Condition Monitoring/Predictive Maintenance
The Schaeffler Group’s maintenance management and condition monitoring division, FAG Industrial Services (F’IS) has launched improved versions of its FAG DTECT X1 and FAG WiPro online condition monitoring systems. The new systems are more compact than their predecessors and offer increased functionality and flexibility.
The new individual modules – the monitoring unit and the multiplexer – are now integrated in a single, compact unit that offers a high degree of flexibility for end users. The new FAG DTECT X1 s is suitable for a wide range of industrial vibration monitoring applications, whilst the new FAG WiPro s is ideal for permanent condition monitoring of wind turbines.
Unlike their predecessors, the two new systems combine all control modules into a single compact housing, which measures just 260 x 150 x 90mm, enabling easy installation in control cabinets. The integrated multiplexer enables the recording of signals from up to eight different sensors.
Schaeffler has launched a new ultra compact, online condition monitoring device for industrial plant and machinery. This unique system not only monitors vibration and temperature, but also a range of other machine and process-specific parameters such as pressure and flow rate. The device can also be used as a machine condition guard with safety switch-off.
ETher NDE, a UK-based manufacturer of Eddy Current products, is pleased to introduce the VANTAGE Eddy Current Flaw Detector.
Fixturlaser XA Pro – Redefines the Standard for Laser Based Shaft Alignment.jpg)
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SPM Instrument, Sweden, leading worldwide provider of condition monitoring technology and products, now announces the arrival of Intellinova Compact, the latest addition to the successful Intellinova family of products for online condition monitoring of rotating machinery.
Intellinova Compact, the most recent addition to the Intellinova family of online systems, has attracted much attention from windpower and other industries and SPM now announces its first order for the system.
SPM®HD is a development of the well-known and reliable True SPM® method, commonly recognized as the best method for measuring bearing condition on rotating machinery.
IBERDROLA has launched a renewal plan for the existing condition monitoring systems in their plants in Spain. This plan will be implemented gradually and PROSIG was selected to install their PROTOR Vibration Condition Monitoring System in three IBERDROLA power stations. The contract was awarded to PROSIG in partnership with Aries Ingeniería y Sistemas, who are PROSIG’s representative in Spain.
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Monition was able to quickly assist a new client to prevent a potential major production breakdown when Multi-
For over 60 years The Anstee & Ware Group have provided electrical and mechanical engineering services to UK industry. From their 7 sites they are well placed to service the needs of industries as diverse as steel, aerospace, oil and gas, utilities, paper and quarrying.
As a result of Sonatest’s drive to bring desirable and innovative products to the NDT market, a new Phased Array instrument is now launched, the veo 16:64. The veo is a fully capable Phased Array instrument with multi-technique functionality, including TOFD; fast data recording, a simple to use interface and rugged housing design renders the veo a performance leader from the beginning. Combine this with Sonatest’s outstanding commitment to customer support and product service; the user experience is a winning one. Typical applications include Pipeline Weld Inspection, Corrosion Mapping, Aerospace and Composite Testing.
The Icount particle detector and now the IcountBS remote operating Bottle Sampler represent some of the most up to date technology in solid particle detection. The design dynamics, attention to detail and moulding compactness of the IcountPD combines with on-board, laser based, leading-edge technology to bring to all industry a truly revolutionary particle detector. For more information on the Icount family of products e-mail
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In conjunction with the company’s 40th anniversary, SPM Instrument AB now presents the next generation of its well-known shock pulse method. .jpg)
Did you know that approximately 50% of vibration-based damage to rotating equipment involves misalignment issues? When machinery is well-aligned, MTBF increases and power consumption drops. Not a bad way to cut operating costs!
Monitran Technology’s digital signal processing (DSP) unit delivers real-time turbine blade tip condition monitoring. 
Monitran’s Group I intrinsically safe sensors are awarded ANZEx for use in mining applications in Australia and New Zealand.
