Platform for the food and beverage industry
Maintenance plays an important role in the performance, reliability and energy efficiency of production lines. Digitalization is now providing us with new tools to evolve from maintenance to asset management. But what exactly does that entail and what will maintenance look like in 2030?
As of 2020, the Internet of Things is bigger than the ordinary Internet. That is, more sensors,
devices, objects, machines ... are connected, than there are computers and smartphones. An evolution that is also taking place in industry. There too, the tipping point worldwide was already in 2020 and in the meantime about half of the assets in industry are connected. The reason why is obvious. We want to unlock data on which we can then unleash smart algorithms to ultimately increase our OEE, make operators work more efficiently and reduce costs and energy consumption.
The main use cases for IIoT applications today all have to do with predicting maintenance needs. Predictive maintenance, in other words, but people are also looking to IIoT to find ways to increase plant reliability and optimize production processes. Right in the maintenance team's store, in other words. But what specifically will this evolution mean for them on the shop floor? What will change in the way maintenance engineers get to work?
To get an idea of that, let's take an old-fashioned curve. The PF curve tells something about the evolution of an asset and its degradation. From the moment of installation, through the point P, the moment when degradation of the asset becomes detectable, all the way to the failure (F) of the component. First functionally, when a pump runs low on flow, then catastrophically, when it turns completely into French fries. Many companies today still let it get that far. Action is only taken when it is actually already too late. Corrective maintenance, in other words, and although that will be a conscious strategic choice, this way of working will be threatened with extinction in the future.
One step higher we see the preventive approach. Maintenance tasks are then applied at predetermined intervals. This will continue, but the scarcity of technicians means that we have to look at it differently. We can better entrust those periodic tasks to the operator of the machine by putting smart glasses on him that lead him to the desired result in no time in a few actions. Technology can also help further evolve into condition-based maintenance where we make those maintenance tasks depend on how well our asset is still performing. Today, our maintenance technician has to go on-site and inspect how that is. Thanks to IIoT, that process can be digitized.
To the extent that that famous point P, the time when we can detect asset degradation is shifting. A good thing because it gives us more time to intervene, order the right spare parts and schedule an intervention. Maintenance then becomes precision work performed by skilled craftsmen who watch over the reliability, cost and energy consumption of assets throughout their useful life. This requires expertise. The metier of maintenance technician will regain more appreciation thanks to technology. Because it does not serve to control us, but to guide us to a world without failures.
Wim Vancauwenberghe
Director BEMAS
