Production facilities are under constant pressure to increase production while controlling operating costs. Each business and physical location comes with its own goals, opportunities, and challenges. Identifying the ideal solution stack is vital to ensure a smooth industrial automation integration into each physical facility, providing immediate and long term value.

Founded in 1980, Grantek is a leading solutions integrator in the industrial automation and Industry 4.0 solutions space. They’ve been able to help their clients achieve the operational efficiencies necessary to keep pace with the evolving expectations of factories, warehouses, and clean energy production sites.

Recently, Grantek utilized OnLogic hardware to help overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by creating their Engineer in a Box solution.

The Right Tool for the Job

Grantek has worked with OnLogic since 2013, taking advantage of highly-configurable systems and integrated partner software offerings to provide the ideal compute solution for their customer’s digital transformation applications. Ranging from ultra-compact and power-sipping CL210G-11 to the high performance and rugged K700-SE, OnLogic offers the width and breadth of options needed to integrate easily into the confines of physical space and environmental factors of their customer sites. This hardware flexibility is vital to Grantek's continued success because their clients' requirements run the gamut from the straightforward to the ultra-complex.

“We understand that every one of our customers requires a unique solution to meet their business goals. OnLogic offers the wide range of system configurations and integrated partner software needed to offer the ideal hardware for each application.”

- Ian Tooke, VP of Strategic Business Development at Grantek

Leveraging OnLogic’s Software Partnerships

Grantek leverages OnLogic’s partnerships to deliver industrial hardware with leading Industry 4.0 software pre-loaded. This eliminates the time and cost associated with receiving, warehousing, imaging software, and transporting to the end install location. As a result, Grantek customers are able to achieve more rapid deployments and incur less cost.

Addressing Production Facility Challenges During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge to manufacturing and production facilities across the world. Many facilities were met with the challenge of restricting physical access to their locations in-order to prevent the spread of the virus and avoid interruptions to production. Outside technicians and engineers were no longer able to freely access the physical production systems to connect and troubleshoot during incidents. To make matters worse, IT resources were similarly constrained. This meant requests for remote access from outside engineers were difficult to accommodate.

Enter Grantek’s award winning Engineer In A Box solution that is a custom branded version of the OnLogic CL210. Measuring just 115 x 82 x 34mm, the system is small enough to be carried easily by a maintenance team member. The Engineer in a Box can be plugged directly into machinery or devices on the facility floor when and where it is needed. Once connected to the device or OT network, it utilizes the pre-configured software by their partners at Dispel to provide secure access to industrial control systems by remote support technicians through a Wi-Fi or LTE cellular connection.

“We designed the Engineer in a Box to be the easiest, most secure way to fix industrial control system problems quickly by enabling remote access by a vendor, technician, or engineer. The OnLogic system offers the perfect form factor and capabilities to ensure that the Engineer in a Box is easy to transport and connect.”

- Sam Russem, Senior Director, Smart Manufacturing Solutions at Grantek