It is common knowledge that a range of Condition Monitoring (CM) techniques are available such as Vibration Analysis, Oil & Wear Debris Analysis, Thermography and Acoustic Emission. Each of these techniques has its own particular areas of strength and in this regard the Acoustic Emission (AE) technique has the noted advantage of giving real time information with early sensitivity to faults and applicability to a wide range of rotational speeds including slowly rotating (source : ISO 22096).
Sonatest are proud to launch the new Corrosion Wheelprobe, which has been specifically designed for Pipeline Corrosion Mapping applications. Continuing the proven success of Sonatest’s WheelProbe range, this new model is proving to be unrivalled in the field of corrosion mapping in terms of speed and ease of use, in addition to achieving excellent results.
Send for your free pocket guide to TPM and see how you can greatly improve the condition and performance of your company assets and operational processes using shop floor based teams. The guide has been produced by Roy Davis, probably the most experienced TPM implementer in the UK. 
Our new eBrochure comprehensively describes all of our products and services in a single slick page-turn document. The brochure can be viewed directly on our web site, downloaded for off-line viewing or ordered on CD-ROM. A PDF version is also available to download.
Why Monitor?
Dorchester based, Tritex NDT have developed a new range of triple echo ultrasonic thickness gauges for measuring metal thickness to check for corrosion on pipelines, storage tanks and other industrial applications where corrosion occurs. The new Tritex Multigauges have been designed for robustness, simplicity of use and most importantly, accuracy. 
In about 50% of organizations spare parts and materials stores reports to the maintenance organization. In about 50 % of organizations spare parts and materials stores is part of the purchasing function.
Andy Anthony, Operations Director with Monitran, discusses the importance of vibration sensor selection, placement and use for condition-based predictive maintenance.
To continue where we ended part I of this series of articles about lean maintenance, I like to give an example on the impact of reliability in a situation where you can not sell everything you manufacture as a result of increased reliability. The example also shows the importance of including the quality component of the reliability formula. 
The water industry is increasingly turning to predictive maintenance as it addresses the challenge of improving asset performance. Artesis has successfully combined advanced technology with a cost-effective implementation to meet their current and future needs.
~ Success due to customer focused implementation ~ Leicester based Cressall Resistors has put in a place a lean programme, managed by manufacturing director Cy Wilkinson, that has helped increase turnover by 100 per cent in 18 months. It has also contributed to the successful integration of a business, valued at over a million pounds, into the company's Leicester facility. The resultant plant layout uses less floor space than the original did before the new company was integrated..jpg "oil condition sensor")
The emergence of onboard sensor technology and usage is clearly at hand and ever expanding. Sensors represent a dynamic, long-term paradigm shift in the way oil is and will be analyzed. Tracing the history of oil analysis will help us understand how this came about and, perhaps, where it might lead.
Corus Northern Engineering Services and Corus Process Engineering (CNES/CPE) work together to provide a wide range of engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical, structural and civil. We deliver them through our workshops and our design, project engineering and project management organisation to provide engineering support to all process industries, OEMs, and infrastructure facilities such as defence, rail, airports and nuclear.
Updating to the latest monitoring systems which provide more reliable, more accurate data and eliminating time consuming physical overspeed tests associated with mechanical systems, were the important benefits achieved at Fawley Power Station, following the installation of SENSONICS monitoring equipment. The RWE Npower, Fawley facility is an oil fired power station providing 1000MW of generating capacity and a key facility within the UK
The new PocketVibra from UK company C-Cubed allows maintenance personnel to easily track bearing performance, identify bearing faults and check mechanical systems for misalignment, balance and hotspots. 
Mahatma Gandhi was once asked what he thought of Western civilization. He replied that he thought it would be a good idea. The same thought comes to mind when considering management skills in maintenance departments. 
SPM Instrument, Sweden, leading worldwide provider of condition monitoring technology and products, today announced the launch of its new high-performance online system for condition monitoring of critical industrial equipment. 
While condition monitoring systems have obvious advantages to the manufacturing sector, other industries are now also benefiting from their use.Preventing maintenance problems using condition monitoring systems has obvious advantages to manufacturing plants. However, other sectors, such as the marine industry, are now starting to see the benefits of implementing similar vibration-based detection systems onboard ships.
