Success Story: Detecting complex anomalies in industrial networks

Leadec is the leading service specialist for factories along their entire life cycle. Headquartered in Stuttgart, the global company plans, installs and maintains technical systems of all kinds, ensuring perfectly functioning production lines around the globe.

Leadec has special expertise in troubleshooting anomalies in Real-Time Ethernet networks. The service provider systematically supports system integrators and production plant operators in detecting faults. Leadec saves companies millions in unnecessary additional costs. But localizing faults is usually a very complex procedure.

Reliability as an elementary attribute

Modern production facilities are made up of a large number of networked machines and components that communicate and collaborate with each other in real time. Any one system is very rarely anything like another. Even the smallest deviations or disruptions in the automated processes can have profound effects. For this level of complexity the analysis specialist relies on Hilscher’s ­netANALYZER technology for troubleshooting.

For Leadec, the reliability of its measuring tools is the most important factor in ensuring that they’re not led down the wrong path while detecting anomalies. Being misled can cost days or even weeks, leading to considerable financial loss. Considering what’s at stake, the service specialist examined over 20 of the most common analysis tools on the market to see if they work without impacting the monitored system. The result: Hilscher’s netANALYZER is one of only four devices that do not have telegram losses, short circuits or similar issues.

The netANALYZER and its accompanying ­netANALYZER Scope software support Leadec in a variety of ways. Different protocol landscapes between different systems, for example, often increase the difficulty level involved in troubleshooting. The multi-protocol capability of Hilscher’s analysis tool avoids the cumbersome use of multiple tools, saving precious resources. Thanks to its extensive range of functions, Leadec also uses netANALYZER in the most difficult cases because it reliably supplies all the crucial metrics such as subscriber lists, alarms, process values, network usage and telegram jitter. Hilscher technology supports every application scenario: whether for network optimization during development, commissioning of machines and plants, automated quality assurance or troubleshooting services.

Another advantage of netANALYZER compared to the competition is its autonomous operation even without a PC. This allows the Leadec analysis experts to simply analyze the graphical data of the telegram recordings remotely by importing them into the netANALYZER Scope software. In passive continuous operation, the powerful trigger function also enables the recording of telegram snapshots for freely definable events.

Troubleshooting pays dividends

netANALYZER is a universal and reliable tool, suitable for every application. That is why Leadec will continue to rely on the proven Hilscher technology moving forward. Leadec’s strategic philosophy in troubleshooting thus also represents a fundamental cultural change in industrial network analysis. Instead of working according to the “reboot-and-problem-solved principle,” companies should offer their customers a more useful approach and real troubleshooting. After all, the financial cost of troubleshooting is significantly lower than the amount of damage caused by undetected disruptions to industrial networks.