With the travel restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic in place, the site was inaccessible for our experts to collect necessary information for conducting the needed engineering work. Remote support allowed the Metso Outotec team to collect the required information and to also begin planning for the upcoming shutdown event fast, saving more than a week time and costs.
“Virtually” there: Multiple experts on site with no compromise in terms of safety
The remote expert support platform played a pivotal role in connecting the Metso Outotec experts with Resolute's personnel. The remote support was rolled out quickly and at the agreed upon time. Prior to the actual call, a quick test call was set up to ensure the audio and video connection quality. After verification, five Metso Outotec experts from Germany and Australia as well as Resolute’s project manager, Simon Schmid from the field in Mali were able to join a single call. The only thing required from the customer was a smartphone with a camera and an internet connection.
Using video, the customer was able to show in real-time what he was seeing at the plant, allowing all participants to have a virtual presence on-site. Information could be shared by all, including annotation features to the customer for specific areas of interest, discussion of options as well as the taking and sharing of snapshots and documents during the discussion. The text messaging features kept the discussion going from both sides, when audio was less clear due to intermittent background noise. Despite the remote nature of the site, a 3G connection was established with good video quality, with even 2G providing manageable quality.