When we purchase a machine we accept that it will not last forever. The problem isn
Over the past 17 years, Management of Change (MOC) has received increased attention at chemical plants and refineries due to the promulgation of new OSHA regulations. Officially designated 29CFR 1910.119 Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals, the OSHA PSM regulations state that any time a critical component in an oil or chemical plant changes, a formal MOC program is required to ensure that the proposed change is made safely.
Cost-effective predictive maintenance vibration monitor detects rolling element bearing failures and shaft imbalance conditions in four locations simultaneously. 
There are many sources of machinery health and production availability information available to an organization's maintenance and operations staff. Two of the most commonly used sources of information are scheduled inspection of machinery and condition monitoring.
For many organisations today, the most important issue is how to reduce costs to compete profitably in global markets. The two key approaches to manufacturing cost reduction are Lean and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance).Lean reduces costs by eliminating waste in the end to end process, following Henry Ford's original dictum "the longer anything is in my factory, the more it costs me". 
If one could get the right mix of preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM), things might not be so bad. If CM could be reduced to zero, that would be grand, but that is not going to happen. Amid the propositions of RCM, TPM, RCA, the Pareto rule, best laid plans, etc., one still must contend with randomness. When our programs result in high levels of performance, the limiting factor is often randomness. Using the concept of randomness in analyzing equipment failure events is helpful in establishing the realistic limiting factors in PM and CM program development and management.
Predictive maintenance (PdM) techniques are commonly used on motors and drives. But how often is the power to the equipment inspected? Adding basic power quality measurements to equipment maintenance procedures can head off unexpected failures in both the equipment and the power system. 
The definition and use of Overall Equipment Effectiveness over the years has been widely debated.
Risk Based Inspection (RBI) is a method for using risk as a basis for managing an inspection programme. The concept of risk is used to target inspection and maintenance resources at areas of the plant where they can have the greatest effect in reducing risk, the occurrence and consequences of unplanned failures and to reduce the cost of unproductive inspections. Risk is a function of both the likelihood of a failure and the consequences of the
If you want to change your current maintenance reality, you must begin with the basics. One of the cornerstones of a successful maintenance effort is the precise execution of thoughtful, well-written preventive maintenance (PM) procedures. There are several steps that must be followed to ensure that these procedures are as effective as possible.
The Huge Instantaneous Impact on Your Business of Defect Cost and Failure Cost. When a failure incident occurs there is a consequential loss of profits and a massing of costs. The cost of failure includes lost profit, the cost of the repair, the fixed and variable operating costs wasted during the downtime and a myriad of consequential costs that reverberate and surge through the business. These are all paid for by the organisation and seen as poor financial performance. The costs of failure cannot be escaped and are counted in millions of dollars of lost profit per year. Total defect and failure true costs are not normally recognised by managers, yet they can send businesses bankrupt. In the instance of a failure all its costs and losses are automatically incurred on the business. These costs can only be prevented by precluding the failure in the first place. This article explains the 'instantaneous cost of failure' (ICOF) and introduces a proactive technique, 'Defect and Failure True Costing', that adds economics to RCM and FMEA to help companies recognise and prevent this tremendous waste of money.
What constitutes adequate PM frequency in your plant? How do you know when enough is enough? Where do you want your PM program to take you? Think before answering. No guessing allowed.
PRÜFTECHNIK, the vibration analysis specialists have introduced a new FFT analyzer and data collector to their range of condition monitoring systems. 
A new variant of the MG4 has been introduced. Called MG4-Ref11, it has been developed for the pulp and paper industry for continuous monitoring of refiners.
The Schaeffler Group
Rustem Yildiz is maintenance manager responsible for the Gebze plant which supplies Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Toyota and Honda on a Just-in-Time basis. From his office, he can access data on the current condition of all the equipment monitored by the Artesis MCM units, and is automatically notified of any changes in status, indicating a potential deterioration in performance. In addition to the excellent downtime figures, he measures the success of the system by a significant improvement in his homelife, resulting from a dramatic reduction in the number of out of hours calls he receives, that previously had disrupted his evenings. 
