the business and human perspectives. This paper looks into a method for evaluating the effectiveness of remote maintenance based on the implementation of a component based control system in the automotive sector. The paper first provides a general view of the automotive industry and the current remote maintenance procedure. It then highlights the component-based approach which is the underlying architecture for the remote maintenance services reported in this paper. A method for evaluating remote maintenance is explained and an example of the test is described. The paper concludes with the identification of the issues associated with remote maintenance.