IR support

NDC Infrared Engineering has announced a new remote support and optimisation capability for its MM710e range of Ethernet-enabled on-line NIR gauges. These gauges are used extensively in the food industry for real-time moisture, fat and protein measurements. This new facility enables NDC customer support engineers to have direct access to an MM710e gauge anywhere in the world via an internet-based connection for software upgrades, performance evaluation and monitoring, calibration and much more.

This new capability, which is also available for NDC’s Infralab e-Series At-Line standalone analyser, provides a highly cost-effective alternative to on-site visits as part of an annual routine maintenance contract, or as part of NDC’s new modular Remote Support Contract initiative. Either way, valuable time is saved by providing NDC customer support engineers with instant access to the instrument for remote diagnostics.

NDC Customer Service Manager, Neil Stephens, said: “We have introduced this new capability in direct response to customer requests. Since the only two consumable parts in the gauge or analyzer, the source lamp and filterwheel motor, are guaranteed for 5 years, it is extremely unlikely that the gauges will experience any hardware failures, so remote access is a perfect maintenance tool”.

“The new facility allows us to make a full back-up of all gauge settings including full product recipe parameters”, he continued. “We can update all software where applicable; check window contamination values; check motor performance and check source lamp performance. By checking the calibration history for each product and inspecting the gauge history log we can identify existing or potential issues and offer advice on how the gauge performance could be optimised. Not only that, after each inspection, we can issue a certificate of conformance, which is particularly important in the food industry”.

The MM710e process gauges and InfraLab At Line analysers are used extensively throughout the food industry for measurements on products as diverse as dairy powders, chocolate, snacks, meat, biscuits, ingredients, coffee, sugar and cereals.