The DN36 Spyder range of machine monitoring and protection equipment and the SpyderNet plug in and play monitor are available from condition monitoring specialists Sensonics Ltd.
Entrusting business processes to dedicated service providers who can perform them more efficiently and cost effectively, allows organisations more freedom to innovate and specialise, pursuing excellence in their core business field.It could take as many as 20 
Predictive maintenance based on vibration monitoring and oil analysis in mine hunters extends maintenance periods and reduces costs
Wyatt Partney, senior controls systems technician at Eastman
Designed with an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to use for beginners and experts alike, the LORD Balance Check can be used to detect unbalance, identify the correction capacity required to offset unbalance, and verify balance once it is restored. With its flexible instrument platform, the portable tool can be used in the field for machinery diagnostics, quality testing on production lines, vibration or FFT analysis, bump (rap) testing, and live signal recording. Such flexibility provides users with a single tool capable of providing effective maintenance, inspection and diagnostic solutions for a broad range of services.
Walkers Snack Foods have long recognised the benefits associated with Condition Based Maintenance and for this reason has been implementing Condition Monitoring for a number of years.
What happened to employee training? I mean REAL training AND qualification to do specific tasks right the first time, every time.
Demand remains constant in today's global economy for industrial plants to increase asset efficiency, reliability and productivity.
Successful companies are all about winning. This is achieved by having:
The art of maintaining assets has been around for many years, whether it was the ancient farmer cleaning the weeds out of his field to get a better crop, or the hunter checking his bow and sharpening his arrows. 
The combination of reliability improvement (through precision maintenance practices), condition monitoring, and root cause failure analysis provides the best all-round approach to reducing maintenance costs and improving
The new 
Monition’s reliability service has convinced many organisations that condition monitoring is the most viable method to maintain machinery uptime, and has illustrated that even machinery repairs and component renewals can be no guarantee for troublefree running.
Companies that need to monitor the condition of both slow and fast rotating plant and machinery can now benefit from a unique combination of vibration and acoustic emission monitoring products, available from a single source in the UK.
The Heritage of Brush Traction at its 70 acre site in Loughborough stretches back to 1864,
IBA was created in 1986 as a spin-off of the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). 
The next generation shaft alignment system from Damalini, Easy-Laser® E710, is a wireless, colour display system with functions for all the important stages of machine setup.
The February 2010 edition of Engineering Maintenance Solutions magazine is now available to read online. This edition contains articles on achieving best practice in condition monitoring and plant maintenance. As well as special focuses on value driven maintenance, ATEX Equipment and more as well as the latest industry news and products.
These sensors are general purpose products that can be used in a very wide range of applications involving machines, processes and structures for :
The world's first temperature independent electro-chemical lubrication system. .jpg)
The February 2010 edition of Engineering Maintenance Solutions magazine is now available to read online. This edition contains articles on achieving best practice in condition monitoring and plant maintenance. As well as special focuses on value driven maintenance, ATEX Equipment and more as well as the latest industry news and products.
These two new offerings along with many of our other solutions including LinerSCAN help you extend engine life, increases efficiency, and reduces emissions to assist with environmental compliance. .jpg)
By: Ernesto Wiedenbrüg, Baker Instrument Company, an SKF Group Company
The contribution of maintenance to an organisation is unfortunately too often not fully understood until something goes wrong e.g. a failure of a significant plant item or asset.This will inevitably result in a consequential loss through the inability to produce or provide a service or the occurrence of an environmental health, safety or quality incident.
Problem: Wind turbines by their nature are located in remote locations. Daily monitoring of systems is often an impractical solution.
SPM Instrument, now presents a new portable instrument for on-site vibration measurement and assessment. VibChecker is a cost-effective and user friendly addition to the SPM line of entry-level instruments for condition monitoring, where BearingChecker for bearing measurement is already a successful member.
