Maintworld 1/2017

1/2017 www.maintworld.com 

maintenance & asset management 

Ethernet for 

the Process 

Industry PAGE 

12 

MIXED REALITY OF IIOT PAGE 20 POWER PLANT MAINTENANCE PAGE 32 ASSET MANAGEMENT BUILDS SUCCESS PAGE 44

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A New Dimension 

in HMI/SCADA 

Introducing the world’s first 3D Holographic 

Machine Interface. ICONICS has redefined “HMI” 

in this era of the Industrial Internet of Things by 

integrating its automation software with Microsoft’s 

HoloLens. This groundbreaking technology allows 

users to superimpose real-time information over a 

real world production environment or facility, reducing 

downtime and increasing operational efficiency. 

Experience it for yourself at Hannover Messe! 

Visit ICONICS in Hall 7, Stand C40 

Celebrating 30 Years of Automation Software 

www.iconics.com 

VISUALIZE ANALYZE MOBILIZE CLOUD

EDITORIAL 

Text: Kai Portman 

The Changing Face 

of Maintenance 

VISITING 20 plus Industry and Maintenance events each year in all 

continents has given me a chance to see first-hand the changing face of 

Maintenance. 

Years ago maintenance was conceived as a blue collar toolbox kind 

of a job. Nowadays, it is understood that maintenance is a fundamental 

part of the working and planning of industry itself. The beauty and at 

the same time complexity of it is that it is probably the only area of expertise 

that runs through all areas of industry. 

Maintenance professionals and engineers are 

more and more involved in high-level decision 

making procedures in organisations, and it is 

universally recognized that calculating failure 

mode in order to prevent it, is of utmost importance 

within the mechanics of industry itself. 

In regards to condition monitoring, the technology 

behind it has made quantum leaps in the 

past years. From smart bearings to 3D-mapping, 

from complex IT programs to smart communication. 

Having said this, the work concept in the field has become more 

of analysing rather finding fault as the latter has already been brought 

to light thanks to technology. 

At trade shows around the world, I have found that the message is 

the same and it almost seems that people are focusing on a common 

goal: advancement in digital technology. At the events of the EFNMS, 

SMRP and GSMP the topics of the conferences in these past years 

have been orientating also in this same direction, and the associations 

themselves as regulatory bodies within the sphere of maintenance 

have shown support for this. 

What I have personally noticed during my expo-travels, especially 

in Europe, is a hype for industry 4.0, IoT and Cloud communication. 

I must say that I feel very lucky to be living in such an exciting era 

for industry and to have the opportunity to experience it first-hand 

with my travels. Thus, I hope our publication will help reflect this period 

in time and share it with all you readers. 

At trade shows around the world, I have found 

that the message is the same and it almost 

seems that people are focusing on a common 

goal: advancement in digital technology. 

Kai Portman 

Maintworld-magazine 

34 

Packaging 

and bottling 

equipment manufacturers 

will often design equipment 

with shock absorption 

to the specifications that 

meet safety and industry 

requirements. 

6 maintworld 1/2017

IN THIS ISSUE 1/2017 

12 

It can be more difficult for 

plants in process industries to 

adopt and benefit from many 

advances, such as industrial 

Ethernet and IP technologies. 

52 

The goal of vibration 

diagnostics is to receive 

the information about 

the current machine 

condition and decide if 

the condition is good, 

or if some repairs or 

adjustments need to be 

made. 

6 Editorial 

8 

12 

16 

20 

24 

How to Thrive in the Oil and Gas 

Industry 

Ethernet for the Process 

Industry 

Leveraging OPC UA to Help Meet 

Site Security Requirements 

Mixed Reality of IIoT 

Using Nodeset Files to Exchange 

Information: A Case in MDIS 

26 

30 

32 

34 

38 

Industrial Communication in the 

Context of Industry 4.0 and IoT 

Cardan Shaft Measurement – 

Working in Confined Spaces 

Leveraging Planned Outages at 

Power Plants 

Small Cost, Big Savings 

in Packaging and Bottling 

Industries 

The parallel paths of 

maintenance and lubrication 

42 

44 

48 

52 

Reliability and Maintenance 

Management Beliefs –Part 3 

Extracting Maximum Economic 

Value from Ageing Assets 

Building the Foundation 

for a Successful Ultrasound 

Programme 

When Vibration Fails to Work 

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). 

1/2017 maintworld 7

ASSET MANAGEMENT 

How to Thrive in the Oil 

and Gas Industry 

Don’t just wait for an increase in oil prices to achieve profitability. Oil and gas leaders 

need to act on technology innovations to make a difference in 2017 and beyond. 

