When the OEM has given up,
we are usually the next call.
ECS attends UK manufacturing sites to diagnose and fix electrical, mechanical and automation faults. You do not need a contract with us. We do not need to have built, supplied or ever seen your equipment before.
Office hours for new callers. Connect subscribers have 24/7 cover on a separate line.
Scheduled attendance, nationwide
We will give you a realistic arrival time before you commit to anything. Attendance is scheduled around engineer availability rather than guaranteed within a fixed window, and we would rather tell you that up front than promise an hour we cannot hold.
- No contract or prior relationship needed
- UK-wide attendance, travel charged separately
- Premium callout rate, indicated before dispatch
- Phone triage first, in case it saves you a visit
24/7 cover, around 60 minute response
Connect subscribers get round-the-clock access to an ECS engineer, with remote diagnosis into the PLC before anyone gets in a van. Most faults are resolved in the session. The ones that are not start with the diagnosis already done.
- 24/7/365, including nights and weekends
- Around 60 minute engineer response
- Remote diagnosis before any travel is booked
- Every session logged against your asset record
Most of our callouts are somebody else's unsolved problem.
We are rarely the first engineer on a difficult fault. We are usually the one called after the obvious routes have been tried, which means the work tends to look like this.
The OEM has been and gone
Their engineer attended, could not find it, and the line is still stopped. You are now waiting on a second visit that may not be booked yet.
The fault is intermittent
It clears when anyone looks at it and returns on nights. Nobody has caught it in the act, so nobody has diagnosed it.
Nobody has the software
The machine builder has gone quiet, been acquired, or wants a licence fee before they will talk. The program on site is a copy nobody trusts.
The equipment is obsolete
The PLC is out of support, the drive is discontinued, and the advice you keep getting is to replace the whole line.
Two contractors disagree
One says electrical, one says mechanical, and neither will commit. You need somebody to arbitrate and then fix it.
It has never worked properly
The line was signed off years ago and has run below rate ever since. Everyone has stopped raising it.
Useful, but not required.
Anything you can tell us shortens the diagnosis. If you have none of it, call anyway. Working out what you are looking at is part of the job.
- 01Make and model of the machine, and its PLC if you know it
- 02What the fault looks like, and any alarm or fault codes
- 03What has already been tried, and by whom
- 04Whether the line is fully stopped or running at reduced rate
- 05Site address and site access arrangements
Questions people ask when the line is down.
Can ECS attend if we have never worked with you before?
Yes. You do not need a contract, a Connect subscription, or any prior relationship with ECS. We regularly attend sites where we did not design, build or supply any of the equipment. Attendance is scheduled rather than immediate, so the first thing we will do is give you an honest arrival time.
How quickly can an engineer get to us?
It depends on whether you hold a Connect subscription. Connect customers have 24/7 cover with a target engineer response of around 60 minutes, including remote diagnosis that often resolves the fault without a visit. Without Connect, attendance is scheduled around engineer availability. We will tell you honestly when we can be there before you commit to anything.
Do you cover our area?
We attend sites nationwide across the UK. Travel is charged in addition to engineering time, so distance affects cost rather than whether we will come.
What does an emergency callout cost?
Callout work is charged at a premium rate, plus travel. We will give you an indication before an engineer is dispatched. If the problem turns out to be something we can talk your team through over the phone, we will tell you that instead.
The OEM could not fix it. Why would ECS be different?
A machine builder knows their machine. They do not necessarily know the line around it, the control system integrating it, or the fault that only appears when three things happen together. Our engineers work across Siemens, Rockwell, Mitsubishi, Omron, Schneider, Beckhoff and more, on lines assembled from many suppliers. Most of the calls we take are problems somebody else has already looked at.
What information should we have ready when we call?
The make and model of the machine and its PLC if you know them, what the fault looks like, what has already been tried, and whether the line is fully stopped or running at reduced rate. If you do not have any of that, call anyway. Working out what you are looking at is part of the job.
Is this the same as Shift Hero?
No. Shift Hero provides planned engineering cover, filling shifts when your team is short. Emergency support is a reactive callout to diagnose and fix a specific problem on your line.
Call and speak to an engineer. If we cannot help, we will say so quickly.