Artesis, leading supplier of intelligent predictive maintenance solutions, has secured a significant agreement to supply and install its market-leading Motor Condition Monitor (MCM) systems to all of the most critical escalators across 4 terminal buildings at Heathrow Airport. Reliability and minimum breakdown of passenger moving equipment is crucial to the successful operations at Heathrow and this deal secures Artesis as BAA’s leading supplier of condition monitoring solutions.
Remove moisture and particles before entry to the system.Moisture and particle accumulation are major factors of oil contamination in industrial equipment. Neglected, these detriments restrict equipment efficiency, causing machine downtime and significant expense in replacement oil, parts and repair labour. Des-Case hygroscopic breathers incorporate a proven, field tested design.
Artesis, a leading supplier of intelligent predictive maintenance solutions, is pushing the boundaries of machine monitoring technology with its next generation solution. Delivering a range of powerful new functionality the Artesis MCM (Motor Condition Monitor) system now includes wireless technology for deployment in remote and inaccessible locations; fully automated condition assessment reports for even faster diagnostics; and the ability for engineers to easily and quickly customise the application for wider enterprise use.
Hansford Sensors Ltd. now offer a range of submersible vibration sensors, which has been specifically designed for operation in partial or complete immersion in water, making them ideal for the monitoring of pumps in a maintenance role.
Artesis, a leading supplier of intelligent predictive maintenance solutions, has launched the MCM System on a Card (SoC), a product for the OEM sector, bringing a highly efficient and easy to use tool suite that allows the fast and complete integration of Artesis
An effective root cause analysis process can improve production reliability significantly. But, few organizations have a functioning root cause analysis process in place. This article will discuss common problems and some suggested solutions in order to improve root cause problem elimination.
The Acoustic Emission (AE) technique is based on the detection of the high frequency component of naturally occurring stress waves (or structure borne elastic waves). There was a time when AE was regarded only as a means of monitoring defect growth in stressed materials and structures. Despite numerous instances of its successful application to machinery condition monitoring since the 1960
Energy savings, especially in the current economic climate are high on the agenda of all industry sectors, so components which offer, amongst other features, a precise and economical performance, are likely to be the preferred choice. Deltaflow flow meters recently introduced by FLOWLINE, meet these requirements for measuring media in gas, steam and liquid applications.
Until 15th December 2008, Fluke is offering a free Pressure Module to purchasers of a Fluke HART
Working with equipment manufacturers, hydraulic system designers and maintenance engineers, one of the key factors for Parker Filtration
AV Technology
Condition monitoring of machinery lubricants is an established method of predicting and avoiding impending machinery breakdown. With Kittiwakes
Monitran, a world leader in the development and manufacture of sensors for the measurement of vibration and displacement, has launched the VS0004, a complete condition monitoring and alarm module.
"What is actually the added value of maintenance?" is a frequently heard question in boardrooms the world over. Even though maintenance is often critically important, few maintenance managers are able to answer the question convincingly. Especially when they are asked to express the benefits in terms of economic value added or shareholder value - the language increasingly being spoken in European boardrooms .
SPM Instrument India has been awarded a contract for the first comprehensive installation of online condition monitoring equipment ever in an Indian paper mill. Emami Paper Mills Ltd in Balasore, India has selected SPM Instrument to provide equipment for continuous shock pulse and vibration severity measurements on critical parts of its latest paper machine. 
TOTAL E&P UK, one of the largest exploration and production subsidiaries of the TOTAL Group has installed a 10,000 point + CitectSCADA system to provide monitoring - with full dual redundancy - of the control and safety systems for the giant St Fergus gas terminal in Scotland. The Terminal plays a key role in supplying Britain
By using the latest condition monitoring systems and services, manufacturing companies can reduce unforeseen breakdowns. Schaeffler UK's managing director, Kate Hartigan, explains
Plants can improve their efficiency and reduce costs by performing calibration history trend analysis. By doing it, a plant is able to define which instruments can be calibrated less frequently and which should be calibrated more frequently. Calibration history trend analysis is only possible with calibration software that provides this functionality. 
