Maintworld 2/2017

2/2017 www.maintworld.com 

maintenance & asset management 

5 

WAYS TO 

BREAK OUT 

of the Reactive 

Maintenance 

Cycle of Doom PAGE 14 

BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO OLD VALVES PAGE 18 SMART ONLINE MONITORING PAGE 28 OVERVIEW OF DUTCH WORKING CONDITIONS PAGE 48

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Download “Lessons Learned” by a Moog maintenance 

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EDITORIAL 

Text: Emil Ackerman 

Digitalize or die 

RECENTLY, I WATCHED an interesting keynote presentation at a conference 

with a topic ’Uber yourself before you get Kodaked’. This keynote 

was not presented at a B2C conference or in a future-oriented management 

forum. Instead, the theme of losing your business if neglecting 

the digitalization around you was discussed in PaperCon, the world’s 

largest technical conference for the paper and packaging industry. 

Even the more conservative industries need to be aware of the fact 

that digitalization can and will transform the ways to do business. It 

might be that the core business stays the same, but in order to be more 

efficient, to generate new revenue streams, to integrate yourself more 

deeply into the value chain of your customer, and 

most importantly, to gain or retain competitive 

advantage, you need up-to-date information. 

Information about what has happened, what is 

happening, and what will happen are at the core of 

digitalization. Knowledge, indeed, is power. Power 

to direct your business into a more sustainable 

future with competitive advantage. 

However, activities related to digitalization are 

not valuable per se. Every action and choice you 

make should help you build a better business and better operations 

than before, just like in all other investments. Keeping this in mind, 

it is important to know that many digitalization-related ideas can be 

tested and piloted quickly and at a fraction of the cost of machine investments. 

Consequently, even big companies can now validate their 

ideas quickly, or alternatively fail fast. 

Once you know through pilots, what areas of digitalization work for 

you, it is easier to make the final decision to invest in integrating the 

areas into your routine operations. Come to think of it, five years from 

now, no one will be talking about digitalization anymore; it will be business 

as usual. 

Emil Ackerman 

Managing Director & Co-Founder of Quva Oy, Chairman of the IIoT 

Committee of the Finnish Maintenance Society Promaint 

Information about what has happened, 

what is happening, and what will happen 

are at the core of digitalization. Knowledge, 

indeed, is power. 

14 

Planned 

and scheduled 

work is 20 percent 

more efficient than 

unmanaged work. And 

it is safer. 

4 maintworld 2/2017

IN THIS ISSUE 2/2017 

10 

In mountainous tunnels under 

high rock cover, the true ground 

conditions can be difficult to 

predict, even with information 

collected from an exploratory 

tunnel. 

38 

Mining operators are 

increasingly confronted 

with security breaches 

on their properties. 

6 

10 

14 

18 

Combining Machine Learning 

with IIoT Should Be Your 

Priority 

Choosing the Best Tunnel Boring 

Machine for Mountainous 

Conditions 

Five Ways to Break Out of the 

Reactive Maintenance Cycle of 

Doom 

Breathing New Life into Old 

Valves Boosts Productivity 

22 

28 

30 

32 

36 

What Makes a Critical Spare Part 

‘Critical’ 

Smart Online Monitoring 

Reliability, Maintenance and 

Safety 

Asset Care and Reliability in 

the Mining Industry using 

Ultrasound34 Thermography in 

Photo Quality 

Connectivity and 

Interoperability: 

No value without reliability 

38 

40 

44 

48 

Security Solution Helps Battle 

Illegal Mining 

Digital Automation System 

Maintenance and Cybersecurity 

– the Perfect Partnership? 

Steam Trap Inspection Basics 

Using Ultrasound 

Overview of Dutch Working 

Conditions in 2016 

Issued by Promaint (Finnish Maintenance Society), Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki, Finland tel. +358 29 007 4570 Publisher 

Omnipress Oy, Mäkelänkatu 56, 00510 Helsinki, tel. +358 20 6100, toimitus@omnipress.fi, www.omnipress.fi Editor-in-chief 

Nina Garlo-Melkas tel. +358 50 36 46 491, nina.garlo@omnipress.fi, Advertisements Kai Portman, Sales Director, tel. +358 358 

44 763 2573, ads@maintworld.com Subscriptions and Change of Address members toimisto@kunnossapito.fi, non-members 

tilaajapalvelu@media.fi Printed by Painotalo Plus Digital Oy, www.ppd.fi Frequency 4 issues per year, ISSN L 1798-7024, ISSN 

1798-7024 (print), ISSN 1799-8670 (online). 

2/2017 maintworld 5

XXXXXX INDUSTRIAL INTERNET 

Combining Machine 

Learning with IIoT Should 

Be Your Priority 

Machine learning and IIoT are no longer nice things to have, but should be applied 

together to reap the rewards of cost savings, improved uptime, and performance. 

In this first of a two-part series on machine learning, Richard Irwin, senior product 

marketer with Bentley Systems, explains what benefits machine learning can bring 

to asset-intensive industries, in relation to the Industrial Internet of Things. 

RICHARD IRWIN, 

Bentley Systems, 

richard.Irwin@bentley.com 

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD is awash with 

data and new information from sensors, 

applications, equipment, and people. 

But the data is worthless if it is left untouched 

or not used to its full potential 

with the latest technology. To make the 

most of big data, industry leaders should 

implement machine learning alongside 

the Industrial Internet of Things 

(IIoT) to take advantage of the benefits 

increased information can bring to any 

organization that is asset and data-rich. 

We have all experienced some form 

of machine learning, from streaming 

movie services that recommend titles to 

watch based on viewing habits, to banks 

that monitor spending patterns to detect 

fraudulent activity. Now, the industrial 

arena is moving quickly toward using 

machine learning to take advantage of 

the Industrial Internet of Things. 

As the velocity and variety of data 

becomes available through advancements 

in sensor technology to monitor 

just about anything, machine learning 

is being applied to efficiently manage 

increasingly large and fast-moving data 

sets. Machine learning can handle large 


INDUSTRIAL INTERNET 

and complex information to discover 

otherwise hard-to-see patterns or trends 

in the data, such as normal behaviour 

and anomalies. It can then learn these 

patterns and apply it to new data to detect 

similar patterns in the future. An 

example would be to model the performance 

of a piece of equipment, such as 

data that is out of sync, like a piece of 

equipment that is underperforming and 

could potentially fail. It is then able to 

add this piece of information and learn 

from it in future models. This makes decision-making 

easier and more reliable. 

In any industry, the ability to recognize 

equipment failure, and avoid 

MACHINE LEARNING AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCES INSIGHTS 

AT A CONSISTENT AND ACCURATE RATE. 

Five questions to ask 

before investing in 

machine learning: 

1. Question your data – What do 

you need to know, what are you 

looking for exactly? What do 

you want your data to tell you? 

What aren’t you seeing what 

you hope the data can provide? 

2. Is your data clean? – Make sure 

your data is available, ready 

and validated; the more data 

the better and the more accurate 

the outcomes will be. 

3. Which ML platform do I choose? 

– Choose your machine learning 

platform carefully considering 

interoperability. 

4. Do I hire a data scientist, and 

how do they integrate? – With 

machine learning, there might 

be a need for a data scientist or 

analyst, but they shouldn’t be 

locked in a dark room. 

5. Can I share the data output? 

– Knowledge gained through 

machine learning should not 

just be applied to one project 

at a time. Its scalability means 

it can and should be incorporated 

across the whole enterprise, 

delivering insight into any 

area rich in data. Plan to get the 

most out of machine learning. 

a pipe, in relation to the temperature of 

its surroundings. Machine learning can 

be taught to see what normal behaviour 

looks like, and by applying the model to 

current data, it can spot abnormalities, 

such as when the pressure within the 

pipe increases while the temperature 

remains the same. The system can then 

predict from existing knowledge that 

something is not right and send out notifications. 

Demystifying Machine 

Learning 

A subset of artificial intelligence, machine 

learning uses algorithms and 

models to derive insights from multiple 

sources, including sensors, mobile devices, 

and computer networks. While 

traditional analytical methods like business 

intelligence and predictive analytics 

have paved the way for deriving insight 

from data, machine learning takes it 

further by interpreting the data rather 

than interpreting human participation. 

Predictive analytics can answer questions 

such as, “If I increase production by 

x percent, how will it affect the bottom line 

in the next quarter?” Whereas machine 

learning focuses on the outcome and 

teaches a computer to automatically 

uncover the multiple and complex factors 

that lead up to it. This points to a far 

more accurate predictive model that can 

automatically adjust over time through 

learning. The more data that is analyzed, 

the more accurate the predictive model. 

To Stay Competitive, 

We Need Machine Learning 

Unlike business intelligence and predictive 

analytics methods that require a 

significant amount of manual labour and 

time, machine learning automatically 

produces insights at a consistent and 

accurate rate. Machine learning detects 

unplanned downtime, repair costs, and 

potential environmental damage, is critical 

to success. This is even more relevant 

in today’s turbulent times. With machine 

learning, there are numerous opportunities 

to improve the situation. Three of 

the main forms of predictive analysis are 

prediction maintenance (failure prediction), 

forecasting (demand), and workforce 

management. 

Predictive Maintenance – One of the 

most applicable areas where machine 

learning can be applied within the industrial 

sector is predictive maintenance. 

Predictive maintenance is the failure 

inspection strategy that uses data and 

models to predict when an asset, or piece 

of equipment will fail so that mainten 

ance can be planned. Predictive maintenance 

can cover a large area of topics, 

from failure prediction and failure diagnosis, 

to recommending mitigation or 

maintenance actions after failure. The 

best maintenance is advanced forms of 

proactive condition-based maintenance. 

With the combination of machine learning 

and maintenance applications leveraging 

IIoT data, the range of positive 

outcomes and reductions in costs, downtime, 

and risk are worth the investment. 

Demand Forecasting – Accurately 

forecasting high levels of demand, such 

as within a utility service, gives a company 

a competitive advantage. It provides 

them with the information they need to 

meet customer demand by anticipating 

future demand or consumption. In the 

energy sector, for example, storing energy 

is not cost-effective, so power companies 

need to forecast for future power 

consumption, so that they can efficiently 

balance the supply with the demand. 

This sector is faced with twin problems 

associated with outages in peak demand, 

while too much supply leads to wasted 

resources. With advanced demand fore- 


INDUSTRIAL INTERNET 

Predictive maintenance will be one 

of the most important outcomes 

from machine learning 

THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE EQUIPMENT FAILURE, AND AVOID UNPLANNED DOWNTIME, RE- 

PAIR COSTS, AND POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, IS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS. THIS IS 

EVEN MORE RELEVANT IN TODAY’S TURBULENT TIMES. 

casting techniques, utilities can ascertain 

hourly demand and peak hours for a 

day, allowing them to optimize the power 

generation process. Using information 

such as historical demand data, regions, 

population, weather patterns, events, 

and so on, organizations can predict demand 

on any day or period in the future. 

This is essential for ensuring the utility 

can produce the resource in time. 

Workforce Management – In 

workforce management, the aim is to 

optimize the workforce and make it 

as productive as possible while reducing 

labour costs, travel, additional call 

outs and improving customer service. 

There are measures in place to help with 

smarter scheduling (mapping the right 

person with the right skills to the right 

location with the right tools and the 

right permits) and route optimization 

to reduce travel and costs. These are still 

done manually in some cases, and are 

error-prone. Machine learning can do 

this automatically, and by incorporating 

historical data of previous jobs, weather, 

and time of year, it could gauge where 

problems might arise. 

Summary 

With the arrival of the Industrial Internet 

of Things, data is growing and becoming 

more accessible. With the ability 

to acquire more data, more advanced 

technologies are required to scrutinize 

and filter out the important information 

and value held within. But, it can only 

be exploited by identifying what works 

well and what does not. Machine learning 

features complex algorithms to sort 

through large amounts of data, identify 

patterns and trends within it, and make 

predictions. Key decision makers need 

to take advantage of this “match made in 

heaven” to optimally control and manage 

their assets – get on top of it now 

before asset data is unmanageable. Preventing 

assets from failing, forecasting 

demand, and optimizing movements of 

your workforce, are just a few of the machine 

learning techniques that can be applied 

to improve the overall performance 

of the organization. By combining these 

elements and more, machine learning 

will bring, as it matures, significant benefits. 

The “Industrial Internet of Things” 

and machine learning should no longer 

be considered just buzzwords – instead, 

put together, they should be your number 

one priority. 


TECHNOLOGY 

Crews at Turkey’s Kargi project 

utilized a Double Shield machine, 

encountering everything from 

squeezing ground and blocky rock 

to running ground and cathedralling, 

requiring in-tunnel machine 

modifications. 

Choosing the Best Tunnel 

Boring Machine for 

Mountainous Conditions 

Geology in high cover tunnels is often complex and Tunnel Boring Machines 

(TBMs) have proven themselves in deep tunnels worldwide as a fast, safe, and 

cost-effective solution that can be customized to project conditions. This article 

will explore the advantages of mechanical excavation, what types of TBMs are 

best suited for certain ground, and important considerations for ground support 

in high cover conditions. 

