We all take computers for granted, however there are many issues and challenges to deal with, when you put standard computers on to factory floors, due to the amount of dust, fluid and abuse they get.
Why should anyone protect a standard PC on the shop floor? The simple answer is that if dust makes contact with the hard drive, this will wipe valuable data off the hard drive, so if the computer is used for shop floor data collection, the day’s production figures could be eliminated for example. What affect would this have? Production wouldn’t know which job has been completed or started, so the production line would have to stop until a manual audit was done to establish the progress of customer orders. Lost production = lost revenue!
We all know what happens when fluid mixes with electrics, so we don’t have to go into great depths with this, let’s just say computers and printers don’t like fluid.
As for abuse, well we have all experienced the frustrated shop floor worker, who will do anything to slow the business down, if the production line is automated and controlled by computers, this could mean them unplugging the computer, or even worse - causing the computer to fail!
Now how do you protect standard computers and printers from this sort of attack? You can either put the computers in offices, rather than on the factory floor or contact a company who specialise in the manufacture of protective computer and printer enclosures, such as Computer Security & Solutions.
Computer Security & Solutions has over 12 years experience supplying solutions to Global manufacturers, to ensure their I.T. equipment is protected from abuse, fluid and dust.
Their most recent project included supplying a leading US truck manufacturer with dust and fluid protective enclosures.Computer Security And Solutions, in February 2007, a UK truck manufacturer needed a housing to accommodate a thin client, an industrial monitor and a wireless connection. Computer Security and Solutions developed a protective enclosure that housed the IP66-rated industrial monitor and a thin client along with the wireless connection.
The initial unit was approved, and three weeks later the truck manufacturer placed an order for 32 units in a custom paint colour. Then in August 2007, the company was contacted by the number-one US truck manufacturer for 276 enclosures with the exact specification as those prepared for the UK truck manufacturer.
It turned out that the US manufacturer was the parent company to the UK truck manufacturer, and this secured Computer Security and Solutions a major rollout in the USA. This led Computer Security and Solutions to open its own US distribution center to offer improved service to US based clients.