Maintworld 1/2019

PARTNER ARTICLE
However today, we are still at the beginning
of this new era of Industry 4.0
and some people are convinced that future
history books will name the world
wide web (or the “Internet” in short) as
the key trigger for these massive changes.
And of course, this fourth industrial
revolution will change the way in which
we work and live together as it always
did in the eras before. There is hope and
good reason to assume that it will not
only be for the worse but for the better
– as seen in the past summary of historical
industrial revolutions. But what
challenges and impacts can be expected
for maintenance employees in almost
daily changing working environments?
The Industrial Internet of
Things – challenge or solution?
Predictions are hard to make but already
today there are sophisticated challenges
that need to be resolved, especially when
considering the IIoT environment. The
more Things mankind connects to each
other – starting from computers through
mobiles up to industry and everyday devices
– the more data are produced and
collected. These require not only huge
amounts of storage space, but even intelligent
management. On an industrial level
those connected Things are the machines
and assets, their control systems and the
net of sensors that measure and finally
steer the variables of all those machines.
Let’s pick a typical example of a
temperature sensor on a motor that
transmits the information into a Programmable
Logic Controller (PLC) or
database. Ok, this alone is not sufficient
to talk about a new paradigm change.
But let’s scale this onto a higher level.
There is not just one sensor in an industrial
plant or mill, there are thousands
of different sensors that transmit their
data into a storage mine that is filled
with other plant’s data, too. A data lake
– rather a sea – is created. Intelligent
algorithms will mine through this data
lake in order to find problems, but also
better operating parameters for plants
worldwide. Though innovative solutions
for the maintenance world have
been available for some time, new questions
arise due to this technology: How
to manage, store and secure this huge
amount of data? How can this data be
prepared for algorithms? Who is responsible
for the results of self-learning
algorithms that work with all those data,
especially when it comes to machine
damage or even people’s death due to
wrong decisions being made?
What’s next?
The answers to all the questions above
certainly will not come as early as tomorrow
but maybe with the next industrial
revolution since not just technical, but
even social, ethical and juristic questions
need to be answered. But in any
case, what we can learn from the history
above, is that the maintenance sector is
changing faster and with greater impact
than ever before.
Employees in the maintenance sector
for now and in the future have to be
able to read, understand and interpret
algorithms and their results. Their profession
is rather turning from a skilled
craftsman to a “data lake manager”.
Wherever the journey of maintenance
will go to in the future, one thing
certainly cannot be captured by any
machine or algorithm: Decision making
based on real world experience. This is
and certainly always will be a humanonly
skill. But self-learning algorithms
and their results (based on giga- and
terabytes of measurement data) are going
to support the professional maintenance
employee of the future to decide
how to solve maintenance issues.
PRUFTECHNIK has been delivering
and optimizing industrial solutions
for maintenance personnel throughout
more than 40 years and always adapted
to changes within the industrial environment.
Its laser shaft alignment
systems are using the latest microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS)
technology in the sensors with in-built
intelligence.
PRUFTECHNIK handheld and
online Condition Monitoring systems
keep the productivity of plants high in
actually any industry sector around the
globe. PRUFTECHNIK implements
the latest technology always with the
goal to create ultimate benefit to their
customers. The German maintenance
specialist therefore is excited and curious,
too, what the future will bring and
will keep on supporting maintenance
personnel in their daily life with highest
quality and latest technology precision
tools and monitoring solutions.
www.pruftechnik.com
Within the fourth
industrial revolution
maintenance practices
will change their shape,
too, and will become
more data-driven and
automated. Mining
through the big data
lake of a plant promises
to drive productivity to
higher levels.
14 maintworld 1/2019