DETLEF JORDAN, 

Robbins Europe GmbH, 

Germany 

IN MOUNTAINOUS tunnels under high 

rock cover, the true ground conditions 

can be difficult to predict, even with 

information collected from an exploratory 

tunnel. Factors like squeezing, fault 

zones, caverns, and water can all be 

missed with a full-sized tunnel and a 

meter-by-meter analysis of ground 

conditions is often impractical if not impossible. 

When one considers the excavation 

method required for such varied 

unknown conditions, many factors need 

to be evaluated such as versatility and 

investigational methods like continuous 

probe drilling and pre-grouting. 

Main Beam TBMs 

In even the most extreme ground conditions, 

Main Beam TBMs (also known as 

“open-type” machines) can be efficient 

and safe. Features such as open access 

behind the cutterhead for ground support 

and consolidation, unrestricted 

probe drilling, and the absence of a 

shield are all-important attributes in 

extreme conditions. In ground exhibiting 

squeezing-convergence and rock 

bursting, open-type machines often fare 

better than shielded machines, as they 

are less likely to get stuck. They can also 

utilize the McNally Support System, in 

which the curved finger shield plates 

are replaced for a curved assembly of 

pockets with rectangular cross-sections. 

In swelling-slacking ground Main Beam 

TBMs also allow for immediate ground 

treatment behind or over the top of the 


TECHNOLOGY 

The McNally Ground Support System 

consists of steel slats extruded from 

pockets in an open-type machine’s 

roof shield, which contain heavily 

fractured ground and rock bursts. 

Probe drilling is equally important 

in both shielded and open-type 

machines. Enhanced probe drilling 

on shielded machines allows for 

more trajectories. 

cutterhead. Open-type machines are 

capable of operating in ground with occasional 

to continuous water as long as a 

mitigation strategy combining grouting 

to stem flows, as well as pumps to remove 

the water, is employed. 

Shielded Hard Rock TBMs 

Most shielded TBMs line the tunnel 

either simultaneously with or directly 

after a TBM stroke, resulting in an earlier 

useable date for the tunnel. Shielded 

machines also have the very beneficial 

advantage of providing a limited section 

of non-heavy support; i.e., the distance 

from the cutterhead to the grouted lining. 

Shielded TBMs can also have difficulty 

in faulted rock, as the working area 

for ground consolidation can somewhat 

restrict good face coverage. There are 

two types of shielded hard rock TBMs: 

Single Shield and Double Shield. 

Single Shield TBMs are shorter in 

length and can therefore be launched 

from a shorter starter tunnel, and are 

typically utilized in non-self-supporting 

rock, as the machine advances by reacting 

against the concrete tunnel lining 

rather than unstable tunnel walls. They 

have the disadvantage of not having grippers, 

which allow greater pull, thrust and 

jogging of the cutterhead. 

Double Shield TBMs are ideal in selfsupporting 

rock, and some non-self-supporting 

rock, or in combination ground 

since they can react against either tunnel 

walls or segments. The shield also 

provides protection from rock falls and 

other problems, making it ideal in hard, 

blocky ground as well. In addition, in 

squeezing ground Double Shield TBMs 

can be used with compressible material 

as backfill or special segments to accommodate 

squeezing conditions. 

Both types of machines can be successfully 

utilized in a wide range of conditions—even 

in squeezing ground and 

significant water inflows—if properly 

designed. A host of technology, termed 

Difficult Ground Solutions (DGS), can 

be used on these machines, from multispeed 

gearboxes that enable excavation 

in fault zones to shield lubrication and 

breakout thrust/torque for squeezing 

and collapsing ground. 

ADVANCEMENTS IN 

GROUND SUPPORT 

Squeezing/Convergent Ground 

For squeezing or converging ground, 

over-boring is often necessary. The 

only practical solution to over boring 

is to pre-mount extra gage housing in 

the periphery of the cutterhead. In the 

over-bore zone, yielding type structures 

should be erected if using an open-type 

machine. These structures can include 

yielding steel arches, steel arches in conjunction 

with yielding jacks, shotcrete 

structures with yielding rock anchors, 

or combinations of the above supports. 

Such support needs to be placed with 

assistance of the ring beam erector or 

some other mechanical means. The most 

desirable location to place such support 

is immediately behind the cutterhead—a 

problematic situation with a shield type 

machine. The machines also must be 

equipped with very high torque to overcome 

the squeezing effect. 

If using a shielded machine erecting 

segments, certain features such as a convergence 

measuring system—a hydraulic 

cylinder mounted on top of the machine 

and connected to the machines computer 

system (PLC)—can detect when 

squeezing conditions are present. Having 

a machine designed with the shortest 

possible shield length, and a stepped 

(tapered) shield if necessary can be immensely 

helpful. As mentioned previously, 

shield lubrication and emergency 

thrust can get a machine through a situation 

where it might otherwise become 

trapped. 

Rock Bursting 

In rock bursting conditions wire mesh 

with rock bolts, yielding rock anchors, 

steel arches, ring beams or combinations 

of all the above may be required. Such 

support can be placed with rock drills, 

a ring beam erector, and a shotcrete 

system. It is important to hold the rock 

in place to control and limit the disturbance 

of the rock to as great an extent 

as possible. Rock bursting could also be 

contained with TBMs in association with 

special lining. 


TECHNOLOGY 

In squeezing or blocky ground, shield lubrication allows a 

shielded rock machine to get through geology where it might 

otherwise become stuck. 

When significant water inflows occur, a guillotine gate can seal 

off a shielded machine to allow crews to safely control the 

water (sealed area in blue). 

With modern open-type TBMs, 

ground support such as the McNally 

Roof Support System can be used to 

allow lining to be extruded from the machine 

as it advances—a very safe option 

in these conditions. Today’s TBMs are 

also equipped with all of the same tools 

and techniques that are used in drill & 

blast operations to excavate through 

difficult rock conditions. With sophisticated 

probing techniques installed on 

the TBM, the operator can predict what 

is ahead of the tunnelling operation 

more quickly than drill & blast and react 

appropriately. On a shielded machine, 

probe drilling is equally important. The 

machine’s shield provides safety against 

rock bursting events. 

Swelling/Slacking Ground 

In swelling and slacking conditions 

an effective ground treatment is shotcrete 

applied immediately behind the 

cutterhead, for both open-type and 

shielded machines. In extreme conditions, 

over-boring may be required and 

measures for rock support in squeezing 

ground may be needed. The support 

can be a combination of shotcrete, rock 

drills and ring beams on an open-type 

machine. The difficult question, however, 

is to predict the extent of swelling 

and squeezing. This is a very important 

consideration when considering the 

use of concrete segments in such conditions. 

Because of the difficulty of predicting 

the extent of swelling, two-pass 

lining systems have been used such as 

in the large diameter Niagara Tunnel 

Project in sedimentary rock. This large 

diameter (14.4 m) tunnel utilized initial 

ground support followed by a slipform 

concrete liner and a waterproof membrane. 

12 maintworld 2/2017 

Fault Zones & Water Pressure 

Fault zones can be the most difficult 

condition to encounter, especially when 

associated with water under pressure. 

They are also the most difficult conditions 

for predicting expected advance 

rates. 

In all conditions, advance probe drilling 

is recommended 30 to 40 meters in 

advance of the face with a 10 m overlay. 

This is especially important when fault 

zones or water are expected. When a 

fault zone or water is encountered, the 

extent of the zone should be explored 

prior to TBM boring within 10 – 20 meters 

of the zone. Drilling should be done 

on a 360-degree basis. First, the zone 

should be grouted to stop water inflows. 

After grouting, ground consolidation 

additives should be injected into the 

unstable rock or soil material. It may 

be necessary to inject such material 

into the face at short intervals of 2 to 4 

meters, and advance at shorter intervals. 

The support of geologists experienced in 

predicting and treating fault zones, and 

of ground conditioning experts, is highly 

recommended when fault zones are encountered. 

For passing through fault zones, grout 

and ground conditioning holes are required. 

After ground treatment, ground 

support such as spiling or forepoling 

through the front shield over the cutterhead 

may be necessary for safe and 

predictable advance. It is preferable to 

carry on this drilling as close to the face 

as possible to ensure good face coverage. 

These methods are all possible whether 

an open-type or shielded machine is 

used. 

When water is present in a hard rock 

tunnel, it can be pumped away from the 

face and out of the tunnel (even fairly 

significant water inflows). However, if 

there is a possibility of significant pressures 

and/or a massive inrush of water, 

then a shielded machine with DGS features 

is recommended. In the event of 

a large inrush of water, a guillotine gate 

on the muck chute can effectively seal 

off the muck chamber to keep the crew 

safe as well as keep the machine from 

becoming flooded out. Additional inflatable 

seals can seal the gap between the 

telescopic shield and outer shields of a 

Double Shield TBM to keep everything 

watertight. This system is termed “passive” 

water protection because the TBM 

is stopped in place (not actively operating). 

During that time the crew can 

then work to grout off water inflows and 

dewater the chamber to control the flow 

before they begin boring again. 

Blocky or Jointed Rock 

In blocky or highly jointed rock, the 

McNally system to hold the rock in place 

has been proven very effective in opentype 

machines. If the rocks are held in 

place then this can prevent or lessen the 

condition of cathedralling over the cutterhead 

and fallout in front of the face; 

it will also reduce cutterhead damage. 

The ground support should be placed 

as close as possible to the cutterhead. 

Rock supports for the McNally system 

can be prefabricated rebar, wood/metal 

slats, or wire mesh in conjunction with 

rock straps and rock bolts. In a shielded 

machine, DGS features previously 

mentioned including shield lubrication, 

tapered shields, and hydraulic shield 

breakout—where radial ports in the 

machine shield can be made to inject 

pressurized hydraulic lubricants to free 

a shield that has already become stuck— 

are all useful.

CONDITION MONITORING 

5 

Ways to Break Out of 

the Reactive Maintenance 

Cycle of Doom 

Improving reliability will help the bottom line of any organization – and much 

more. However, if that organization is experiencing any level of reactive maintenance, 

then improved reliability may seem like a pipe dream. Until you can break out of the 

“reactive maintenance cycle of doom”, it is not possible to make any real inroads into 

your reliability improvement initiative. 

JASON TRANTER, 

Founder and Managing 

Director of Mobius 

Institute, Jason.tranter@ 

mobiusinstitute.com 

IF YOU WERE to look at the failures you 

are experiencing today, would you agree 

that most of them are preventable? Are 

those failures consuming your resources, 

manpower and budget? As a result of 

having to deal with those failures, are 

repairs performed poorly, or are you performing 

temporary repairs that you plan 

to correct later (but never do)? And as a 

result, are you experiencing more repeat 

work? Do you ever perform root cause 

failure analysis so that you can eliminate 

those failures? And what happens when 

suggestions are made for improvement? 

Are they ignored? 



And what is management’s response? 

Do they reduce the headcount and try to 

squeeze the budget in order to deal with 

the high costs of downtime and reactive 

maintenance? What happens then? 

Does morale decline? Do standards drop 

further? And as a result do you experience 

even more preventable failures 

that consume resources and results in 

temporary repairs being performed? We 

could continue to go through this list, 

around and around and around. 

Well, if you answer “yes” to the majority 

of the questions above, then you are 

trapped in the reactive maintenance cycle 

of doom… You have to get out! 

But How Do You Get Out? 

We have to get out of the reactive maintenance 

cycle of doom. If everyone is 

dragged back to perform reactive work, 

then none of the proactive tasks that will 

ultimately lead to improved reliability 

can ever be performed. Well, you may 

believe that management could hire additional 

people so that you have the resources 

to perform those proactive tasks. 

That is about as likely as management 

hiring unicorns to maintain the grass. 

The basic answer is that we have to do 

much more with the people and budget 

that we have right now. We have to stop 

performing tasks that waste our money, 

waste our time, and induce failures in 

our equipment. This may sound like a 

push for higher productivity. In a sense, 

it is. But that is not our focus. 

So, how do we break out of this vicious 

cycle so that we can make real improvements 

in reliability? 

1. First We Have to 

Change the Culture 

The first step is to change people’s attitudes, 

which will change people’s 

behaviour. Everyone has to believe that 

they will be better off in a reliable plant. 

They also have to believe that they can 

contribute to the reliability improvement 

process. 

There are a number of ways to go 

about doing this, and it is a topic worthy 

of its own article (or even its own book) 

but there are a few things we can do to 

improve the culture: 

1. Ensure that senior management 

is 100 percent behind reliability 

improvement and ensure that 

they are vocal in their support 

2. Educate people so that they truly 

understand the benefits of working 

in a reliable plant 

3. Educate people so that they understand 

why failure occurs 

4. Involve people, ideally in a 

“brown paper process”, in order 

to get their suggestions for 

improvements and get their assistance 

in making the improvements 

That last point needs a brief explanation. 

As intelligent managers or maintenance/reliability 

engineers, we can come 

up with a lot of ways to improve reliability. 

We can devise a strategy via the 

Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) 

CONDITION MONITORING WARNS YOU ABOUT PENDING 

EQUIPMENT FAILURES; THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM AND 

THE SEVERITY OF THE PROBLEM. 

analysis process. And then we could 

implement that plan and ensure that we 

do what is necessary to change people’s 

behaviour. 

But people do not like to be changed. 

They will change when they are a contributor 

to change. 

Besides, who knows more about the 

reasons why equipment fails (and why 

we experience production slowdowns) 

than the operators of the equipment 

and the front-line people who maintain 

it? But do we normally ask those people 

for their opinion or assistance? No, we 

don’t… And then we wonder why we 

don’t enjoy the success we hope for. 

