Omet and 24/7 Remote Support: The Value of Connectivity
The Italian manufacturer of printing, converting and tissue machinery uses HMS Networks' Ewon Flexy gateways to deliver remote support. A concrete case showing how machine connectivity can reduce downtime and service costs.
On 2 November 2026, Automazione Plus published an article by Carla Valeri titled "Il valore della connessione" ("The value of connection") in the magazine Automazione Oggi. It describes how Omet, an Italian manufacturer of printing, converting and tissue machinery, uses HMS Networks' Ewon Flexy gateways to provide 24/7 remote support to its customers.
Who Omet is and what it has done
Omet was founded in 1963 by Angelo Bartesaghi and has been active for more than 60 years. It has over 500 employees and around 2,300 machines installed worldwide. With an installed base this widely distributed, sending technicians on site for every fault is costly and slow, and that is where remote connectivity comes in.
According to the summary of the article, the Ewon Flexy gateways let Omet offer continuous remote support, with two stated benefits: less machine downtime and lower costs. The article opens with an industry saying: the sales team sells the first machine, but it is service that sells the next ones. Omet is presented as a company betting on innovation and support.
A caveat: only the introduction of the text was available. The technical architecture, the security configuration and any quantitative data on reductions in downtime or costs are not known. The benefits should therefore be read as claims made by the publication, not as verified figures.
Why this case matters to plant managers
The theme is connectivity that creates value through service. Less downtime means higher availability, one of the components of OEE. A technician who diagnoses a problem remotely, without waiting for a site visit, can shorten recovery time.
The manufacturer sells the machine; service builds the relationship that leads to the next sale.
There is also a link to shop-floor systems. An industrial gateway that collects and transports machine data sits on the same layer on which monitoring platforms and MES are built. A connection created for support can become the basis for reading statuses, alarms and production data.
Practical takeaways for production and OT/IT managers
The case can serve as a benchmark for your own approach. Some useful questions:
- How do your machine suppliers access your equipment remotely today: through standardized, controlled solutions or through unmanaged access?
- Who governs authentication, permissions and access logging, and how do IT and OT coordinate?
- How much time is lost waiting for an on-site visit that a remote diagnosis could have avoided?
- Can the data collected for support be reused to monitor availability and downtime?
- Do your service contracts with machine builders define clear levels of remote support?
Remote support requires careful attention to security: opening a machine to external connections widens the attack surface. The article, although readable, offers no details on this point, and each company will need to assess its own requirements.
In summary
The Omet case, published on 2 November 2026, confirms a trend: machine connectivity is not just a technology topic but a tool for service and competitiveness. For machine users, the point is to build orderly, secure connectivity that supports remote assistance today and can feed production monitoring and analytics tomorrow.