SENTINEL and Customers during the COVID-19

Story 1: Resolving Customer Project Delays

We are a large industrial furnace design and construction company. The SENTINEL Profinet protocol IO-Link master module (Order number: ELPN-8IOL-0001) has been successfully deployed in the cooling circulation pipeline of the calcium carbide furnace and industrial silicon furnace equipment. This module is used for signal acquisition of E+H brand electromagnetic flowmeter process data. This technology allows us to achieve real-time monitoring of water flow and temperature in the cooling pipeline, as well as automatic water flow shutdown in the event of leakage, avoiding potential explosion accidents and ensuring the safety of our factory's production.

The reason for choosing SENTINEL was due to the logistics delay caused by the pandemic in 2022, which resulted in the foreign brand modules we had initially planned to procure not being able to keep up with the project timeline. Although we initially had reservations about SENTINEL's products, in the end, their functionality and quality proved the credibility of the brand.

And when we encountered problems, SENTINEL's response speed was also impressive. During the debugging process in February 2023, we encountered an issue with signal transmission, and SENTINEL quickly arranged for technicians to be dispatched to the site and identified the cause of the problem within two days, followed by the replacement of related hardware. Through the joint efforts of both parties, all issues were successfully resolved in the end. In this collaboration, SENTINEL demonstrated a quick response to customer problems and provided professional technical support. Their communication attitude was positive and they placed great importance on customer needs.

However, we also believe that further improvement is needed in the power supply part of the product. We found that the power plug of the module is too large, which causes inconvenience in using the channel plug below. In addition, we hope that the module can add the function of single channel alarm. We hope that future versions of the SENTINEL product can optimize these issues.

Story 2: Helping Clients Solve the Shortage of Technical Workers

As a company leading in both technology and equipment in the field of tungsten alloy sintering, we have been honored with multiple national and provincial awards. Our collaboration with SENTINEL has spanned over 10 years, during which they have provided us with a total of nearly 100,000 sensors, making them a long-term trusted partner.

In 2020, when the unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe shortage of skilled workers, we urgently needed to implement remote I/O control via bus communication to alleviate the dilemma of terminal wiring. The SENTINEL technical team responded quickly, and within just one month, they produced a prototype for us, which was successfully applied to our vacuum sintering equipment. This change not only greatly saved human resources but also reduced the use of a large number of cables, thereby reducing potential failure points. Since 2021, our 145 devices have been using SENTINEL's Profinet remote I/O, and they have been running smoothly without any reported failures.

Although we highly appreciate SENTINEL's products and services, we still hope that they can continue to innovate and launch expandable remote I/O products to meet the flexible increase and decrease in I/O points on site. In addition, considering that our equipment has successfully entered the foreign market and taking into account the demand from foreign customers for stainless steel casing flow sensors, we also hope that SENTINEL can upgrade the casing of the flow sensor to stainless steel material without increasing the price.

In the past three years, the pandemic has deeply affected the work and life of each of us. Faced with such a global challenge, SENTINEL and numerous customers have undergone a test together. It is in such difficult times that SENTINEL adheres to the concept of "customer first, customer survival is our survival," closely cooperates with customers, and overcomes difficulties together.