So that is something that we are going 

to do differently in the future. The 

“brown-paper” process will gather together 

the “front line” people in small 

groups and learn from them what needs 

to change. And then we will ask them to 

lead the mini-projects that correct the 

problems that are identified – in that 

way they take ownership and free up 

your time. An activity like this is key to 

your success. 

2. Implement a Work 

Management Programme 

Well, we really just need basic (but effective) 

planning and scheduling for now. 

Wait a minute. Doesn’t that mean you 

need an extra person? No, you will take 

one of your most effective trades people 

and put them in the role of planner/ 

scheduler. But surely that must mean that 

you have even fewer people to perform the 

corrective (and hopefully proactive) maintenance 

work. That is true, but the fact is 

that we will make the remaining trades 

people far more effective. 

Planned and scheduled work is 20 

percent more efficient than unmanaged 

work. And it is safer. And the work 

will be done right the first time and 

Follow a Roadmap to 

Tackle the Reactive 

Maintenance Doom 

If you do not have a strategy, 

then feel free to follow the 

chart below. It has been 

developed to ensure that 

you lay a solid foundation 

before you tackle the reactive 

maintenance cycle doom, 

and then you can focus on 

the “world’s best practice” of 

reliability improvement and 

operational excellence. 



thus not lead to future failures. That 

improvement in efficiency means that 

your 40-person crew can now do what 

a 48-person crew can do. It is just like 

gaining an extra eight people. 

3. Work on Communication 

to Foster Cooperation 

The chances are that the relationship between 

maintenance and operations/production 

is not great… That relationship 

has to improve. The maintenance team 

needs the cooperation of operations so 

that the equipment is ready when work 

must be performed. Operations needs 

to work closely with the maintenance 

team to ensure that their equipment 

can perform with minimal downtime, 

minimal slowdown, and the highest level 

of quality. 

In addition, the operators of the 

equipment can contribute to reliability 

improvement by changing the way they 

operate the equipment, and performing 

basic inspections and maintenance tasks 

WE HAVE TO STOP PERFORMING TASKS THAT 

WASTE OUR MONEY, WASTE OUR TIME, AND INDUCE 

FAILURES IN OUR EQUIPMENT. 

that will free up the time of the skilled 

maintenance craftspeople. 

As part of this process there must be 

regular morning meetings where maintenance 

and operations can coordinate 

their activities and provide feedback on 

the jobs performed on the previous day. 

4. Eliminate the 

Root Causes of Failures 

It is not possible to break out of the 

reactive maintenance cycle of doom 

unless we eliminate the root causes of 

those failures. Having the right attitude, 

improving communication, and implementing 

planning and scheduling will 

eliminate some of the root causes of failure, 

but we need to do more. 

We could use root cause failure 

analysis, but we can also go through a 

fairly simple checklist of the most common 

causes of failure and address those 

first, including improved lubrication 

(and eliminating contamination), and 

precision installation/shaft alignment/ 

balancing/tightening. We can also work 

on the tasks identified via the “brownpaper” 

process. 

But I assume you don’t have the resources 

for that. Or do you? 

Step one is to recognize that planning 

and scheduling and involving operators 

in basic maintenance tasks will free up 

resources. 

Step two is to take a close look at 

the PMs you are performing now and 

remove all of the tasks that waste your 

resources. You may be surprised to 

find that you do a substantial amount 

of work that is either unnecessary or it 

contributes to future failures (or both). 

This optimization process will reduce 

your workload and thus free up time for 

trades people to do the job correctly the 

first time and to perform proactive tasks. 

Step three is to take one of your best 

trades people and dedicate them fully 

to proactive jobs. It has to be an A-grade 

emergency before they are allowed to respond 

to reactive maintenance jobs. Yes, 

that means that two of your best people 

are now working on planning and scheduling 

and proactive jobs. They are best 

qualified to define the jobs and perform 

the jobs. 

You should also take a look at your 

spares management programme (which 

spares you keep, how accessible are they, 

and whether the condition of the spares 

degraded in storage), develop standard 

maintenance procedures, and execute 

a basic 5S programme, so that the work 

area is clean and organized. 

The proactive jobs eliminate tomorrow’s 

problems. Eliminating tomorrow’s 

problems saves money, saves time, and 

improves morale. 

5. Finally You Need to be 

Warned about Tomorrow’s 

Problems 

Condition monitoring warns you about 

pending equipment failures; the nature 

of the problem and the severity of the 

problem. 

You may need to keep it simple internally 

by utilizing simple vibration 

meters, basic ultrasound tools, inexpensive 

infrared measurement systems, and 

targeted inspections. You can then use 

outside consultants to perform the more 

sophisticated testing, such as detailed 

vibration analysis, oil and wear particle 

analysis, tests on electric motors, and 

more. 

Once you have broken free of the reactive 

maintenance cycle of doom you 

can begin to bring the more sophisticated 

condition monitoring technologies 

in-house (if the circumstances are appropriate). 


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XXXXXX CONDITION MONITORING 

A Moog technician capturing the performance of a valve under test. 

Breathing New Life 

into Old Valves 

Boosts Productivity 

Maintenance professionals pride themselves 

on preventing equipment from breaking down, 

or repairing it quickly. Replacing old equipment 

with new technology can be a good thing. But 

refurbishing a piece of equipment to like-new 

condition is often seen as equally good, sometimes 

even better. 

KATHERINE KIRSCH, 

customer support 

manager for Moog Inc. 

CHRISTOPHER 

VALIQUETTE, 

North American sales 

manager for Moog Inc. 

MOOG – A MAKER OF high-performance 

motion control technology such as servo 

valves for power generation, oil & gas 

production, steel mills, test systems 

and paper mills – recently launched the 

Return-To-Productivity Program to help 

maintenance managers in the Americas 

evaluate and refurbish their older, or 

even obsolete, valves. Since 2000, plant 

managers and equipment builders have 

put more than one million Moog Servo 

Valves into service. 

The RTP Program gives maintenance 

professionals across a variety of 

industries the services to evaluate and 

repair the servo valves running their 

equipment. By launching the program, 

engineers at Moog hope plant managers 


CONDITION XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

MONITORING 

will turn to Moog instead of an unauthorized 

repair house (URH). As part 

of the program, even if a maintenance 

manager has a Moog valve that turns out 

to be obsolete, Moog will clean the valve, 

evaluate its condition and provide users 

with an inspection report describing the 

health of the valve as well as recommendations 

for potentially replacing it. 

Turning to an OEM to affect repairs 

or service equipment is a logical step. 

However, some maintenance managers 

do just the opposite because they 

believe asking the OEM to repair a piece 

of equipment will break their budget. 

The viewpoint of some maintenance 

professionals is that if they turn to an 

unauthorized repair house, or even bypass 

an expensive repair altogether, they 

will save money. Our experience is just 

the opposite. 

For example, a steel mill had difficulty 

maintaining hydraulic system pressure 

on its gauge line. Its HPU system was 

robust with three 33-percent capacity 

pumps and a fourth pump in reserve. 

As the situation worsened, the mill was 

forced to operate the reserve pump, consume 

additional electricity and operate 

without a spare pump. At the same time, 

the pressures were declining and the 

fluid temperatures were increasing. The 

mill’s managers approached Moog and 

its local distributor for assistance. Moog 

audited the system and learned that the 

servo valves had not received a Moog 

factory repair in many years. Instead, a 

URH had repaired the valves. 

Moog believed that the root cause 

of the steel mill’s problem was leakage 

through the servo valves caused by worn 

seals between the bushing and the spool. 

Moog maintains strict leakage standards 

for repairs and will replace the bushing 

spool assembly if the leakage is excessive. 

A URH cannot purchase replacement 

parts from Moog and will reuse 

worn parts as long as the valve is “functional.” 

The severe leakage explained the 

higher flow needed to maintain system 

pressure and the increased temperature 

as the hot oil was prematurely returned 

to the sump. 

The mill returned four servo valves 

for repair. Moog determined that the 

internal leakage was eight times greater 

than it recommends. After inspection, 

technicians learned that some of the 

spools were not made by the Moog and 

were not manufactured to the correct 

tolerances. These were also an older 

style valve with a mechanical null adjustment. 

Moog’s team upgraded the 

valves to a more reliable magnetic null 

adjustment mechanism (at no additional 

THE RTP PROGRAM GIVES MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS 

ACROSS A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES THE SERVICES TO 

EVALUATE AND REPAIR THE SERVO VALVES RUNNING THEIR 

EQUIPMENT 

charge). The valves were installed on the 

gauge line and the pressures returned to 

normal with only three pumps operating. 

Temperatures returned to normal 

too. This saved the company almost 

US$50,000 a year in electricity. And the 

valves have now been in service for more 

than two years without the mill having 

to return them to Moog for repair, which 

has yielded significant savings in maintenance 

costs. 

Think Twice When 

Considering a URH 

So while a URH might try to win business 

by asking a potential customer to 

compare the repair price per valve with 

that of an OEM, the maintenance cost 

added into a URH’s price ultimately 

makes it more economical to have the 

OEM service your servo valve. It is true 

that you can go to a URH and get what 

they would state is a “serviced valve.” We 

have seen time and again though, that 

these URH-repaired valves typically last 

between six and twelve months until a 

plant manager will see an unstable production 

platform caused by early fatigue 

in the valve. 

Ultimately, that kind of “repair” 

causes poor product quality and higher 

scrap counts in production applications, 

or an unplanned outage in power generation 

and flight simulation. Any one of 

these things could lead to thousands (or 

hundreds of thousands) of dollars in lost 

product or productivity. 

In contrast, when maintenance managers 

turn to an OEM to have their valves 

repaired, Moog, in particular, carries out 

these repairs by following ISO standards. 

Fastidiously adhering to industry 

standards, in turn, ensures that a plant 

or equipment operator can count on his 

or her repaired valve running for a billion 

cycles, which correlates to years of 

service. 

The selection of high quality components 

is critical to minimizing unplanned 

downtime. The cost of operational 

loss during unplanned downtime 

whether it is industrial production or 

transportation justifies the time it takes 

an engineer to evaluate the life expectancy 

of critical components on equipment. 

For example, test stands and flight 

A Moog technician 

installs a new 

electronics board 

on a servoproportional 

valve. 


XXXXXX CONDITION MONITORING 

simulators are valued in the millions of 

dollars and the unexpected failure of a 

servo valve or actuator translates into 

lost revenues and schedule delays that 

can often exceed the original equipment 

costs. Early fatigue in the internal 

servo valve components generally do not 

exhibit any external signs of degradation 

such as leakage. However, the early 

fatigue definitely affects the dynamic 

performance of the servo valve. Once 

the servo valve is mounted in the equipment, 

most equipment operators will 

not be able to visually see any performance 

changes unless the system fails 

catastrophically. 

For plant managers who still opt for 

an unauthorized repair house to solve 

their problems, they might be surprised 

to learn that sometimes the equipment 

in question still ends up in the OEM’s 

hands. We have seen instances in which 

a URH couldn’t repair a Moog servo 

valve, and they sent it to us in pieces. We 

serviced the valve and returned it to the 

URH. If the plant or mill operator had 

come directly to Moog or used a Moog 

authorized distributor, then we would 

have saved them time and money. 

In fact, when time is critical, we have 

actually repaired a Moog servo valve and 

returned it by plane to its owner on the 

same day we received it. And while speed 

is sometimes of great importance, the 

quality of a repair is even more significant. 

URHs also lack the documentation 

to test a repaired part against the original 

specifications, which is a hallmark 

of quality repair. As part of Moog’s RTP 

Program, if a maintenance manager 

sends us a valve for repair and we note 

that our engineering team has upgraded 

that particular model of servo valve, 

we will upgrade the valve sent to us for 

repair as part of our standard services. 

Practically speaking that might mean 

our repair group would receive an older 

valve with a steel ball on the feedback 

wire, matched with a slotted spool. We 

would take it upon ourselves to upgrade 

the valve to incorporate a carbide ball on 

the feedback wire matched with the ballin-hole 

spool design. Enhancements like 

this increase the longevity of the valve. 

Calling All Valves 

If a plant manager has valves in their 

equipment that are very old or obsolete, 

the RTP program is still an option. 

Moog’s repair technicians and engineers 

will evaluate these older makes and models 

of valves to assess the performance 

against the original specifications. Some 

of the assembly and test technicians who 

conduct this work for Moog’s customers 

have been in their roles for up to 30 

years, so they have seen everything. Once 

they analyze a valve, the technicians and 

engineers can recommend if the valve 

can operate safely and, if not, recommend 

an equivalent Moog valve with 

aggressive trade-in pricing that meets or 

exceeds any competitor’s specifications. 

For plants and factories that might 

have a large base of installed valves 

spanning many makes and models, 

Moog’s engineers can identify the proper 

replacements and develop a plan to 

minimize the number of valve models 

in operation at a facility. We like to refer 

to this analysis and planning as a way to 

reduce “valve sprawl.” By reducing various 

makes and models of valves inside a 

plant and relying instead on a common 

model for spares, maintenance managers 

can reduce their inventory rate. 

