MARYBOROUGH Sugar Factory is taking a step into the future with new remote technology that gives operators the ability to solve problems without stepping foot onsite.

MSF's IT manager Glyn Peatey said the remote wireless technology had been used in northern Queensland factories for the past 18 months.

Last week Maryborough was fitted with a single wireless device giving offsite operators access to all sections of the production process.

"We've wanted to be able to look at sections of the factory remotely and how each section is operating without actually having to go to a specific section," Mr Peatey said.

"We've configured our control software within the factory and then on an iPad we've downloaded a free app from the iTunes store that enables us to see into the factory at specific work stations.

"If there is a problem you don't have to physically go to the site of the problem, you can now look at it remotely.

"Even last week Mike Barry, our CEO, was in Thailand with our company owners and he was showing them the factory working live."

Mr Peatey said the main purpose of the technology was to reduce the amount of time the factory was stopped due to a problem with production.

"Before, if you were offsite someone would have had to physically come on to the site, the mill would have been stopped until someone got to the site and had a look at the problem," he said.

"Work could be stopped for a number of hours while the person on call came from home, but now an issue can be fixed in 10 minutes or less." Mr Peatey said while the technology would be a money saver in reducing response time, it was incredibly cost effective to implement.

"The whole system itself was under $1000, the app on the iPad was free and the iPad itself cost about $600, and that's it," Mr Peatey said.