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Will remote maintenance outlive social distancing guidelines?

The UK Government’s roadmap out of lockdown suggests that strict social distancing measures will be in place until summer. However, businesses that have implemented remote monitoring, access and control during the pandemic, could enjoy the benefits for years to come. Here, Andy Conway, sales manager of embedded solutions provider, Recab UK, explains how smart routers could help ensure reliable and secure communication long into the future.

During 2020, many businesses were forced to carry out maintenance checks remotely, due to social distancing laws and work from home policies. However, there are other advantages to remote monitoring and control technology, on top of the engineer’s safety and convenience. In fact, two common benefits are reduced time and cost, as configuration, maintenance and updates for plant equipment located at a distance often involves travel and multiple calls for diagnostics, on the part of the technician. In the event of a breakdown, the equipment owner not only has to take the technician’s time into account, but also the cost of the unscheduled downtime. This can be added to by the cost of wasted trips for misdiagnosed issues and the costs of provision for the right, or wrong, parts in the needed locations.

Sam Burgess, CEO, SamsonVT

The deployment of condition monitoring is expected to grow strongly over the next few years. As a key enabler of predictive maintenance, it will be crucial to the reduction of maintenance costs.

Knowing when a piece machinery is going to fail can have huge financial implications. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a predictive approach can be up to 40% more cost effective than reactive maintenance.

Watermark Projects (part of leading engineering services company, W.A Cooke & Sons) has introduced a Landia mixing system to help handle wastewater at an expanding organic poultry producer in South Wales.

Prior to the effluent being treated by Watermark Projects’ bespoke DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation) as part of their design and build service, Landia’s AirJet will keep the balance tank aerated, ensuring that solids are kept in suspension.

A new order from Future Biogas is set to bring the total number of Borger pumps and separators at its AD/Biogas plants to over 20.

At the forefront of the anaerobic digestion industry, acclaimed AD developer and operator Future Biogas invested in its first Borger pump back in 2015 for its site near Swaffham – seeking an alternative solution to its existing pumps that were proving time-consuming and costly to maintain. Since then, the full-service company, who additionally provide construction, compliance and asset management, has also begun introducing Borger’s Bioselect RC Separators.

The innovative condition monitoring solution OPTIME is a winner of this year’s Red Dot Design Award in two categories. A jury composed of designers, professors and journalists from various specialist fields awarded OPTIME in the categories of “Smart Product” and “Industrial Design”, thus confirming the outstanding product design, functional configuration and high level of innovation demonstrated by the digital service solution from Schaeffler.

“Our passion for technology and innovation is a key part of our DNA,” says Dr. Stefan Spindler, CEO Industrial of Schaeffler AG. “OPTIME receiving the award proves that we can successfully expand our portfolio with digital services that prioritise the benefit to the customer.”

It is April 1, 1961, when an international success story begins in a small weaving mill in central Hesse - the standardization of enclosures. Rudolf Loh founds the Rittal company and changes the industry with one idea. What was initially smiled at is now a phenomenon: The standard enclosure is used in millions of product solutions in over 90 percent of all industries worldwide. Rittal is the innovation and world market leader for enclosure technology and IT infrastructure. 10,000 employees worldwide work on new innovations, industry solutions and business models. A small steel manufacturing company has become a global digital enterprise. What hasn't changed: Rittal is a family business - responsibility, solidarity and social commitment have always been a top priority.

Herborn, 1 April 2021 – Rittershausen in Dietzhölztal - no one knew in 1961 that a small township in central Hesse would one day give its name to a global company. Rudolf Loh bought an old weaving mill and founded Rittal. The idea: standard enclosures in standard production, immediately available from stock, faster and better than the individually manufactured enclosures for control components of machines at that time. Long delivery times and quality defects were now a thing of the past. The boom of the post-war years had changed industrial manufacturing. Machines were interconnected and produced products in large series in the wake of growing consumption. So, Rudolf Loh's idea came just at the right time.

Wood, the global consulting and engineering company, has entered into a new, three-year engineering framework agreement with Norway-based NEL Hydrogen, aligning with the company’s ambition to unlock sustainable solutions to global energy challenges.

Through the provision of its project execution expertise, Wood will work with NEL Hydrogen to support the delivery of large-scale green hydrogen production plants and play a leading role in the transition towards an integrated, lower carbon future.

Lewis Taylor says water jetting has taken him a long way: 4,461 miles to be exact. But more of that later.

He started working for an industrial cleaning company in 2010 at the age of 18. Now aged 29, he still loves the job he is doing and is looking forward to more success.

“Water jetting has been very good for me and opened a lot of doors,” Lewis explains. “It has allowed me to buy my own house, to build a home with my partner, start a family and start to build an interesting career.”

Enterprise Asset Management software company Ultimo and Internet of Things (IoT) system integrator Axians have announced a technology partnership that will meet the increased data needs of their customers and the needs of the next generation coming into asset management.

Stand-alone enclosures offer greater simplicity

Baying enclosures are frequently employed for free-standing use cases – but are not always the best approach. The advantages of stand-alone products such as the Rittal VX SE have often been overlooked. This represents a best-of-both-worlds solution midway between Rittal AX compact enclosures and the VX25 baying portfolio. VX SE offers even quicker time-to-delivery and faster, simpler assembly, greater safety, and compatibility with other Rittal systems. The VX SE range also includes a 300 mm deep version that is suitable for cramped environments for building services, e.g., when deployed as a distribution box.