Truly repairing your valves requires 

inspecting the hardware and providing 

an inspection (or repair) report that 

identifies what is wrong with the valve 

and how the valve is functioning. With 

our experience analyzing and repairing 

valves, we can also solve a plant manager’s 

problems on a system level, not 

just the component level. This is something 

else a URH is not qualified to do. If, 

for example, we see valves come back to 

us with worn spools caused by repeated 

contamination or a cracked flexure 

sleeve, our technicians can identify what 

is wrong with the system and recommend 

a system-wide solution. 

And that is a guaranteed way of getting 

the most from your valves and 

boosting productivity. 

Technicians inside Moog’s 

repair facility in East Aurora, 

N.Y., evaluate, test and 

overhaul valves. 

20 maintworld 2/2017 1/2017

Master the Language 

of Your Machinery 

A4300 VA3 Pro 

3-Channel Vibration 

Analyzer, Data Collector 

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Stroboscope 

Optional modes: 

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Ultrasound 

Adash 

 

 

 

t 

 

 

info@adash.com 

www.adash.com 

Your local distributor can 

be found on our website 

www.adash.com under 

‘Contacts‘.

XXXXXX RELIABILITY 

What Makes a Critical 

Spare Part ‘Critical’ 

When we are working with organizations to improve 

their maintenance storerooms, one of the first activities 

we complete is defining an obsolete part and a 

critical part. If we can agree on those two definitions, 

then every part in the storeroom ought to fall within 

those boundaries. 

JOHN ROSS, 

Senior Consultant, 

Marshall Institute 

TIT TURNS OUT that an obsolete part is 

anything that doesn’t go to anything 

(layman’s definition), or is in excess of 

what is actually and practically needed. 

A critical spare part, however, is another 

thing altogether. Left unchecked and 

unstructured, a critical spare part is 

thought to be anything that will shut the 

plant down. 

Imagine, at its most basic interpretation, 

a critical spare part is, surprisingly, 

critical. To our partners in production, 

if not having the item when needed will 

lead to excessive downtime, then the 

part is indeed critical. But what does excessive 

downtime mean? “Excessive” is 

a very subjective word. 

For finance and all the folks that 

worry about the numbers, any part that 

is really expensive can be considered 

critical. After all, doesn’t it make sense 

that an important part would cost a lot 

of cents? Exactly how much is a lot? To 

small companies, $10,000 seems like a 

lot. To global giants, not so much. 

For maintenance, long lead times 

keep us up at night. Like downtime and 

costs, long lead times can be subjective. 

How long is long? I tell people that if you 

have to hold your breath until you get 

the part, 26 seconds is a long time. 

Label Items as ‘Critical’ for the 

Right Reasons 

It is important that we clearly define the 

attributes that make various parts uberimportant. 

We have to take subjective 

characteristics and agree on the level of 

significance each has, relative to the part 

being present in our storeroom. Convert 

subjective to objective. 

With this in mind, our exercise 

becomes a simple process of engaging 

those, who would otherwise be the 

victim of our process, in on the decision 

to classify a part as critical. The output 

from this team is a clear distinction of 

what makes a part very, very important. 

The group gathered will decide the characteristics 

to consider, the levels within 

the characteristics to measure, and assign 

a weight to each level. I suggest a 

group makeup of: 

• Maintenance hourly 

• Production hourly 

• Production supervision 

• Storeroom 

• Engineering 

• Maintenance supervision 

First, let’s examine the issue of incurring 

downtime. 

The assembled group is tasked with 

developing a 5-layer ‘downtime’ breakout 

with an associated weight. What 

we are constructing in this process, is a 

method to convert subjective to objective; 

an objective number whose cumulative 

score can be used as a cut-off to 

determine if a part is critical or not. This 

spreadsheet becomes the algorithm of 

our determination process. I like to call 

it the calculus of our critical spare parts 

practice. 


Power Up Your Skills 

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Detect and control your failure modes. 

Location Dates Language 

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DE - Frankfurt 25.-27. September German 

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This fast paced course is designed to assist delegates to develop an 

 

strategies and approach defect elimination in a methodical manner. 

This course will emphasize the PM Optimization methodology; an RCM 

based approach to maintenance analysis designed for an existing plant or 

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Maintenance Work Management 

 

Location Dates Language 

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DE - Düsseldorf 30.-31. May German 

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The key element to any operation leader’s success is having a maintenance 

 

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Identify leading and lagging indicators 

 

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XXXXXX RELIABILITY 

Here is an example of what that downtime table might look like: 

Table 1: 

Loss to Production 

Weight 

Entire plant shuts down, immediately 5 

$100,000 5 

$50,000 - $100,000 3 

$25,000 - $49,999 2 

$10,000 - $24,999 1 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

If we can agree, in principle, that a 

critical spare part is one that would shut 

down a significant portion of our production, 

AND, would cost a lot of money 

to buy and transport, AND, would take 

a long time to get…why on earth would 

we ever want to use it? It is a really bad 

day when you have to pull a critical spare 

part out of the storeroom. In the steel 

business, we used to say, “It’s a really 

bad week when you have to use a critical 

spare part”. 

To add to your elevator speech, a critical 

spare part is one that: 

• Can shut down production 

• Costs a lot of money 

• Has a long lead time 

• And, you never, ever want to use 

This last attribute is very important, 

and you’ll find out why later in this article. 

To keep storerooms manageable, 

both in terms of value and line-items, 

typically, only a single critical spare 

part is stocked in conjunction with the 

operating component. To have multiple 

spare parts in contingency for a single 

operating component not only adds to 

management of spares issues, but dilutes 

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CLEARLY DEFINE THE ATTRIBUTES 

THAT MAKE VARIOUS PARTS UBER-IMPORTANT. 

the idea of it (or them) being critical. If 

a part is used in many areas of the plant, 

and the primary function of the component 

is vital in each area, then it might 

make sense to increase the number of 

spares on hand. Therefore, the number 

of uses of a particular candidate as a 

‘critical spare part’ must also factor into 

our calculus. Without a real design strategy, 

we could be setting ourselves up for 

failure here. Read on. 

Parts standardization was mentioned 

earlier. This concept, unfortunately, is 

ignored by engineering, either through 

ignorance or brazen disregard. The motive 

doesn’t really matter, as the effect is 

the same. Without it, or without an attempt 

at part standardization, we could 

end up with 3 brands of PLCs and 7 

different, and incompatible, types of frequency 

drives in our plants. Given that 

electronic components fail suddenly and 

randomly, our only strategy is to have a 

spare one in the storeroom. Non-conformance 

to parts standardization then 

requires us to have one of each in our 

storeroom. What if they’re all critical? 

Our inventory value just went up. 

One of the remaining, most important 

aspects of determining if a part is critical 

or not involves some level of Reliability 

Centred Maintenance. Specifically, how 

does a failure manifest itself (failure 

mode) and how can we see it coming? 

Clearly, if a part is important enough 

(downtime, cost, lead time), and can fail 

in a manner that we cannot even see 

happening, this results in a level of risk 

management we don’t want to take on. 

How good is our preventative and predictive 

maintenance? Has this part ever 

failed before, and for what reason? 

This is a significant issue. If a critical 

spare part causes a lot of downtime, 

costs a lot of money, and takes a long 

time to get, doesn’t it fly in the face of 

conventional wisdom that we just let it 

run to failure? Remember that last bullet 

point earlier, “you never, ever want to 

use (it)”? 


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XXXXXX VIBRATION DIAGNOSTICS 

Smart Online 

Monitoring 

Online vibration monitoring is essential 

for critical machines. There are machines 

that need to be monitored continuously; 

it is not enough to take a measurtement 

every week, or even once per day. 

EVA GERDA BOJKO, 

Adash, 

eva.gerda@adash.cz 

THE CHANGES IN VIBRATION values between 

certain time periods could have 

a large negative impact on production 

if they are not caught. In such cases, so 

called online monitoring is essential. 

This means that the vibration values are 

continuously measured in a system that 

will give a warning if certain pre-determined 

limits are exceeded. The system 

can also switch off the machine automatically 

when the determined danger 

value is exceeded. Now the important 

question is what exactly does it mean 

to monitor and measure continuously? 

Does it mean taking a measurement every 

minute, every 5 minutes? Do I save all 

of the values to the system? How can the 

system work with such a large amount 

of data? 

Conventional Model of Data 

Acquisition 

The conventional model of data acquisition 

used by many brands measures the 

required values in a defined time interval. 

This means that if I decide to take a 

measurement every minute or every 5 

minutes, I need to set up this time interval 

in the system. The system then takes 

the measurement at those pre-defined 

time intervals. A very important fact 

is that ALL of the measured values are 

saved – for instance at every 5 minute 

interval, new data are saved. Those properties 

lead to some disadvantages. Let’s 

describe them in more detail. 

Let’s assume that I define a 5 minute 

time interval for data acquisition. The 

measurement itself takes only one second. 

What if something happens during 

the time interval between those two 

measurements? Many things could happen 

during those five minutes and there 

would be no record of it at all. 

Another disadvantage is that when I 

am saving all measured data, the size of 

the database increases rapidly. If I would 

like to set up a shorter time interval to 

take more measurements, the database 

size will grow even faster. For example, 

when I set up the time interval to 2.5 

minutes, the database will be twice as big 

as the one with the interval set up to 5 

minutes. So as you can see it is always a 

very hard decision what time interval to 

set up. Am I able to deal with such a huge 

database? Will I miss important information 

if the time interval is too long? 

With fast increase of database size 

your computer may be slowed down and 

the database engine you have may not 

be sufficient. When dealing with huge 

databases it is necessary to purchase 

some special software engines. The 

powerful and expensive SQL database is 

necessary; the price of this SQL database 

may climb up to the price of the online 

monitoring system itself and its difficult 

set up may complicate the work with the 

system. 

We can say the conventional model of 

data acquisition is quite simple and easy 

to understand but it has its disadvantages. 


VIBRATION XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

DIAGNOSTICS 

Adaptive Algorithm 

of Data Acquisition 

To avoid the disadvantages mentioned 

above, the Adash company has developed 

Adaptive Model of Data Acquisition 

for online monitoring. Let’s go back 

to our first question. How often do we 

need to measure the vibration value? 

The ideal answer is continuously; it 

means starting a new measurement 

immediately after the previous one is 

finished. If the measurement takes 1 second, 

we should measure every second. 

This is ideal, so let’s really do it this way! 

We measure continuously and there is 

no way we could miss any important 

change of value. 

Ok, now you may ask what about all 

the measured data? We have said the 

database size would grow rapidly if the 

measurement time were increased from 

every 5 minutes to every second. Isn’t it 

insane? No, it is not! The trick is hidden 

in data saving. The measurement could 

be taken for example every second, but 

why would we need to save all the measured 

data if the values are still the same? 

So here comes the trick: the model of 

adaptive algorithm for data acquisition. 

This adaptive system decides which values 

need to be saved and which values 

don’t. So let’s say I take a measurement 

every second for the 5 minutes and the 

value is still 3 mm/s. I have measured 

this value 300 times during those 5 

minutes, but I don’t need to save it 300 

times! It is enough for me to save it just 

once and this is exactly what adaptive 

algorithm is doing for me. 

How does the adaptive 

algorithm select which data to 

save? 

Take a closer look on how the adaptive 

algorithm selects which data to save and 

which to erase. As mentioned earlier, the 

adaptive algorithm does not save the values 

that are not changing significantly. 

A definition then of significant change 

WE MEASURE REALLY CONTINUOUSLY AND THERE IS NO WAY 

WE COULD MISS ANY IMPORTANT CHANGE OF VALUE 

should be made. We usually set up the 

significant value change to 5 percent. So 

if the measured values haven’t changed 

more than 5 percent compared to the 

first value, there is no need to save the 

measured data, it is not important to 

us. Why was 5 percent chosen? Because 

from experience we know that there is 

never anything really important happening 

in this 5 percent range around the 

measured value. See from the pictures 

how it affects the actual saved data. 

What Happens if Nothing 

Changes Significantly? 

When the values don’t change over a really 

long time, only one measurement 

would be recorded, which is also not 

ideal. There is a time interval for saving 

data defined in the adaptive algorithm 

system, which represent the longest 

time I can have without data being saved. 

When I set up this time interval for saving 

to e.g. 4 hours, I save a measurement 

every 4 hours even if the value has not 

been changing significantly. I believe you 

can see the difference between a conventional 

system and the new adaptive algorithm 

already. Imagine how much data 

we would store just during one day with 

a conventional system; during 24 hours 

it would be 288 saved measurements 

when taking measurement every 5 minutes 

and we still cannot be sure that we 

haven’t missed anything. With the adaptive 

algorithm, during those 24 hours, we 

would get only 6 measurements stored 

if there is no significant change (when 

the time interval for saving is set up to 

4 hours) and we would be sure that we 

haven’t missed anything as we are really 

measuring continuously. The size 

of the database is much smaller in this 

case. Obviously if there were significant 

changes, more measurements would 

be saved, but they would be important 

measurements that are worth storing. 

The Adash online monitoring system 

A3716 with new adaptive algorithm is 

controlled by Adash DDS software. You 

can run the database system in DDS software 

even on a standard laptop. 

Why is it called adaptive? 

The system can adaptively change some 

of its parameters. When you measure 

the machines where the vibration values 

change a lot and it is common for their 

run, the adaptive algorithm sets up the 

significant value to a larger value so that 

it does not save insignificant data. Look 

at the picture showing how it affects 

the saved values. You can see that even 

when the significant change is set at 50 

percent all really important values stay 

recorded. 

