1

Organisation of presentation

List of potential costs for remote site maintenanceOn-line surveyExcel cost calculator on web siteSuggestions on how to reduce costs for remote telecom

site maintenance

2

Critically important costs

Loss of revenue due to delaysVariable cost

Loss of security due to comm system failureCritical during emergenciesVariable

3

Obvious costsVehicle

Special vehicle

Salaries

Compounded by multiple trips

4

Less obvious costsCorporate overhead

Frustration

Fatigue

Family issues

Time lost from other projects

Inefficiencies of project hopping

5

Overhead (indirect costs)Payroll taxesEmployee benefits (20%-35%)InsuranceOffice expenses & suppliesEquipment depreciationRentalsCost of facilitiesCost of capital

Usually expressed as a % of base salaries.

6

Frustration & fatigueAccording to the Families and Work Institute (a non-profit,

nonpartisan think-tank): Nine out of ten of employees agree somewhat or

strongly that they experience one or more of these pressures at work:My job requires that I work very fast;My job requires that I work very hard; or I never have enough time to get everything done on my job.

Those who experience greater pressure on the job feel much more overworked. For example: 56% of employees who agree somewhat or

strongly that they "never seem to have enough time to get everything done" experience high levels of feeling overworked versus only 13% of those who somewhat or strongly disagree that they have never have enough time to get everything done.

7

Waste & Switching costsGloria Mark, Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University

of California, Irvine: “We found about 82 percent of all interrupted work is resumed on the same day. But here's the bad news -- it takes an average -- it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.”of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.”

In experiments published in 2001, Joshua Rubinstein, PhD, Jeffrey Evans, PhD, and David Meyer, PhD, conducted four experiments in which young adults switched between different tasks, such as solving math problems or classifying geometric objects. For all tasks, the participants lost time when they had to switch from one task to another. As tasks got more complex, participants lost more time. As a result, people took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. Time costs were also greater when the participants switched to tasks that were relatively unfamiliar. They got up to speed faster when they switched to tasks they knew better. Meyer has said that even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive timecan cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time.

8

Waste & Switching costs (continued)In Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking,

Gerald Weinberg proposed a rule of thumb to calculate the waste caused by project switching:

Even adding a single project to your workload is profoundly debilitating by Weinberg's calculation. You lose 20% of your time. By the time you add a third project to the mix, nearly half your time is wasted in task switching.

9

Besides the Overhead cost, it is difficult to put numbers on these other “less-obvious” costs. We do know however that they are not zero. So whatever we calculate from the hard numbers can be considered as a minimum.

Before continuing: What is the most frequent cause of emergency trips to

your sites?

10

On-line survey:

•What is your unit of distance measurement (mi or km)•What is the roundtrip distance to your site (in mi or km)?•What is your average travel and onsite time per trip (in hours)?•How many people generally travel to the site on these trips?•How often to you go to the site per month?•What is the average hourly wage per person (in $)?•What is the company overhead on salaries (benefits etc.) (%)?•What are your vehicle/travel costs per mi or km (in $)?•Overnight costs, if any (in $)?•Special vehicle costs, if any (in $ per hour)?

11

12

You can try our Excel Site Maintenance Calculator at: http://www.davicom.com/site-maintenance-cost-calculator

For survey results after the meeting, please send me an e-mail atja@comlab.com

Typical costs from previous survey in Broadcast field

13

How can these costs be reduced?Take a page out of the Toyota book: Build a culture of

stopping to fix the root cause of problems. This may take a bit more time at the beginning, but will pay-off in the medium and long-run.

Use machine intelligence to:Reduce false alarmsTake full measurements to remotely diagnose problemsInterconnect and have full access to:

Ancillary equipment such as transceivers. Site backup communications

14

Machine IntelligenceAutonomation describes a feature of machine

design to effect the principle of jidoka ( 自働化 ?) used in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean manufacturing. It may be described as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human touch." This type of automation implements some supervisory functions rather than just production functions”.

Detect the abnormality.Fix or correct the immediate condition.Investigate the root cause and install a

countermeasure

15

Reduce nuisance alarmsHave intelligent devices take care of issues at the site (ex:

reset equipment automatically) without bothering technical staff.

Direct alarms to proper resources when possible. Use alarm de-glitching delays, hysteresis, and input

qualifiers to prevent false and multiple alarms.

16

Measure as much as is reasonably possible

Use analog inputs, digital inputs, serial ports, SNMP portsTo take readings and control as many points as possible

(within reason).This facilitates remote diagnostics and will help identify

the proper replacement unit/part for travel to the site. Read the system and data logs

17

Interconnect other on-site devicesUse auxiliary serial ports to connect devices like radios,

UPS’s or A/C control. This allows remote-access to these devices and quick reprogramming or debugging without having to drive to the site.

Use a Web director to access all the other on-site devices that have mini-web servers on board. Instead of having to access and re-configure your site switch/router.

Use an SNMP manager to take readings directly in SNMP-enabled devices.

Use PPP bridge to ensure backup telephone access to site LAN in case of main IP failure.

18

Davicom Remote Monitoring and Control units

19

Your eyes, ears, hands and…brain at the remote site.Your eyes, ears, hands and…brain at the remote site.www.davicom.comwww.davicom.com

Davicom DV unitsHave measurement and control (I/O) built-inCan control and be controlled by SNMPCan interface with Modbus devicesHave “intelligence” built-inAre designed to minimise false or nuisance

alarmsHave extensive connectivity (TCP/IP, Web,

PPP, PSTN, SNMP, Serial, Radio, Cellular, Voice, E-mail, SMS, iOS & Android Apps) for communications and to send alarms.

20

21

Sensors for Davicom DV units DVLD-1 lightning detectorGas & fuel level sensorsTemperature, humidityLine pressureRF powerVSWRUtility & genset voltage and currentNetwork healthPSTN dial-tone

22

Conclusion

Remote site emergency maintenance has a cost, and it is possible to estimate this cost.

These costs can be reduced through the use of properly configured, intelligent remote-control & monitoring units such as the Davicom DV units.

23

24