How you can avert a high risk with the LiSEC backup tool

To find out how you can create backups for your LiSEC machines and what the advantages of these are for you, check out this blog post and our webinar.

When data carriers no longer work or are mislaid, the damage is usually severe and sometimes even irreparable. This is true both in the commercial and private sector: Family photos taken and stored on a smartphone are lost forever if the device is broken or lost. Unless you have backed up the images to a computer, or backed up your smartphone. However, a survey has suggested that not even half of the German smartphone users go to this effort. In Austria the figures are likely to be similar. 

 

BACKUPS HELP TO GET PRODUCTION UP AND RUNNING AGAIN FASTER AFTER A PC FAULT

Carelessness when creating backups can also have negative consequences in production and result in very high costs. Because if a system fails due to a PC fault, LiSEC can only provide quick and reliable assistance with current backup data. Without a backup, the LiSEC service technician is forced to utilise an older inventory of data for the system.

Following this, it is necessary to manually reload parameters such as recipes, IP addresses, network links and all updates of the operating system and the software based on it. The time and effort involved for this is roughly the same as that required for commissioning a new machine. This work generally takes up to a week or more to complete. During this time, your system is at a standstill or is only partially productive. 

A USER-FRIENDLY BACKUP SOLUTION IS PART OF THE SCOPE OF DELIVERY OF EVERY LISEC MACHINE

Such downtimes must be avoided insofar as possible. A user-friendly backup solution has therefore been included in the scope of delivery of LiSEC machines since 2002. This allows you to produce a backup copy of the current version of your operating system, as well as the software, network links, IP addresses and recipes that are based on it. The data volume for this is usually between 10 and 20 gigabytes. 

BACKUPS ALSO INCLUDE BACKING UP PARAMETERS

Your employees can save the parameters relating to individual workpieces or batches and the associated machine settings on data carriers. However, the backup tool also archives these parameters. If a PC is faulty, you can access these and in doing so reduce the machine downtime.

The LiSEC backup tool is based on the backup solution Acronis. This software offers a whole host of functions and the requisite know-how is therefore essential. LiSEC has programmed a graphical user interface (GUI), to make the creation of a backup as simple as possible. This enables you to perform precisely those steps necessary in order to back up the data from your LiSEC machines. The effective idle time of your machine required for backing up data is extremely short, at just 15 minutes. 

HOW TO CREATE A BACKUP YOURSELF

To discover how you can perform the backup yourself and how you can use the backed-up data, check out the webinar from LiSEC. It is possible to produce a backup in just a few steps: 

1. Insert the backup stick included in the scope of delivery into the PC inside the switch cabinet.
   
    
2. Now switch off the control system for your machine.
   
    
3. Select the item "Create Backup" from the menu. The tool will now create the backup fully automatically within 15 minutes.
   
    
4. After creation, the tool will check the backup once more. During this procedure you can switch the machine control system back on again.
   
    
5. Finally, the tool transfers the backup to the USB stick. This procedure takes between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the amount of data.
   
    

The LiSEC backup tool overwrites older backups automatically.  The solution stores the last ten backups on an additional hard disk of your PC.

LiSEC recommends performing backups regularly, once or twice a year. However, if you make any modifications to the system, you should create a backup both before and afterwards. If these modifications do not lead to the desired result, this allows you to quickly change back to the previous status quo and restore your machine more quickly.

BACKUPS ASSUAGE THE HORROR OF PC FAULTS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

You can avert a high risk by performing backups regularly: If a system is designed for many years of operation, the probability of a PC failure increases from year to year. If such an event occurs, LiSEC can get your system up and running again quickly with a backup.

This will either be performed on site by a LiSEC service technician, or one of your employees will carry out the work steps under the guidance of LiSEC's online service. The system fault diagnosis and repair take just a few hours - provided that you have the necessary spare parts on site. Meaning your machine will be at a standstill for a relatively short time.

However, repairing a system without data backup requires specialist knowledge and cannot take place on site without the appropriate LiSEC experts. Waiting times may arise here, because the experts are not always available right away. In this case, the repair will be just as time-consuming as the first commissioning of the system. If you have no backup, you must always anticipate a much longer machine downtime than with a data backup.

CONCLUSION: WHY YOU SHOULD USE THE BACKUP TOOL FOR LISEC SYSTEMS

Every maintenance measure is the best form of insurance against a machine failure. You should consider the occasional or regular creation of backups in the same way: You can avert a high risk with minimal effort. To discover how you can perform the data backup yourself and how you can use the backed-up data in the event of an incident, check out the webinar from LiSEC.