This adaptive change of parameters 

can be done automatically by the system 

itself, but if the user wants to be certain 

of the set up, it can also be entered 

manually. 

I have not described all the decision 

parameters of the A3716 adaptive algorithm 

as some of them are more complicated. 

However the algorithm does those 

decisions for you and you get the results 

which you need. It measures really 

continuously and saves just the values 

which are important. Some users may 

be little scared when they see the graph 

of recorded values and they see just 2 

values, for example. They are afraid that 

just 2 values were measured, but no! The 

system was measuring continuously, but 

only 2 values were worth to save. You 

can be sure that nothing has been missed 

and you can sleep well 


COLUMN 

Reliability, Maintenance 

and Safety 

TORBJÖRN 

IDHAMMAR, 

President of IDCON INC 

in Raleigh NC, USA, 

www.idcon.com 

I am no longer surprised to see reliability and 

maintenance improvement initiatives abandoned 

before the substantial results, which are 

possible to achieve, are delivered and sustained 

for years to come. 

THIS PHENOMENON is recognized by many of my colleagues 

in the reliability and maintenance management profession. 

I recently came across the findings illustrated in the 

graph below from the American Society for Training and 

Development. It illustrates what happens if training is not 

followed by immediate practice and reinforcement. The 

findings show that 87 percent of what you learnt is lost 

within 30 days if training is not followed by practice and reinforcement. 

Their findings illustrate very well why so many 

reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives delivers 

good results, but only about 50 percent of the improvement 

potential. 

Reliability and maintenance improvements are one of 

the last major improvements opportunities the Industry 

have left. Everyone with access to capital can buy the same 

equipment and technology, how productive your plant is will 

to a very large extent depend on the reliability of your process 

and your equipment. If your equipment runs, you make 

product, if it does not run your employees work harder, you 

pay more and you are not making product. So why does top 

management not reinforce that even the most basic maintenance 

practices are executed better and better over long 

period of time to achieve sustainable outstanding financial 

results? Perhaps it is lack of patience and reinforcement? 

Another good comparison is safety. In 1994, the average 

overall incident rate (Incidents per 200,000 working hours) 

in one industry group was 8.7. Today, many plants we work 

Reactive maintenance causes more 

safety incidents 

Top25% Middle 50% Bottom25% 

Reactive Maintenance 9% 30% 64% 

Osha Recordable Incident Rate. 0.11 1.16 4.36 

(Per 200,000 Hours) 

Reference: 2015 study of over 100 companies by University of Tennessee 

Reliability and Maintainability Center. (UT-RMC) 


with have an incident rate of below 1. In 23 years this industry 

as an average reduced overall safety incident rates by 

about 87 percent. We all know that this is because of consistent 

long term reinforcement and training. 

A study by University of Tennessee shows that organizations 

with a high level of reactive maintenance has an OSHA 

incident rate (Incidents per 200,000 working hours) of 4.36, 

while top performers with much less reactive maintenance 

have an OSHA incident rate of 0.11. 

Imagine the same focus on training, implementation 

and reinforcement of basic maintenance practices; could 

you have reduced preventable maintenance work and down 

time by 80 percent? The majority of maintenance work is 

preventable and can also be executed in half of the time so I 

know it is possible. I have seen it happen and the key to these 

successes has been top management long term consistent 

leadership, support and reinforcement. And on top of better 

maintenance productivity, higher production throughput, 

you would get an even better safety record. 

Learning 

IDCON, INC 

Training 

Without reinforcement 

87% loss of learning 

30 days 

Reference: American Society for Trainingand Development

There are actually three 

certainties in life: death, 

taxes and the need for 

good maintenance. 

We can’t help you with the first two. 

www.marshallinstitute.com 

001 919-834-3722 

Marshall 

Institute 

...making good companies better

XXXXXX ASSET MANAGEMENT 

Asset Care and 

Reliability in the 

Mining Industry 

using Ultrasound 

Ultrasound applications are diverse and yet many 

people “know” about it for one or two applications. 

“I knew it did air leaks, but I did not know that you 

could do all this with it” is therefore a common reaction 

when I refer to eight pillars introducing the use of 

Ultrasound. 

THOMAS J MURPHY 

C.Eng., SDT 

Ultrasound Solutions 

THERE ARE MANY industries where all 

of these applications are important and 

Mining is an example to explore. 

1 

Compressed air is used in 

so many applications. Compressed 

air leaks become huge 

energy losses – in some mines there are 

megawatts of power used to produce 

compressed air. Air leaks in pneumatics 

and control systems however, can become 

showstoppers, bringing production to a 

stop. Using Ultrasound for listening to 

internal air leaks or cracks on the boom 

of a dragline 

2 

Steam is of major importance in 

certain mining processes – consider 

the steam injection systems 

used in a SAG-D (Steam Assisted 

Gravity Drainage) plant for instance. 

Steam is injected underground to warm 

up and soften bitumen and heavier oils 

to make them easier to extract from the 

earth. The production of steam is thereby 

clearly linked to the production of oil 

in this application. 

Airborne ultrasound is used to safely 

identify steam leaks from a distance, 

which is clearly a major safety hazard in 

any steam process. The steam temperature 

may be almost 300°C corresponding 

to a pressure of roughly 8,000kPa, 

which means leaks can easily become 

serious injuries or worse still, fatal accidents. 

There are sites around the world 

where the only safe, approved, method to 

inspect for steam leaks is ultrasound. 

Contact ultrasound is used to maintain 

the good operating condition of the 

steam traps in the system by identifying 

those failing steam traps that are not 

removing air, CO 2 and condensate from 

the steam system. 

3 

Valves are used in so many 

applications and are virtually 

omni-present in the mining 

industry – consider how a hydraulic or 

water system is going to operate properly 

without the proper operation of the 

valves involved. 

Process failures tracked back to incorrect 

valve operation can create a large 

amount of unwanted downtime – one 

particular story in a coal mine comes to 

mind where an internal leak on a valve 

and also on the refurbished spare in the 

maintenance stores resulted in 12 hours 

of downtime. Ultrasound is now used to 

provide a predictive maintenance service 

to identify such defects at a much 

earlier stage and schedule work on the 

valve at a convenient time. 

Everyone will understand the need 

to test valves to ensure that they are not 

passing or blocked, but there are other 

important failure modes on valves: 

valves will cavitate for example, which 

will result not only in premature failure 

of the valve, but can also cause premature 

failure downstream – especially if 

the particular valve is for example on the 

suction side of a pump. 

4 

Hydraulic systems are used 

for motion and for power and 

there are many valve applications 

involved here too. Failure of hydraulic 

systems is not an option and yet 

too few businesses consider any maintenance 

practice other than breakdown 

with the corresponding huge expense of 

downtime. Ultrasound can be used on 

shovels for example to listen to internal 

bypassing on boom, stick and bucket 

cylinders. 

The inspection method for cylinders 

is quite simple: merely place a sensor on 

the cylinder and allow it to operate in its 

normal fashion 


ASSET MANAGEMENT 

Figure 1 

Figure 2 

5 

There are many electrical 

systems involved in the mining 

industry from DC to HV. In 

many cases dust is a major contributor 

to failure. One of the key problems associated 

with the build-up of dirt, dust and 

moisture on the surface of components 

is Tracking. 

The ceramic insulator pictured in 

Figure 1. failed because it was covered 

in dust which was causing the tracking. 

On-condition cleaning using ultrasound 

to identify the presence of the tracking is 

used to eliminate failures by optimising 

cleaning procedures. 

The mining community in South Africa 

is also leading the way in the adoption 

of ultrasound as a safety-screening 

tool to protect electricians working in 

substations. A small ultrasound kit is 

located at the entrance to the substation 

and there is a series of assessment 

measurements to be performed in order 

to provide approved safe access to the 

building and proximity to the panels 

inside. This approach is undoubtedly 

saving lives by providing a higher level of 

safety in the work environment than can 

be provided by flameproof or arc-flash 

clothing alone. 

6 

Tightness 

testing of the air 

intake systems of the large 

diesel engines in haul trucks 

using ultrasound has saved one mining 

company alone over $15M in three years 

for an investment of less than $30,000. 

Additional operational savings have 

been seen by minimising the time spent 

ensuring that the drivers’ cab environments 

are dust-free. 

7 

Mining machinery is diverse – 

sometimes simple like a conveyor, 

other times more complex as 

in the case of a reclaimer. The condition 

monitoring requirements in the mining 

world are therefore quite diverse and 

frequently not simple. 

Airborne ultrasound, sometimes using 

a parabolic dish pointing out of the 

window of a pickup is a very quick and 

reliable means of inspecting the condition 

of a conveyor – especially if it is 

12km long. 

There is more than the usual amount 

of slow-speed equipment in mining, 

which is often in critical operational 

roles. Ultrasound is perfectly capable of 

listening to bearings rotating at even less 

than 1rpm and still providing valuable 

diagnostic information. 

Finally, there is the need to consider 

the condition of machinery that is itself 

moving – like shovels, or that are moving 

violently – like vibrating screens. 

A critical bearing rotating at 24rpm 

shown in Figure 2. was found to have 

failed during an ultrasound inspection. 

The bearing had recently been replaced, 

so it was relatively new. Unfortunately, 

the replacement bearing was not quite 

the correct one and was undersized for 

the load requirement. Very quickly, the 

new bearing disintegrated. 

8 

Over-lubrication is quite an 

established tradition in the mining 

world – “grease that bearing 

until I can see the grease coming out of 

the sides”. In a previous article in this 

magazine, I reported how one mine 

successfully reduced its lubrication consumption 

by over 95% whilst improving 

reliability against all established measures 

in place.w 

So there you have it. One technology, 

Ultrasound, used in either airborne or 

contact mode to identify problems in 

8 major problem areas in mining. Conservatively, 

in the last decade the savings 

that customers have achieved must 

be well beyond $25M. Time for you to 

start? 


ADVERTORIAL 

DIPL.-ING. JÖRG DÖPPNER, Head of Sales 

InfraTec GmbH Infrarotsensorik und Messtechnik 

Thermography plays an important 

role in predictive maintenance as 

a contactless, imaging temperature 

measurement method can be used 

very flexibly. The technology does 

not interfere with ongoing production 

operations, nor is maintenance staff 

exposed to any risks while using it. 

THERMOGRAPHY 

IN PHOTO QUALITY 

THERMAL IMAGING CAMERAS localise 

defective heat exchangers, detect faults 

in the electronics, overloaded mechanical 

components or increased energy 

consumption. The visual representation 

of the temperature distribution provides 

a quick overview of the plant condition 

directly on-site. This can be documented 

over long periods of time with the aid 

of thermal images so that maintenance 

measures can be set at the optimum 

time. This increases efficiency, productivity 

and profitability – and ultimately 

extends the service life of plants, too. 

Geometrical resolution plays a crucial 

role in the maintenance and inspection 

of plants in the electronics industry. 

Here, detector resolutions that are too 

low can quickly cause areas of concern 

or potential danger points to be overlooked. 

Sources of error can be ruled 

out with thermal imaging cameras such 

as the VarioCAM® HD and VarioCAM® 

HDx. With the extensive measuring, 

objects such as photovoltaic systems can 

be thermographically measured as well 

as objects requiring safety distances, like 

high-voltage installations. 

It’s the “inner values” 

that matter... 

When compared with conventional detectors, 

the most powerful models of the 

VarioCAM® HD have a higher geometrical 

resolution, resulting in a significant 

increase in the field of view and about a 

40 percent higher range. This is noticeable 

in practice: As a whole, fewer pantilt-movements 

and single frames are 

necessary, which shortens and streamlines 

operating time on site. 

Even small temperature differences 

can be detected with certainty thanks 


ADVERTORIAL 

to a high thermal sensitivity up to 0.02 

kelvin. With a frame rate up to 240 Hz, 

even very rapid thermal processes can be 

controlled. 

The compact, high-quality aluminum 

housing of the camera is dustproof and 

splashproof in accordance with protection 

degree IP54 for harsh industrial use. 

This protection is also maintained in 

camera operation with plugged connections, 

which means that no additional 

protective housings are usually necessary 

even in harsh industrial environments. 

The stationary models even 

achieve the protection degree IP67. The 

PC is connected via a GigE Vision compatible 

interface (TCP/IP). Digital interfaces, 

such as RS232, Trigger and USB or 

DVI, are also available. 

Switch on and get started… 

The handheld camera models are well 

balanced. Thanks to an individually 

adjustable hand strap they fit securely 

in the hand. Their 5.6” extremely bright 

and luminous colour TFT display with 

a resolution of (1,280 x 800) pixels can 

be folded out and rotated in almost any 

direction on two axes. As a result, images 

from virtually any position are possible 

even in situations where little space is 

available: overhead, across the corner or 

from a frog’s perspective. 

In strong sunlight – such as when 

inspecting PV systems – a TFT colour 

viewfinder including a tilt and diopter 

adjustment is available. The clearly 

structured camera functions are operated 

by an easily accessible mini joystick 

and several, partially programmable 

buttons. Important manual setting functions 

can be called up immediately without 

tedious searching. The automatic 

or motorized focus responds precisely. 

