July 2019

| 32 | July 2019 www.smartmachinesandfactories.com | SOLUTIONS | Thomas Boswell, ERIKS’ reliability engineering manager, examines how digital industrialisation is transforming MRO and underpinning proactive asset management strategies. Its analysis provides valuable insight into what is, or is not, working as it should, to inform what remedial action should be taken. For example, we had installed and commission a system to investigate a bearing failure on a 5000 tonne multi stage press, which had resulted in two days worth of downtime at an automotive manufacturer, resulting in a loss of around £80M in lost production. The press is the largest of its type in Europe and stamps sheet aluminium into vehicle panels. The condition monitoring system monitored vibration data associated with the H ow data is stored, collected, managed and analysed that dictates the success of asset management from company to company. From condition monitoring to informing a spares strategy and even predicting which assets are needed in the future, data, when used well, can provide indispensable information for organisations of any industrial sector. Condition monitoring Condition monitoring essentially informs an asset management strategy by improving a business’ understanding of its assets, how they are functioning, and whether or not they are detrimental to productivity in the long, medium or short term. It is more than just sticking a sensor on a machine. It’s a consistent evaluation of machine performance over time. In the same way that when a patient’s heart rate, temperature or other readings deviate from the norm, data associated with failure modes of machinery can indicate the health of assets. This data, such as variations in vibration, temperature or noise, can be collected manually or automatically using sensors and telemetry solutions. Shaping modern asset management