The first step toward realizing this goal is to figure out where you are presently. Determining the present baselines and gaps that exist in your processes and organization is best accomplished by performing a reliability assessment. This exercise will point out the areas within your business that need to be addressed from a reliability perspective. All facets of your organization must be analyzed. We have identified 21 key elements that, when integrated, provide the basis for reliability excellence (Fig. 1). Assessing the current state of each of these elements will identify the gaps that exist and provide the basis for a master plan of improvement. 
Leading maintenance repair and operation (M.R.O.) organizations are leveraging a range of best practices for optimal asset performance. Such methods encompass maintenance best practices that drive efficiencies and equipment life cycles, as well as cost-cutting ideas from allied industries like field services.
Article written by Torbjörn Idhammar VP and Partner, IDCON, Inc., a maintenance management consulting and training company.Further information is available by contacting
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By carrying out regular condition monitoring checks on critical rotating plant and machinery, Corus Northern Engineering Services (CNES), the maintenance, condition monitoring and engineering services company within Corus Group, has helped a limestone quarry in Cumbria maintain its output, efficiency and profitability.
Reliability Centered Maintenance has changed the way we think about Preventive Maintenance (PM). It has caused some to question whether it is even necessary to do preventive maintenance. The truth is most manufacturing facilities would benefit from a good preventive maintenance program. It would be especially beneficial for those plants that rely on breakdown or run-to-failure maintenance. But, a preventive maintenance program is potentially risky, so it must be administered and performed properly to be successful. This paper will examine both the benefits and risks of preventive maintenance and offer some ideas on how to make it successful. We will start with a definition of preventive maintenance. 
Introduction
PRÜFTECHNIK Condition Monitoring presents the VIBROWEB; a new, automated monitoring and diagnosis system for production-critical machines and systems. 
Unfortunately, when it comes to steam traps, people often ignore them. There
A new, versatile and comprehensive handheld machine condition analyser is launched by SPM Instrument AB, Sweden.
Since 2002, customers worldwide have avoided failures of their equipment, from vital production equipment to the office air conditioning, by using Artesis
Many organizations feel that if they can move from reactive to preventive maintenance they are headed on the right path, and that this in turn means they are on the road to proactive maintenance. However, as has been demonstrated by many studies, in excess of 80 percent of all failures are random. Therefore, time-based preventive maintenance (PM) programs will not be effective because you will, in most cases, be doing too much work too soon or too little work too late.
Article Written By Idhammar Reliability & Maintenance Management Consultants.
By installing bearing lubricators and vibration monitoring equipment on its production machinery, chewing gum maker Gumlink has eliminated bearing defects and unplanned stoppages.
Proviso Systems Ltd is a company that takes its mission very seriously to change the way the UK performs maintenance. We are committed to offering "Total Service Solutions" to your industry. Based upon extensive industrial knowledge, the Directors and staff of Proviso Systems recognise that now is the time for a totally innovative approach to condition monitoring and the field of predictive maintenance. 
VIBXPERT
Holroyd Instruments Ltd draw upon AE experience stretching all the way back to 1974 when Trevor Holroyd (the founder of the company) started his research in this field in the prestigious Advanced Research Labs of Rolls Royce. Both fundamental research and development of Airline and Shop-Floor applications continued until in 1991 he left Rolls-Royce and set up Holroyd Instruments. 
Thermal imaging has evolved into one of the most valuable diagnostic tools for Predictive Maintenance. By detecting anomalies often invisible to the naked eye, thermography allows corrective action to be taken before costly system failures occur. 
Most plant personnel understand the value of root-cause analysis (RCA). Properly conducted, an evidence-driven RCA can be a strong performance-improvement tool. It fixes problems that waste time and resources, and it mitigates risk.
Viewing Maintenance as an organizational hub, we have, to date in this Partnership series, explored its relational connection with internal and external partners at the department management level.
I love to fish. Show me an open body of water and I'm in—with a line, that is.
If a single word can instill apprehension, a top contender would have to be “budget.”
Much of my drive time into work one recent morning was spent in the draft of a big, yellow 18-wheeler belonging to TKX Logistics, a division of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Services.
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