An integrated, automatically focussing 

digital camera with a resolution of 8 

megapixels, video function and LED 

video light for image illumination enable 

visual digital images rich in detail and 

contrast. The battery operating time of 3 

hours qualify for enduring mobile use. 

Measuring and 

analysing on site 

Users can already carry out extensive 

measurements and analyses with the 

“camera on-board functions”. Thus, they 

know directly on the spot any potential 

weak points and areas of concern and 

can troubleshoot the problem immediately. 

The measurement and analysis 

A comparison of different detector 

resolutions clearly demonstrates: 

Cameras with high detector 

resolutions see more. 

Images of a control cabinet with 

and without an activated MicroScan 

feature. 

Image of a poorly insulated roof 

beam recorded with a thermal 

resolution of 0.03 K. 

functions on the camera display include 

a hot spot/cold spot display, freely movable 

measurement point markings as 

well as measurement area markings with 

minimum, maximum and average value 

display, whose position and size are also 

freely adjustable. Alarm marks highlighting 

all image sections in colour of 

temperature ranges defined previously, 

can also be set for quickly displaying 

measured values that have been exceeded 

or undercut. A laser marker, which 

can also be used as a laser rangefinder for 

object distances of up to 70 m, displays 

the actual measuring point parallax-free 

on the object, if required. Particularly 

valuable for industrial thermography is 

the thermographic measurement with 

up to 240 Hz. Even very rapid thermal 

processes can be controlled and documented 

here. 

The integrated GPS module provides 

another vital function for the maintenance. 

It enables geographic assignment 

of the measuring locations as well as the 

automatic location and archiving of the 

thermal images. This is useful, for example, 

if a number of measuring objects 

have to be thermographically measured 

at different locations at regular intervals. 

The EverSharp function ensures 

that all measuring objects contained in 

the thermal image are always displayed 

sharply, regardless of their distance 

and the depth of focus of the respective 

camera lens. This also saves valuable 

work time because only a few images are 

required compared with conventional 

thermographic cameras. 

Evaluating thermal images 

and generating reports 

The thermal images can be transmitted 

via the GigE interface by data cable directly 

to the PC or read out via the SDHC 

card. The IRBIS® 3 software included allows 

to correct, analyse and interpret the 

thermal images and to generate reports. 

Thus, for example, even the emissivity of 

different materials can later be changed 

for specific image details or individual 

measuring points. Temperature distributions 

of an image detail can be displayed 

based on histograms. 

Profile lines simplify the analysis of 

temperature profiles in the thermal image. 

Overshooting and undershooting of 

limit values as well as individual pixels 

within a specific temperature range can 

be highlighted for visualising critical 

temperatures. Time-based evaluations 

of complete sequences are optional with 

the IRBIS® 3 plus or IRBIS® 3 professional 

software. If infrared images are 

contrasted with the visual digital photographs 

captured in parallel for the purpose 

of comparison, or are merged with 

these, any areas of concern can be better 

highlighted. Maintenance reports can 

be generated manually or automatically, 

whereby report templates speed up the 

report for short or detailed documentation. 

For more information please contact: 

JÖRG DÖPPNER, InfraTec GmbH, 

Dresden, Germany. 

Tel.: +49 351 871 86 20 

http://www.infratec.eu 


CMMS 

Text: Stefan Hoppe, Global Vice President OPC Foundation, stefan.hoppe@opcfoundation.org 

Connectivity and 

Interoperability: 

No value without reliability 

A central challenge posed by Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 

is the secure, standardized exchange of data and information between devices, machines 

and services across different industries. 

AS EARLY AS April 2015, the Reference 

Architecture Model for Industrie 4.0 

(RAMI 4.0) recommended only IEC 

standard 62541 OPC Unified Architecture 

(OPC UA) for implementing the 

communication layer. In November 

2016, the Industrie 4.0 Platform published 

a checklist for classifying and 

advertising products as Industrie 4.0 

“Basic”, “Ready” or “Full”. To comply 

with the “Industrie 4.0 communication” 

criterion, even the lowest category 

requires the product to be addressable 

over the network via TCP/UDP or IP and 

to integrate at least the OPC UA information 

model. 

When it comes to information modelling, 

many small and medium-sized 

companies tune out, because they compare 

OPC UA with other protocols like 

MQTT and assume that it has limitations. 

We often hear questions like, “OPC 

UA can’t communicate directly with the 

cloud, can it?” 

First of all, every equipment and machine 

manufacturer already provides an 

implicit information model with data interfaces 

(via various protocols). Humans 

have learned to adapt to the computer’s 

way of ‘thinking’ – documenting what 

the bits, bytes and hex codes mean. This 

new world full of devices capable of a 


service-orientated architecture (SoA) 

helps humans understand the “things” 

more quickly and easily, because they 

offer “services” and describe their underlying 

meaning. The subject of SoA 

is nothing new in the world of IT. Now, 

however, it extends all the way to the 

“things” themselves. This is where OPC 

UA comes into play, providing the framework 

for industrial interoperability. 

Machine and device manufacturers describe 

the object-orientated information 

of their systems and define the access 

rights along with integrated security 

features. 

Security Built-In by Design 

Germany’s BSI (Bundesamt für Sicherheit 

in der Informationstechnik, or 

Federal Office for Information Security) 

published the results of its in-depth 

security analysis of the OPC UA specifications 

and a selected reference implementation 

in highly positive terms: “An 

extensive analysis of the security functions 

in the specification of OPC UA confirmed 

that OPC UA was designed with 

a focus on security and does not contain 

systematic security vulnerabilities”. 

As a result, the machine builders 

keep full control of the data, i.e. they can 

distribute it in a targeted and controlled 

manner, which enables them to participate 

monetarily in big data applications 

and data analytics. 

To exchange the data, OPC UA combines 

two mechanisms to implement 

various scenarios: 

– A client-server model, in which OPC 

UA clients use the dedicated services of 

the OPC UA server. This peer-to-peer 

approach provides a secure and confirmed 

exchange of information, but 

with limitations regarding the number 

of connections. 

– A publisher-subscriber model 

where an OPC UA server makes configurable 

subsets of information available 

to any number of subscribers. This kind 

of broadcasting mechanism provides an 

unconfirmed “fire and forget”-style exchange 

of information. 

OPC UA offers both mechanisms, 

but the more important benefit is that 

they are decoupled from the actual 

protocol. TCP and HTTPS are available 

for the client-server model, while UDP, 

AMQP and MQTT are available for the 

publisher-subscriber model. As a result, 

the question of “OPC UA or AMQP or 

MQTT” doesn’t matter from the OPC 

Foundation’s perspective. Since the 

smallest microcontrollers may not have 

enough resources to implement fully-

CMMS 

 

 

Picture: The BSI 

has published the 

results of the OPC UA 

security analysis on 

their BSI web site and 

the OPC Foundation 

also published a 

commented version 

on the OPC web site. 

Any product 

being advertised 

as “Industrie 

4.0-enabled” must 

be OPC UA-capable 

(either integrated or 

via a gateway). The 

checklist also stresses 

the information 

modelling property 

of OPC UA. 

 

 

April 2017 

German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association 

Guideline 

fledged OPC UA, the device can offer its 

data over MQTT or AMQP in an “OPC 

UA-compliant” manner, making it easier 

to integrate it at the other end. After all, 

agreeing on an information model and 

what the data means is the key to achieving 

the concepts of Industrie 4.0. 

Trend: Information models 

OPC UA provides secure transport of 

data via diverse and expandable protocols. 

But who defines the data’s meaning? 

Other associations like AIM for the 

auto ID industry (RFID readers, scanners, 

etc.), VDMA technical groups for 

injection moulding machines, robotics 

or machine vision and 35 other VDMA 

industries already define their information 

in OPC UA servers in the form of 

so-called OPC UA companion specifications. 

For an equipment supplier, meeting 

this type of industry standard does 

not automatically mean they become 

exchangeable, as each manufacturer can 

offer their own special services on top of 

the standard. Intelligent devices should 

definitely be able to support multiple 

information models simultaneously – 

for example, the dedicated functionalities 

of an injection moulding machine, 

in addition to the models for energy 

data or MES interfaces. To reduce the 

engineering effort, the importance and 

availability of such industry-specific and 

multi-industry information models will 

increase rapidly in the future. OPC UA 

may not directly increase an industrial 

device vendor’s sales, but not supporting 

the OPC UA standard will definitely decrease 

them considerably. 

Trend: SoA 

Most of the industry-specific information 

models developed so far are no 

longer based on the exchange of bit/byte 

properties, but rather on SoA services 

with complex parameters. An OPC UA 

client that does not support any methods 

for this purpose or complex parameters 

will be increasingly hampered in its 

communication with OPC UA servers. 

An RFID reader offers no bits to activate 

a read/write command, but instead uses 

methods that can be read by humans: 

ReadTag, WriteTag, and KillTag, among 

others. OPC UA is ideal for SoA implementation, 

which is why the German 

Commission for Electrical, Electronic & 

Information Technologies (DKE) lists 

OPC UA as the only SoA solution. 

Trend: Service-to-Service 

OPC UA provides consistent scalability 

from the sensor to the enterprise IT 

level, making a significant impact on 

the automation pyramid. While this 

pyramid will continue to exist for the 

factory’s organizational structure, OPC 

UA bypasses the communication pyramid 

entirely. The devices can deliver 

data, either directly or in parallel, to 

the PLC, MES, the ERP system or to the 

cloud level. This is where suppliers see 

opportunities for new business models. 

For example, manufacturers can bill for 

their barcode or RFID reader on a per 

scan basis while the data being read or 

scanned never leaves the factory. 

Trend: Chip-based OPC UA 

OPC UA will continue to be integrated 

into ever-smaller devices and sensors. 

Today’s smallest OPC UA software solutions 

for industry with limited (but 

read-able) functionality require just 35 

KB of RAM and 240 KB of flash memory. 

Now that the first chips with integrated 

OPC UA have hit the market, OPC UA 

can make further in-roads into the world 

of sensors. As a result, OPC UA applications 

are already extending from the 

core area of automation into other areas 

like industrial kitchen appliances. 

Conclusion 

OPC UA has already become the de-facto 

standard for the automation market 

and Industrie 4.0. OPC UA is covering a 

growing range of communication scenarios, 

which makes it increasingly difficult 

for suppliers to justify proprietary 

solutions. Products will increasingly 

differentiate themselves based on the 

features of the device itself or of external 

services, not the interface. In the future 

we will see rapid growth in the information 

models of additional industries, as 

OPC UA is the preferred platform of the 

world’s largest ecosystem for interoperability. 

www.opcfoundation.org 


SECURITY 

SECURITY 

SOLUTION 

Helps Battle 

Illegal Mining 

Mining companies across the African continent have been coping 

with the problem of illegal mining for years. In their battle 

against artisanal miners illegally entering their properties and 

compromising site safety, they have been unsuccessfully looking 

out for security solutions that are both reliable and affordable. 

DAVID MONTAGUE, 

Sales Director EMEA/ 

Security, FLIR Systems, David. 

montague@flir.com 


SECURITY 

“The FLIR 

PT-602CZ multisensor 

security 

camera has given 

us excellent 

image quality and 

detection results, 

even in the harsh 

and uneven 

geography that we 

are faced with,” 

says Charles 

Harrison. 

MINING OPERATORS are increasingly confronted 

with security breaches on their properties. Illegal 

miners do not always understand the potential 

hazards on site and often find themselves in safety-compromising 

situations as a result. But safety 

issues are not the only reason of this increased 

attention. It is also a matter of productivity and 

profit loss. 

- Mining operators are increasingly confronted 

with security breaches on their properties. 

especially around large opencast pits. Without 

the right equipment and safeguards, any mistake 

could be fatal, halting production but also potentially 

putting employed mine workers at risk, says 

Secu-Systems founder Charles Harrison. 

Security Monitoring 

for Large Sites 

Security specialist Secu-Systems, based in Johannesburg, 

South Africa, was asked to come up with 

a solution for the security problem for two trial 

sites, in Tanzania. The company consequently 

developed a robust, mobile and highly advanced 

security system, based on the use of FLIR pan/tilt 

thermal imaging cameras. 

- The large size of these mining sites poses 

a serious security problem. Setting up fences 

around those areas would be a huge investment. 

That is why our customer had previously tried to 

use balloons equipped with security monitoring 

to watch over their entire mining site. 

- But this approach has proven to be ineffective 

due to the frequent storms this particular 

area is facing. That’s why a ground-based solution 

was a better option. 

Self-Sustaining Security System 

Instead of opting for fences, Secu-Systems designed 

a self-sustaining system specifically for 

remote regions with no supportive infrastructure. 

The system comprises a wireless, mobile 20 

ft container which securely houses all peripheral 

intrusion and detection equipment, including external, 

passive infrared detectors, high-pressure 

pepper systems which trigger on activation of 

security systems or remotely detonate upon 

verification, as well as a PT-602CZ thermal imaging 

pan/tilt camera that is able to detect motion 

within a 6 km radius from nominal ground level. 

The FLIR PT-602CZ is a thermal security camera 

that offers excellent long-range perimeter intrusion 

detection and surveillance at night as well as 

during the day. 

The solution by Secu-Systems has already 

proven very successful with one of the world’s 

largest gold producers at a mine in Tanzania. 

Once the Secu-Sytems solution was installed and 

operational, the results were immediate revealing 

the numbers of illegal miners entering the site on 

a daily basis. The weekly number of arrests even 

reached a staggering 75 – 100. 

