Service and maintenance of Multifunctional Products (MFP)
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH
The term multifunctional products (MFP) refers to office equipment which combine several different functions: printing copying, scanning and faxing. Konica Minolta manufactures a wide range of such devices under the product name bizhub. For service and maintenance purposes, these devices are fitted with the remote diagnostic system CS Remote Care (CSRC). CSRC handles all of the status and fault messages from the bizhub devices being used by the customer and allows e.g.:
- Remote reading of the current page count: Page counts can be interrogated automatically at the correct time point without manual intervention.
- Automatic reporting of device faults: Service technicians can be supplied with the correct fault message and device history.
- Automatic message if more consumables are needed (e.g. toner) or renewable parts must be exchanged.
COMMUNICATION VIA MOBILE RADIO WITH M2MGATE
Until 2006, the connection of the MFPs located at the customer's site to the Konica Minolta service was carried out exclusively via CSD calls, e-mail and fax. In 2006, INSIDE M2M developed the device connection via GPRS for Konica Minolta and put it into operation in March 2007. In the following years, the system was upgraded to the mobile radio standard UMTS. Data communication via mobile radio brings significant advantages, including:
- Data transmission from the MFPs is independent of the customer’s LAN network and firewalls
- Plug & Play: After connecting up the GPRS terminal to the serial interface of the MFP, it is immediately accessible through CS Remote Care
- Independent of the mobile data carrier: Any number of telecoms providers can be used in parallel within the same system
- Simple administration through a web portal (M2MGate Portal) from any workplace with an Internet connection
- Bi-directional communications round the clock: A fault on the MFP is reported to the Service Center without delay.
- Low infrastructure costs: up to 75,000 MFPs can the interfaced to each M2MGate server
