July-August 2021

Vixen cleaning machines in action at its premises in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees. Vixen personnel observing Metal Work automation equipment in action during a visit to Metal Work’s Italian manufacturing facility. www.hpmag.co.uk HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS July/August 2021 51 large amounts of historical and current data related to our equipment and the equipment we have provided to our customers,” he points out. “This helps us to more accurately trend each machine’s maintenance requirements.” Jordan explains that many customers source similar products from the same range, and although the machines might undertake similar daily tasks, they may use different abrasives and might clean equipment surfaces with different deposits. This can naturally lead to differences in determined maintenance intervals. “Everyone’s first question is ‘how often should I maintain the equipment?’,” says Jordan. “However, IIoT allows us to develop historical trends and patterns as to how frequently maintenance is needed for specific pieces of equipment based on their use. By addressing maintenance requirements within the appropriate timeline, we can avoid costly machine breakdowns and maintenance intervals can be scheduled for quieter periods during the user’s production schedules. This is of course far more convenient for our customers. Indeed, our intention is to eventually offer this type of maintenance service as a cover package.” Jordan explains that, in the interim, Vixen is using VPN access to the equipment so that he and the team can dial in to undertake diagnostics off-site. “Five years or so ago, an engineer would have had to go to site to find out what was wrong and return again when he was free to do the work required,” says Jordan. “Now, we can run a quick diagnostic check, survey the equipment to determine what is and isn’t working, and then when the engineer comes on site, he knows what he needs to have with him, and in most cases the work can be completed during a single visit. Moving to an IIoT methodology means we can know whether a pump has run its anticipated lifecycle, whether the seals on the pump have run their expected lifecycle or the vibration levels or temperature readings from the pump are starting to rise sporadically. We can then suggest pump or part replacement or ensure necessary maintenance is carried out within a suitable timeframe.” EB80 valve island technology Jordan points out that prior to using Metal Work’s EB80 valve islands Vixen relied on individual valves. When these failed, the PLC would still try to turn them on, and it was often only when an operator observed a problem that they were swapped out with a replacement. “With the EB80s valve islands on the Profinet bus system, and with the level of communication now taking place the plc receives information on the health of each card and each valve on the island so if one of them isn’t operating correctly we can pull down to the PLC and determine specifically which valve has a problem and what is its current state. This is, of course, a far more efficient means of keeping all our equipment in top condition and working order. Having a valve island with Industry 4.0 compatibility so that offsite diagnostics can take place to evaluate the machines performance is critical to our machine program development.” Ongoing commitment and support Anthony Smith, Metal Work’s managing director, comments: “For the past 15 years we have been proud to serve Vixen and, going forwards, we are committed to providing them with quality standard and bespoke equipment as well as aiding their journey towards Industry 4.0 all down the line.” www.metalwork.co.uk www.vixen.co.uk