MILITARY SPECIFIED CONTAINER 

SOLUTIONS ARE COMPLETELY 

FITTED WITH THEIR OWN POWER 

RETICULATION, WHICH INCLUDES 

SOLAR PANELS MOUNTED TO 

THE ROOF OF THE CONTAINER 

TO BATTERY BANKS INSTALLED 

WITHIN THE CONTAINER. 

- The intruder capture rate improved and the 

risk for security personnel is now lower. In addition, 

because all footage is recorded, the client 

can ensure that the entire incident from capture 

to hand-over of the intruder is handled strictly 

according to security policy, Harrison says. 

According to Harrison the streaming cameras 

can easily detect movement down to 4 pixels. 

- The military specified container solutions are 

completely fitted with their own power reticulation, 

which includes solar panels mounted to the 

roof of the container to battery banks installed 

within the container. The system allows wireless 

communication back to a centralized control 

room. Existing installations have a 36 km wireless 

link that allows complete surveillance and 

control. 

360° Situational Awareness 

The system developed by Secu-Systems provides 

mining sites with complete 360-degrees situational 

awareness and is a radically new approach 

compared to the typical practice of perimeter 

fence security installations. 

- Conventional perimeter security systems will 

generate an alert when the perimeter is breached, 

but once within the perimeter, intruders can get 

lost. It offers complete situational awareness and 

peace of mind and allows critical management 

decisions to be effected, notes Harrison. 

- FLIR PT-602CZ has allowed us to build a 

solution that is able to replace twenty to forty 

perimeter security cameras. This makes it an 

ideal, affordable solution for mining operators 

that need to monitor huge areas, concludes Harrison. 


CYBERSECURITY 

Digital Automation 

System Maintenance 

and Cybersecurity 

– the Perfect Partnership? 

In the last years, the number of cyber-attacks has 

increased dramatically. In light of this, it is not 

surprising that organizations are increasingly looking 

to invest in cybersecurity. 

ROBERT VALKAMA, 

Senior information 

security consultant at 

Nixu Corporation, 

robert.valkama@nixu.fi 

WHAT DOES a cyber-attack mean to you? 

The term brings many different mental 

images; from pizza driven nerds in a dark 

basement to organized operations funded 

and supported by state level actors. 

The intents for attacks vary greatly; from 

opportunistic hacking or showing off for 

friends to pursue of financial benefit and 

to well organized disruption of a specific 

physical function. 

Even in the best-case scenario, 

cyber-attacks in industrial automation 

are highly inconvenient. An example of 

such a scenario would be an inadvertent 

attack, where malware intended for 

ordinary ICT systems enters a production 

environment, causing disruptions 


and production downtime. Example of 

this type of an attack is a crypto malware 

infecting the HMI systems. In the worstcase 

scenario, the attack is intentional 

and causes total destruction, incurring 

substantial replacement and recovery 

costs both in terms of time and money, 

i.e. jeopardizing safety. 

Despite the intent of the attack, there 

are steps that can be taken in order to 

make it harder for the adversary to succeed 

in the attack. Securing industrial 

systems requires both technical and administrative 

controls to be put in place 

(essentially in the same way as securing 

ICT systems, but with slightly different 

emphasis), and in many cases, these controls 

also benefit the maintenance of the 

systems. 

Mutual benefits 

When it comes to automation systems, 

the goals of cybersecurity and maintenance 

are practically the same: ensuring 

error-free production and safety. The essence 

of automation systems is that they 

operate in the right way at the right time. 

In some industries, automation system’s 

cybersecurity also includes protecting 

intellectual property. In practical terms, 

this means protecting manufacturing 

processes’ run parameters from information 

leaks. 

Cybersecurity controls can also have

CYBERSECURITY 

substantial benefits for maintenance. 

For example, asset and configuration 

management, systems hardening and 

security monitoring. 

Asset and configuration management 

is one of the corner stones in 

cybersecurity. Without accurate knowledge 

of the environment, it is very 

hard to reliably secure it. A complete, 

accurate and up to date documentation 

of the systems in an easily accessible 

(queried) format is required in 

order to be able to rapidly respond 

and investigate the potential impact of 

newly discovered vulnerabilities on the 

protected environment. A traditional 

blue print type of documentation is 

usually not sufficient for this, as they 

don’t contain important and needed 

information of the digital devices like, 

used software and versions, firmware 

versions, configuration information 

etc. This information is essential for example 

when conducting vulnerability 

assessments, but it will also streamline 

fault diagnosis. 

System hardening (removing or disabling 

superfluous software) is primarily 

intended to reduce the relevant system’s 

attack surface, but can also have the additional 

benefit of removing potentially 

faulty software from the relevant system. 

This, in turn, reduces the need for 

unnecessary maintenance. 

Cybersecurity monitoring is another 

function that can be easily utilized in 

maintenance. These tools focus on 

keeping track of an automation system’s 

network traffic and scouring its 

logs. They are intended to identify exceptions 

or changes, which means that 

they can also be configured to monitor 

maintenance-relevant information, 

combining and centralizing two 

separate functions. Monitoring tools 

can be configured to generate maintenance-related 

alarms or events when 

ASSET AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT IS ONE OF 

THE CORNER STONES IN CYBERSECURITY. 

an exception is detected in the same 

way cybersecurity-related alarms and 

events are generated. This is especially 

beneficial in multivendor environments 

where automation systems from 

several suppliers are used. In multivendor 

environments the different systems 

may be monitored separately, using 

their own diagnostic tools, but a common 

overview is not available. Depending 

on the environment and personnel 

size the monitoring may also be limited 

to post incident resolution, or “extinguishing 

fires” as some may refer to it. 

With good and high quality monitoring 

the maintenance of the digital assets is 

shifted towards a preventive maintenance 

mode, where incidents are identified 

before they cause any process 

disruptions. 

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There is value hidden in every maintenance organization. All companies have the potential to further improve, either by reducing 

costs, improve safety, work on the lifetime extension of machinery or by smart maintenance solutions that improves uptime. The 

question is where maintenance managers should be looking to fi nd these areas of improvement and where they need to start. 

You will fi nd the answer to this question at Mainnovation. With Value Driven Maintenance ® and the matching tools like the VDM 

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CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE, CREATING VALUE.

CYBERSECURITY 

WHEN IT COMES TO AUTOMATION SYSTEMS, THE 

GOALS OF CYBERSECURITY AND MAINTENANCE 

ARE PRACTICALLY THE SAME: ENSURING ERROR-FREE 

PRODUCTION AND SAFETY. 

How to Improve Cybersecurity 

When considering automation systems 

from a cybersecurity standpoint, one 

challenge stands out above all: their long 

lifecycle. IT systems have a lifecycle 

of around five years, whereas automation 

systems have an average lifecycle 

of around 25 years. What this means in 

practice is that even though today’s automation 

systems suppliers work on improving 

the cybersecurity of their own 

systems, it will take up to 25 years for 

these built-in security features to permeate 

the entire manufacturing industry, 

and at that time, some of the security 

controls may already be obsolete. 

However, it is possible to substantially 

improve the cybersecurity of 

automation systems, even though some 

vulnerabilities might still remain. It is 

also important to acknowledge that all 

assets are not equally important, and 

that the security posture of a system can 

be substantially improved by making 

good engineering decisions for example 

on the architecture and functionality allocation. 

It is also recommended to perform a 

risk assessment. The purpose of the risk 

assessment is to identify the potential 

plant vulnerabilities and critical systems 

related to the operation. I would not 

recommend putting too much effort into 

assessing the probability of different 

events, but concentrating on the potential 

consequences and their acceptance. 

I.e. if a potential cause of a cybersecurity 

attack utilizing a remote connection 

could lead to an extensive equipment 

failure or jeopardize employee’s health 

or life, a strong argument can be made to 

make some changes to remove or minimize 

the risk. The risk assessment needs 

to be a multi domain task, performed in 

co-operation by cybersecurity experts, 

process engineers, safety engineers and 

maintenance engineers. 

Regardless of the outcome of the risk 

assessment, here are some recommendations 

what should be done. 

Consider securing your plant’s safety 

automation solutions or safeguards, of 

course provided that they are digital. 

With these I mean functions intended 

for protecting employees, production 

equipment and the environment against 

accidents or hazards. Where possible, 

you should isolate protective automatic 

systems or functions from the operative 

automation systems. This should also be 

a basic rule when designing new control 

systems. 

The operative automation system 

should also be segregated from other 

company networks. Isolating your production 

environment from the company 

network has been considered to be the 

best control against cybersecurity attacks. 

It is a solid protective measure for 

network-based attacks, provided you 

know what you are doing and procedures 

are in place to systematically support 

the isolation. In many cases however, 

this kind of isolation only serves to give 

a false sense of security as, for example, 

production planning and management 

often requires real time information 

from the production systems for various 

business needs. This information 

is then transferred using USB memory 

sticks or similar media, which in turn are 

common vectors for malware infections. 

Also, automation suppliers often maintain 

remote maintenance connections 

to the systems they have supplied, which 

means that the system is not actually 

isolated. 

A better way to protect your system 

against cybersecurity attacks is 

to connect it to the company network, 

and route all the needed connections 

through a dedicated access point, allowing 

the management and monitoring of 

remote connections and ensuring that 

existing cybersecurity controls are not 

bypassed. Continuous monitoring will 

also help you identify remote sessions 

from your automation systems vendor 

and changes made through these connections 

to the system’s configuration. 

In other words, monitoring tools can also 

be utilized for contract management, 

allowing you to monitor the supplier’s 

actions, and for configuration management, 

allowing you to verify whether 

planned changes have actually been implemented. 

All in all, those working with automation 

systems should deepen their mutual 

collaboration. This is especially true for 

maintenance and cybersecurity professionals. 

Solid cooperation ensures that 

all aspects required for safe and stable 

production are taken into account. From 

early planning stages to decommissioning 

and dismantling, modern cybersecurity 

must be considered throughout 

an automation system’s lifecycle. When 

considering digital cybersecurity solutions, 

I would recommend checking that 

your organization has access to the latest 

and most comprehensive know-how in 

the cybersecurity industry. 



High energy prices and 

global competition dictate 

a need to reduce energy 

waste and improve system 

efficiencies whenever 

possible. Steam, aside 

from being one of the 

costliest utilities in plants, 

is an essential component 

to product quality in many 

processing industries. 

A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR to waste and 

inefficiency is leaks: both to atmosphere 

and through valves and steam traps. According 

to the United States Department 

of Energy, a typical facility can realize 

steam savings of 20 percent by improving 

their steam system. Experts have 

also said that as much as one fifth of the 

steam generated at the central boiler 

is lost to leaking or failed steam traps. 

With current steam prices averaging 

between $8.00 to $12.00 per thousand 

pounds of steam, a steam trap inspection 

programme is a must. For example, if a 

steam trap with an orifice size of 3/32” 

(2,4 mm.) operating at 100 psi (7 bar) 

steam can lose nearly 30 lbs. (14 

kg.) of steam per hour. At a cost 

of $8.00/1000lbs. of steam, 

that results in a loss of over 

$2,000 per year from just 

one failed steam trap. 

The purpose of a 

successful steam trap 

inspection programme 

ADRIAN MESSER, 

CMRP, UE Systems, Inc., 

adrian.messer@ 

uesystems.com 

should be to repair any faulty steam 

traps and steam leaks that can impact 

safety, to reduce energy waste and promote 

sustainability, and to repair any 

failed steam traps and steam leaks that 

impact product quality. 

Why Ultrasound? 

Ultrasound technology is used by maintenance 

and reliability professionals 

around the world, and is considered to 

be the most versatile of any Predictive 

maintenance (PdM) technology. Typical 

applications for ultrasound include compressed 

air & gas leak detection, bearing 

inspection, motors, gearboxes, electrical 

inspection of energized electrical equip- 



ment, valves, hydraulic applications and 

steam traps. 

However, when it comes to steam trap 

inspection, one technology alone can’t 

do everything. World Class maintenance 

and reliability programmes utilize multiple 

inspection technologies when it 

comes to inspecting the assets that they 

are responsible for. Visual inspection, 

temperature measurement, and ultrasound 

should all be used during a steam 

trap inspection route. 

Planning for Success 

Before beginning any steam trap inspection, 

it will be helpful to think a few 

things through that will help to make the 

survey successful. First, walk the area to 

identify and tag every steam trap. The 

tag should include a number, and all information 

should be noted, such as the 

manufacturer, type of steam trap, orifice 

size and the purpose of the steam trap. 

This information can then be entered 

into data management software, such as 

UE Systems’ Ultratrend DMS. 

While walking the area, it would also 

be a good idea to note any possible accessibility 

issues: will a ladder or man-lift be 

needed for any steam traps that are overhead 

and out of reach? Are any steam 

traps located in areas where Lock-Out- 

Tag-Out procedures will need to be followed? 

Are any of the steam traps inside 

of hazardous areas where Intrinsically 

Safe instruments will be required? 

Testing Steam Traps with 

Ultrasound 

To make it easier to manage the data for 

reporting and inspection purposes, it is 

recommended to break the inspection 

areas into zones. Follow a logical progression 

from steam production, steam 

use, and condensate return. Start at the 

boiler, then to the steam distribution and 

distribution branches. Then, proceed 

to process equipment, and finally to the 

condensate recovery systems. 

