A step change

A safety-first approach is central to how all process plants operate, and a key part of this is ensuring that all plant equipment is properly maintained.

Being able to target those pieces of kit most in need of inspection, repair or replacement can help streamline maintenance programmes, cutting costs and improving plant efficiency.

As more and more plants use devices and control systems that generate huge amounts of data, firms such as Siemens and Invensys have begun rolling out predictive maintenance technology that harnesses this data to improve plant efficiency.

The need to generate real-time information has become a necessity within almost all process plant procedures

Idhammar Systems technical director Clare Darlison

Data can be accumulated in real-time, allowing system analysts to predict and even prevent system failure at a level far in advance of more traditional methods.

Mike Teller, managing director for Northern Europe & Africa at Invensys, says that only with preventative measures, for maintenance and security, can you ensure process plant safety. You can also avoid unnecessary costs.

“If companies incorporate complete system monitoring and management on a plant, with the help of systems such as Invensys’ Foxboro Evo (distributed control system), they can accurately decipher contextualised data streams to prevent engineers from performing unnecessary maintenance,” he says.

Similarly, Siemens claims that production plant downtime can be significantly reduced if advanced maintenance procedures are employed.

Its own research suggests that condition-based maintenance can be effective in analysing plant or machinery and can help ascertain whether or not maintenance is needed before system failures occur.

The firm also suggests that its condition monitoring technology can be applied on individual machines or focussed across an entire plant.

Systems are constantly monitored and data is transmitted to its experts to determine the overall performance of a plant or factory, which enables only the necessary maintenance to be carried out.

An important aspect to monitoring the condition of plant equipment in real time is the ability to use mobile devices to keep track of the system while outside of the control room.

One example of technology that does this is Wonderware’s InTouch Human Machine Interface (HMI).

This system is capable of providing engineers with a remote access tool that allows them to analyse data streams generated from a piece of machinery and effectively interpret that information to create enhanced maintenance management that can reduce production line stoppages and prevent unnecessary downtime.

The technology can also be used to keep on top of the substantial amounts of regulatory requirements that most process plants are subjected to.

Clare Darlison, technical director at Idhammar Systems, says that the current trend is for engineers to use computerised maintenance management software (CMMS) to uphold safety guidelines and government regulations.

“If you had a fatality on site then you have to prove that you have undertaken the necessary maintenance inspections of your plant,” says Darlison.

“CMMS systems are increasingly being used to regulate plant machinery and ensure inspections and regular maintenance checks are done.”

CMMS is being used within a plant to alert the appropriate staff of maintenance procedures either being undertaken or being scheduled. Darlison explains that it is becoming ever more essential for staff to have a good working knowledge of the maintenance systems in place within a plant.

“Idhammar trains staff using its CMMS equipment so that good planned and predictive maintenance regimes can be generated,” she says.

“They have to be trained to use the system so that they can accurately interpret data within maintenance applications and avoid hazards associated with machinery maintenance.”

However, traditional maintenance regimes do not incorporate training as some firms cannot justify the cost of employing a full time maintenance engineer for a system that does not utilise preventative or predictive maintenance regimes.

Rather than running a piece of equipment into the ground without maintaining it, as some companies still do, more and more firms are utilising the modern tools at their disposal to plan and predict plant shutdown so as to save on the cost of complete retrofits of entire process plants and machinery.

We try to get the right tools in front the right people so that the whole process becomes slick and simple

SoftSols managing director David Hipkin

As a result, adds Darlison, “the need to generate real-time information has become a necessity within almost all process plant procedures, as information can quickly be exchanged between corporate offices and shop-floor engineers”.

However, some companies have encountered problems when mobile networks cannot be accessed or aren’t readily available.

This has been overcome in cases where smart technology has been built into the core of a structure.

David Hipkin, managing director at SoftSols Group, says that purpose-built structures, such as the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Scotland, have the capability to incorporate advanced CMMS systems that can wirelessly communicate with maintenance and hospital staff.

“If you purpose build the technology into a plant or building, such as the Forth Valley hospital which utilises SoftSols’ Agility CMMS, then there is a huge amount of opportunity to advance maintenance procedures.”

“We have built specific hand-held phone and smartphone technology,” Hipkin says, “that works in an offline mode if an engineer encounters an area where there is little or no signal. As soon as the device finds a signal the system synchronises itself, exchanges data and updates an engineer’s workflow.”

A maintenance system has to be completely adaptable, Hipkin explains, if it is to fully utilise the smart technology it is capable of interacting with.

“We have been focussing on the idea of integration and interaction with other systems,” says Hipkin.

“The Agility system has a configurable interface, which means we can link into a SCADA system or a plant management system and plant equipment can register a problem so that human interaction can be completely removed. This makes the entire operation slicker and offers engineers real-time information on system maintenance and maintenance procedures.”

As factory procedures modernise and companies seek to maximise plant uptime, maintenance firms must ensure they can offer a tailored range of options for firms wanting to invest in their software.

“What we always stress is that companies will only get good information out if they put good information in,” says Hipkin. “We try to get the right tools in front the right people so that the whole process becomes slick and simple.”