March 2020

Auditable chain of accountability with CMMS E & JW Glendinning, a leading supplier of concrete, asphalt and aggregate products, has selected Spidex’s Mainsaver CMMS to support improvements in the auditability of its engineering operations. Glendinning is a family company founded over 50 years ago with its roots in quarrying. Today, it delivers a complete end-to-end service from multiple sites across Devon and Cornwall that also includes manufacturing, logistics and civil engineering. The impetus for looking at computerised maintenance management software (CMMS) was a desire for more detailed information on Glendinning’s substantial inventory of plant assets and the maintenance works carried out on them to further improve compliance. Operations manager Mark Glendinning explained: “There is an ever- increasing onus on all manufacturing operations to be more auditable. Our main objective from procuring a CMMS is to create a central resource in which all engineering works carried out by the teams on our fixed assets are recorded. This will create an auditable chain of accountability for each maintenance task we complete.” While researching the various CMMS options available, Mark Glendinning received a recommendation from one of the company’s maintenance technicians who had used Mainsaver CMMS in a similar role previously. His opinion was that it was ideally suited to heavy industrial operating environments but also straightforward and uncomplicated to use. On that basis, Spidex was invited to conduct some general demonstrations of Mainsaver’s capabilities. Encouraged by what they saw, Glendinning’s CMMS project team then asked to see the system operating in a ‘live’ environment. A visit to the manufacturing facility of an existing Spidex customer was duly arranged to show Mainsaver in action. Mark Glendinning: “When we met and spoke with longer-term users of Spidex’s CMMS, we were impressed with their recommendations - not only of the software itself, but of Spidex’s overall level of customer service as a supplier.” Spidex managing director Jonathan Starling said: “We are delighted to have been selected by E & JW Glendinning to work with them on this important project. They are one of the best-known companies in the region and we are proud to be associated with them.” Maintenance Matters Problem Solver 26 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk March 2020 R S Components (RS) has introduced the Q2V series of compact inverter AC drives from Omron. The new Q2V drive controls the frequency of power supplied to AC motors that control the rotational speed and acceleration of pumps, fans and various other industrial machines. The series offers high flexibility and energy-efficient motor control for almost any type of motor, including induction, permanent magnet and synchronous-reluctance types. In addition, the drive is protected from dust and humidity and is designed for 10 years of operation in temperatures up to 50°C without maintenance. Furthermore, the compactness of the drive also helps to reduce cabinet size by enabling side-by-side mounting without performance derating. Another key feature is easy installation – for example, all inputs and outputs come with screwless terminals for safe wiring setup, and the hardware is simplified with the use of a built-in EMC filter, a safety-torque-off (STO) function, and a braking transistor. In addition, an intelligent mobile-app set-up guide is available to help users establish the appropriate parameter settings for the target application. The Q2V series handles heavy duty and normal duty options, enabling the same inverter to drive motors with different ratings depending on the load. The drive also integrates special motor- control methods to drive motors in the most efficient way. For example, Omron’s advanced motor-control algorithms can increase efficiency by up to 6% for asynchronous motors and up to 2% for permanent magnet motors. Also available are dedicated energy-saving functions for variable or reduced torque loads, which automatically optimise energy savings. Power ratings types include: 200V single-phase for 0.1 to 4kW; and 400V three-phase for 0.37 to 30kW. Other features of the series include a 24V DC power supply input for the control board and an optional graphical LCD with SD card for event trace recording. The Omron Q2V AC drive series is shipping now from RS in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. New series of energy efficient drives designed for maintenance-free long-term operation