When the inspector is at the steam 

trap, before testing with ultrasound, it is 

recommended to take temperature readings 

with a simple spot radiometer first. 

Not only will the temperature let the 

inspector know if steam is coming to the 

trap or not, but the temperature can also 

be used to estimate the steam pressure. 

If the temperature of the steam trap is 

cold, the inspector should check to make 

sure that the valves are open or if the 

trap has been taken out of service. If it is 

warm/hot, then the inspector can note 

the inlet and outlet temperatures and 

proceed to test with ultrasound. 

The most important item that the inspector 

will need to know is which type 

AN ULTRASONIC STEAM TRAP TESTING PROGRAMME IS 

AN EASY, QUICK, AND ACCURATE WAY TO IDENTIFY 

PROBLEMS IN STEAM TRAPS AND THE OVERALL HEALTH 

OF THE STEAM SYSTEM. 

EXTEND YOUR BEARINGS LIFE 

USING ULTRASOUND 

An Ultrasonic 

Instrument is 

the perfect tool 

to inspect 

and lubricate 

your bearings! 

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Detect early bearings failures 

Easily create a bearings route 

Trend your bearings condition 

Set alarms for early failures 

Make sound recordings of 

your bearings for analysis 

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Listen to your bearings and 

know when to stop lubricating 

Avoid over-lubrication: 

the cause of over 60% of 

bearing failures 

Receive alarms when your 

bearings need lubrication 

Start a lubrication program 

Windmolen 20, 7609 NN Almelo, The Netherlands 

info@uesystems.eu | www.uesystems.eu | Tel. +31 546 725 125


On-board sound 

recording and sound 

analysis can be very 

useful for steam trap 

inspection 

of trap is being inspected. Knowing the 

type will determine what the steam trap 

should sound like once contact has been 

made with the ultrasound instrument. 

Steam traps will have one of the following 

sound characteristics: On/Off or 

Continuous Flow. 

Typical types of steam traps that 

have the On/Off (hold/discharge/hold) 

sound are: Inverted Bucket, Thermodynamic, 

Thermostatic (Bellows), and 

Bi-Metallic. Steam traps with a continuous 

flow sound characteristic are: Float 

& Thermostatic and Fixed Orifice. It 

is recommended that you listen to a 

number of steam traps prior to starting 

the inspection to determine a “normal” 

sound characteristic for how it is operating 

under the normal conditions of your 

steam system. 

Physical contact between the steam 

trap and the ultrasound instrument is 

necessary in order to “hear” how the 

steam trap is performing. If using an ultrasound 

instrument that has frequency 

tuning, adjust it to the recommending 

frequency setting of 25kHz. If it does not 

have frequency tuning, it is more than 

likely set to 38kHz. Regardless of the 

type of trap, the placement of the contact 

probe or stethoscope module attachment 

on the ultrasound instrument will 

always be at the discharge orifice of the 

steam trap, since turbulence is created 

on the outlet side of the steam trap when 

the steam trap releases condensate. 

Once contact has been made, adjust 

the sensitivity/volume on the instrument 

until the sound of the trap can be 

heard. 

When inspecting steam traps with 

ultrasound, it is important to exercise 

patience. Make contact at the discharge 

orifice and wait for the steam trap to 

cycle. If the temperatures have been 

checked, and the trap has not cycled for 

approximately one minute, move on to 

the next steam trap. If the steam trap has 

Contact Point 

for Testing 

with an 

Ultrasound 

instrument 

not cycled within one minute’s time, it 

may be difficult to know when the trap 

may cycle again, but if the temperatures 

are ok and there’s no indication of a 

plugged condition, proceed to the next 

steam trap to be tested. When first starting 

out, it may be helpful to compare 

sound characteristics from similar types 

of steam traps to help the inspector learn 

what a good or failing steam trap sounds 

like. 

Reporting the Results 

Now that the inspector has gathered 

all the information for the condition of 

the steam traps that were inspected, it 

is important to document the findings. 

Not only should the operating condition 

of the steam trap such as failed, leaking, 

or ok be reported, but also the loses 

from the failed or leaking steam traps. 

To generate a Steam Loss Report in the 

Ultratrend DMS software from UE Systems, 

the inspector will need to know 

the following for each steam trap: Type 

of Trap, Orifice Size, Inlet & Outlet Temperature, 

Operating Condition and how 

much it is costing to generate 1000lbs 

(450 kg.) of steam. 

With an increased focus on energy 

and sustainability within our industry, 

steam trap testing with ultrasound is a 

great way to show potential customers 

and suppliers that energy loss is taken 

seriously and that there is a continuous 

effort being made to correct problems 

related to energy loss. Ultrasound instruments 

are valuable inspection tools 

that can not only provide insight into 

the health of steam traps, but also other 

components of the steam system such as 

heat exchangers, shutoff valves, control 

valves, solenoids, relief valves, cavitation 

in condensate return pumps, and steam 

leaks to atmosphere. 

Examples of steam trap sound recordings 

can be found at www.uesystems.eu/ 

sounds/ 


Testing steam traps with ultrasound is a 

structure-borne or contact application

The Industrial Interoperability Standard 

Much more than a protocol … 

That is why it’s mandatory for Industrie 4.0 

OPC UA is a framework for Industrial Interoperability 

Modeling of data and interfaces for devices and services 

Integrated security by design with confi gurable access rights for data and services – 

validated by German BSI security experts 

Extendable transport protocols: Client/Server and Publisher/Subscriber and roadmap for TSN 

Scalable from sensor to IT Enterprise & Cloud 

Independent from vendor, operating system, implementation language and vertical markets 

Join our OPC-booth at 

Hanover Fair: Hall 9, A 11 

Information models of different branches are mapped onto OPC UA to make them interoperable with 

integrated security. The OPC Foundation closely cooperates with organizations and associations from 

various branches: 

TM 

Verband für Automatische 

Datenerfassung, Identifikation und Mobilität 

OPC Unified Architecture 

Interoperability for Industrie 4.0 and the Internet of Things 

IoT 

4.0 

Industrie 

M2M 

1 

OPC DAY 

EUROPE 2017 

IT meets Automation 

May 30 th /31 hosted by 

Microsoft Center Copenhagen 

© fotolia.com, Sergii Figurnyi 

Download of 

Technology brochure: 

opcfoundation.org/ 

resources/brochures/ 

www.opcfoundation.org

HSE 

Text: Ellen den Broeder-Ooijevaar, NVDO, ellen.den.broeder@nvdo.nl 

Overview of Dutch 

Working Conditions in 2016 

In 2016, occupational health and safety policies in Dutch companies were 

more widespread than in 2014, but still below the level of 2007, according 

to an ‘Overview of Dutch working conditions 2016’ -report. 

THE ‘OVERVIEW of Dutch working conditions 

2016’ –report is published biannually 

presenting the current state of the 

working conditions and work-related 

health of employees and of health and 

safety policies at companies in the Netherlands. 

According to the report, in 2016, there 

was an increase in compliance with the 

key provisions of the Working Conditions 

Act by companies, such as having 

a contract with an occupational health 

and safety service or service provider, 

sickness absence-related policies, a prevention 

employee, work meetings with 

employees and provision of information 

and training. Compliance percentages 

varied between 45 percent of companies 

with a risk inventory and evaluation 

(RI&E) and 75 percent of companies 

with a contract with an occupational 

health and safety service provider and 

the provision of information and training. 

Given that large companies employ 

the majority of employees, these policies 

involved 83 percent and 96 percent respectively 

of the Dutch employees. The 

increase in health and safety policies in 

2016 may be related to economic developments. 

Accidents and Diseases 

Work-related accidents and diseases 

lead to high costs. These costs include 

costs of paying salaries to employees 

who are absent due to work-related 

issues (4.7 billion euros), disability 

benefits (1.9 billion euros), and the costs 

of medical and other care for people 

with a work-related condition (1.4 billion 

euros). Together, these costs added up to 

8 billion euros, thereby accounting for 

more than 20 percent of all the costs of 

sickness absence, disability, and medical 

care for those in work in 2016. 

Employee health is stable 

The report shows that the level of health 

experienced by employees has been 

stable for many years: 82 percent of 

employees described their own health 

as being good or very good. Meanwhile, 

less than 2 percent assessed it as poor to 

very poor. Of all employees, 18 percent 

said they have a long-term or chronic 

condition that restricts the ability to 

perform their work optimally. This 


HSE 

Proportion of employed people reporting 

a long-standing illness or health problem 

(55-64 years) 

percentage has maintained rather 

stable for many years. However, the 

report showed significant differences 

according to the type of complaints 

involved. The proportion of people who 

were limited in their ability to perform 

work is high especially among those with 

psychological issues (74 percent), arm/ 

hand complaints (71 percent), and back/ 

neck complaints (67 percent). 

Between 2007 and 2009, the percentage 

of employees experiencing workrelated 

stress symptoms increased from 

11 percent to 13 percent. In 2015, 14 

percent of employees reported burn-out 

symptoms. 

Sickness absence is stable and 

depends strongly on personal 

characteristics and types of 

employment contract 

Since 2007, the level of sickness absences 

in the Netherlands has fluctuated 

by around 4 percent. This means that 

every year, on average, employees were 

absent 4 out of every 100 working days. 

On average, employees had one period 

of sickness absence every year. The average 

duration of sickness absence for 

all employees - including those who are 

not absent at all – is 7.0 working days. In 

2011, this was 7.7 working days. Those 

who do go absent are away from work for 

an average of 15.7 working days. Around 

half of all the days lost to sickness in the 

Netherlands (work-related or not) are 

related to musculoskeletal symptoms 

(27 percent) and psychological problems, 

stress, or burn-out symptoms (22 

percent). 


Proportion of pensionners (50-69 years) 

who indicated own health or disability as 

the main reason to quit working 

Sectors and industries in which employees 

carry out physically or mentally 

demanding work stood out in the report 

in terms of experiencing high levels of 

sickness absence. Healthcare, public 

administration, construction, transport, 

industry and education are sectors with 

an above average level of sickness absences. 

Sickness absence among people on 

permanent contracts was according to 

the report almost twice as high as among 

those on temporary contracts. Employment 

agency employees and on-call 

employees also had a relatively low rate 

of sickness absence. Rates of sickness absence 

are relatively high among women, 

older employees, employees with poor 

educational qualifications, employees 

with a chronic or long-term condition, 

divorced and widowed employees, and 

those who act as informal caregivers for 

family or friends. In the case of older 

employees, the higher levels of sickness 

absence can be explained largely by the 

fact that they are more likely to have 

chronic diseases. Employees with poor 

educational qualifications are also more 

likely to have health problems and work 

in relatively more demanding conditions. 

The higher levels of sickness absence 

among informal caregivers may be 

explained mostly from the fact that they 

are older on average, and therefore have 

more chronic health problems. 

Working Conditions 

In many areas, the Netherlands compares 

favourably with the rest of Europe. 

Compared with the rest of Europe, 

working conditions (both psychological 

and physical) are favourable for Dutch 

employees, according to a 2015 survey 

among employees in every European 

country. More often than their counterparts 

in the rest of Europe, Dutch 

employees said that their work has a 

positive influence on their health, that 

they are less emotionally exhausted due 

to work, and that they are more engaged 

in their work. Dutch employees also 

stated that they see themselves being 

able to continue working up to a higher 

age, on average, than employees living 

in other European countries. However, 

Dutch employees also reported more 

frequently than employees elsewhere 

in Europe that they have faced verbal 

threats, humiliation, physical violence, 

and discrimination in the work place. 

This can be explained in part by the 

number of service-provision functions 

in the Netherlands being slightly higher 

on average than in the rest of Europe. 

Another possible explanation to this is 

that workers in the Netherlands have 

fewer barriers to reporting aggression 

experienced in the work place. 

With a sickness absence rate of 4 percent, 

the Netherlands is above average of 

all EU nations (3 percent). The proportion 

of employees who have reported 

sick at least once in the past 12 months is 

greater than average in the Netherlands 

(53 percent compared to 48 percent for 

Europe). However, the proportion of 

work-related sickness absence in the 

Netherlands is relatively low: 14 percent 

of employees who had been on sickness 

absence stated that one or more of their 

days’ absence had been work-related. 

Of the total for the 28 EU countries, this 

is 19 percent. Differences between the 

member states could be the result of differences 

in financial compensation for 

those who report sick, of the socio-demographic 

features of the working population, 

and of the structure of the various 

sectors in the employment market, and 

the related working conditions. 

For work-related accidents that result 

in at least four days of sickness absence, 

the Netherlands, with almost 1,400 accidents 

per 100 thousand employees, 

is slightly below the average of the 28 

EU countries. The number of fatal 

work-related accidents is lower in the 

Netherlands than in any other European 

country. 

Read further: http://www.oshnetherlands.nl

Successful reliability 

programs have one thing 

in common… 

a strong condition monitoring team. 

As a condition monitoring 

professional or manager, you may be 

faced with starting a condition monitoring 

program or tasked to get a program back on 

track. There is a lot to know; multiple technologies, 

monitoring practices, analysis, fault-reporting 

and trending, not to mention proper corrective and 

routine maintenance to reduce the likelihood of faults from 

reoccurring. Where can you start? Where can you learn what you 

need, that is economical in respect to time and expense? And where 

 

 

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