Latest Case Studies & White Papers

Vibration tests prove to be a key milestone for NASA’s new X-57 “Maxwell”

USA, November 2021

To ensure NASA’s new X-57 “Maxwell” electric aircraft would be energy efficient and safe for use, NASA carried out extensive ground vibration tests, simulating the stresses it would experience during a real flight.

With the increasing demand for electric-powered ground transportation, NASA wanted to prove that an aircraft could also be electrically powered. The result is the X-57 “Maxwell” airplane, which - instead of the usual gasoline-powered motors - has two, all-electric motors powered by traction batteries.

To ensure the new design meets the criteria for energy efficiency and airworthiness, NASA’s experimental aircraft underwent multiple vibration tests and data from the accelerometers around the motor was collected on a LAN-XI data acquisition system and analyzer platform, provided by test and measurement expert, Hottinger Brüel & Kjær (HBK).

Following this, NASA’s engineers used HBK’s BK Connect software to test and analyze data from 191 test runs, with 14 different test configurations. The ground vibration test results gave NASA a much better understanding of the modal characteristics of the X-57, currently in the Mod II configuration.

Work on the new aircraft will continue, with the X-57 project team updating the model now they have the necessary data.

The full case study is available to read on HBK’s website: https://www.bksv.com/en/customers/space/nasa

Ultimo has published its 2021 Enterprise Asset Management Trend Report after conducting a major international survey. The report is based on the results of the largest survey of asset management professionals it has undertaken and includes data from the UK, Germany, Holland and Belgium. The report is available to download from www.ultimo.com/eam-trend-report

The report, labelled “insightful and inspiring” by Wim Vancauwenberghe the Maintenance Evangelist and Director of BEMAS, addresses the major EAM themes of Uptime, Cost Control, Efficiency, Safety, Investment, Education and Technology. Through the correlation of data, it reveals some powerful truths about the current state of the EAM sector but also the enormous financial potential for what Wim refers to as “Maintenance 4.0 and Asset Performance 4.0”.

Revelations in the report include – the number of facilities experiencing unplanned downtime per year, the average cost per hour of down time and the pressure that asset managers are under to balance profitability and safety.

Ultimo has produced a new whitepaper to help asset managers in the transport industry leverage Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) technologies to gain better control over the cost, profit and risk associated with their fleet. The paper, titled EAM for fleet management and maintenance: the key to better profits in the transport sector, is available to download from www.ultimo.com/whitepapertransport. It aims to provide practical guidance on how managers can reduce the stress of optimising service and inspection of the fleet, reducing downtime, improving efficiency and meeting regulatory compliance.

“In the fleet management sector, uptime of vehicles is vital. They only make money when they are on the road, and the profit margins are already notoriously thin,” says Chris van den Belt, Team Leader Product Management, at Ultimo. “That’s why it’s vital that managers have access to real-time operational data, so they can carry out timely maintenance and investment to protect availability and reduce the risk of costly breakdowns and accidents.”

The whitepaper explores various factors affecting availability and cost control for transport businesses, discussing the importance of achieving optimal uptime while avoiding the costly practice of over-maintaining vehicles.

It then outlines how EAM software can help managers gain better control over their fleet assets by improving maintenance efficiency, enabling more productive remote operation, and simplifying how vital HSE processes are managed.

Ultimo has been chosen to showcase how its Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) technology helps realise the factory of the future at the Digital Manufacturing Accelerator (DMA). The initiative, by the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), lets manufacturers experience the advantages of industry 4.0, IoT, smart manufacturing, robotics, and automation in real life and see how leveraging these technologies can transform the factory environment. As part of the project, MTC will build a state-of-the-art re-configurable factory in the centre of Liverpool to house the technologies.

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution provider Ultimo and digitalisation specialist EZ Factory have agreed on a partnership that helps manufacturing companies improve communication between their technical and production departments. EZ Factory’s EZ-GO platform digitises many of the standardised work processes relating to safety, quality, training and efficiency, empowering operators to drive continuous improvement​. Ultimo’s EAM cloud platform supports organisations with asset management by improving labour productivity, maximising asset availability, and increasing safety on the shop floor. The integration of the Ultimo and EZ Factory platforms helps deliver an integrated approach to operations and maintenance, improving communication and teamwork for easier and more efficient processes.

In 2015, with business improving but original process equipment reaching end-of-life, Rebellion Beer Company bucked the trend and, with impartial advice from heat transfer specialist Fulton, replaced its ageing steam boiler for a thermal fluid system. Now, six years on, we approached Rebellion’s Mark Gloyens to update us on how brewery life has coped with the switch.

Anyone running a brewery will tell you just how critical the boil phase of the brewing process is; and when Rebellion set out on its journey from steam to thermal, they were warned that they’d never succeed in getting that clean flavour achieved from a steam-driven rolling boil.

A new whitepaper from the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) specialist Ultimo entitled Productive maintenance: how to optimise asset uptime and cost control in the food processing industry is available to download from www.ultimo.com/food.

The paper explores various threats to profitability, be they unprecedented challenges such as the Covid pandemic or legislation-related issues including poor HSE compliance, and looks at the options available to operators to minimise the risks to their assets.

Speedpanel, part of the Speedclad group of businesses, has developed a range of insulated composite spandrel panels that provide both extremely quick building encapsulation and fire-retardant properties in accordance with the latest regulations. Notably, the company worked in close liaison with adhesive expert Henkel to identify the optimum flame-retardant bonding product for the panels. In a construction market still reeling from the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the resulting Speedpanel A2 Glass and Speedpanel A2 Aluminium carry an independently certified fire rating of A2-s1 d0, creating a huge USP for the company and opening up vast market potential in both new build and replacement façade projects.

Scottish Leather Group has today (6 July) published its 2021 Sustainability Report, detailing the company’s progress towards its key goal of zero impact leather manufacturing. 

The company, which is the world’s lowest carbon intensity leather manufacturer, has also announced that it is well on its way to being carbon neutral by 2025 – 20 years ahead of Scotland’s net zero ambitions.  

In addition to an independently verified Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) conducted on the entire manufacturing process, the company recorded a carbon footprint of just 1.1kg of CO₂ per hide – a 90% reduction from 10.3kg two decades ago.  

Conveyors at Nissan move material and goods throughout the plant and warehouses every day. Driven by either a belt or chain, they move at various speeds and angles. In many cases, a conveyor breakdown can shut down the entire operation until repairs are complete. The cost impact from a conveyor failure is significant.

Following a comprehensive maintenance program and using the right maintenance support equipment can prevent unexpected downtime.