HVAC/R systems servitisation

These days we hear more and more about servitisation, a term that refers to the value-added services provided by companies as additions to its own products, or integrated into them, with the aim of meeting the specific needs of customers, whether end users or installers/maintenance technicians.

The services sector is becoming increasingly “phygital”: a neologism in the field of technological innovation, the fusion of “physical” and “digital”. The idea is to combine the advantages of the digital and physical worlds to create a new type of customer experience.

The phygital experience is based on the so-called “3 I’s”:

  • I-mmediacy: having information just a click away;
  • I-mmersion: access and concentrate on the minute details of an activity;
  • I-nteraction: the possibility to physically interact with the surrounding environment.

Immediacy and immersion belong to the digital realm, while interaction pertains to services provided in the physical world. Therefore, a phygital service solution can be considered successful when it combines the “3 I’s”.

For HVAC/R systems, CAREL makes a series of services available to users, installers, maintenance technicians and manufacturers as an integral part of its products. Customers can benefit from these services directly through CAREL, or by integrating them into their own service offering, increasing their own added value and creating a phygital experience for their users.

CAREL Total store and BMS interfacing are services that allow users to centralise the data generated by the various systems and access them via a structured database for back-office operations and advanced analyses.

The CAREL Cloud Portals for plant and asset management bring together data from connected “edge” devices (boss supervisors or Cloudgate gateways), processing and displaying them through dashboards developed according to the user’s needs; the user benefits from the availability of all the data in a single database, to improve the organisation of their business, both in terms of service personnel management and more efficient use of technology. Lower operating costs is one of the main benefits of using these portals: malfunctions or anomalies are reported in real-time, allowing an immediate response, either via a remote connection or, when necessary, optimising field service through pre-analysis of the problems. Compliance with specific regulations is also guaranteed by the configuration and generation of automatic reports showing the temperature history for correct product preservation.

Manufacturers and maintenance personnel can commission, configure and service units equipped with specific CAREL controllers, using customisable apps via a remote connection (e.g. Bluetooth), without needing to act directly on the unit interface, which may not always be easily accessible. Remote connectivity also makes it possible to customise apps for end users.

In addition to physical products and services, CAREL makes its experience available to different types of users, to support their work in the field. For supervisory applications, for example, experts in controllers and the Internet of things (IoT), can provide:

To fully exploit the benefits of merging field services and digital services, personnel involved in installation, configuration and commissioning need to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology. CAREL’s experts also provide, through its Educational program, specific training courses on its products, aimed at transferring the type of knowledge that allows participants to independently and efficiently offer services to end users.

CAREL’s integrated services proposal - which accompanies its product proposal - aims to provide added value to the different players in the HVAC/R business. Whether improving system efficiency by reducing energy and running costs, greater control over correct product storage by limiting waste, or optimising field activities by reducing downtime, the benefits of CAREL’s integrated proposal respond to different needs for different players, bringing CAREL even closer to its customers.