RICHARD IRWIN, 

Bentley Systems, Inc., 

Richard.irwin@ 

bentley.com 

8 maintworld 1/2017 

IN TODAY’S market climate companies 

operating in the oil and gas industry 

should take advantage of the proliferation 

of sensors, big data and analytical techniques, 

coupled with the advancements 

in asset performance modelling, reality 

modelling, and 3D visual operations. 

The oil and gas industry has always 

strived to reduce costs, improve performance, 

and eliminate risk. The last 

few years however, have seen the community 

hit by a series of blows with serious 

consequences. With declining oil 

production, plummeting oil prices and a 

dramatic cutback in spending, things appeared 

bleak. Yet there are still technologies, 

processes, and applications available 

that allow producers to innovate and 

become agile and forward-looking, even 

in tough times. Instead of waiting for oil 

prices to recover in order to start spending, 

some oil and gas CIOs and COOs 

are working together to take advantage 

of digital advancements to help them 

achieve operational excellence. 

Integrated Planning and 

Operations 

Ideally in any business, efficiency and 

performance can only be improved if 

everyone works together, but this is 

sometimes harder in practice than it 

first seems. In the oil and gas industry, 

it would be ideal if exploration were in 

touch with what is happening in production; 

if production were working with 

operations; if operations were synchronizing 

with the inspection team and so 

on. In other words, a seamless connected 

environment used to manage different 

business functions and pinpoint inefficiencies. 

For instance, Emerson Process Management, 

a supplier of products, services, 

and solutions that improve processrelated 

operations across many industries, 

created a data control centre that 

brought together groups from disparate 

departments across multiple locations


Despite the downturn, there 

are many opportunities for 

growth 

to one central hub using state-of-the-art 

technologies around communications, 

conferencing, analytics, and more. The 

integrated operations centre is called 

iOps and leverages Bentley’s AssetWise 

Operational Analytics application. The 

iOps centre helps clients simulate business 

conditions and make decisions in 

a matter of minutes rather than days or 

weeks. The predictive operational analytics 

software on the connected servers 

provides the centre’s clients with an 

array of readily-mapped inputs within 

user-driven dashboards for full visibility. 

Operational Performance 

Monitoring Creates Clarity 

With the Internet of Things (IoT) adding 

more to a world already overloaded 

WITH SO MUCH DATA 

FLYING AROUND, 

THE PROBLEM IS HOW TO 

CAPTURE IT AND USE IT TO 

YOUR ADVANTAGE. 

Converge 

operational, 

information, 

and engineering 

technologies for a 

greater understanding of 

asset performance. 

with data, from wearable technology to 

self-driving cars, asset-intensive industries 

are quickly jumping on board and 

embracing this revolution. With so much 

data flying around, the problem is how to 

capture it and use it to your advantage. 

Applications that help optimize the use 

of assets give user groups the ability 

to see a holistic view of the day-to-day 

running of the operation, from production 

performance against targets, KPIs, 

chemical usage and spend, corrosion 

levels, maintenance plans, inventory and 

more. It also gives the operational or integrity 

management leader the information 

and support they need to make the 

right decision. 

More importantly, engineers won’t 

need specialized data analysts to carry 

out analyses. Saving time on data manipulation 

is based on any user, from a 

wellhead engineer to a CFO, creating 

dashboards tailored to what they want 

to see for their role, while the embedded 

analytics does the job for them in the 

background. 

Reduce Costs and Operational 

Risk with Improved Asset 

Reliability and Integrity 

Although spending has been drastically 

reduced, cost reduction and risk are still 

at the top of any CIO’s list. Now the focus 

is on the remaining assets and optimizing 

them to gain the best performance, 

reduce failures, and maintain availability. 

Key to this is reliability and maintenance 

to extend the life of aging assets 

safely and reliably. Having a programme 

in place for inspections, maintenance, 

integrity, and performance will significantly 

reduce risk and associated operating 

costs, while increasing the life of assets 

that would normally be replaced. 

Asset reliability and integrity management 

cover a wide variety of areas, 

from risk-based inspections analysis 

and safety integrity management to 

condition-based monitoring with dynamic 

measurement points, asset health 

indexing, and, in the same system, 

reliability-centred maintenance, maintenance 

task analysis, and root cause 

analysis. With these strategies in place, it 

is easier to identify and predict the failure 

of assets that pose the greatest risk 

to the operation. Identification leads to 

controlled and proactive inspection and 

maintenance practices that are crucial 

in running an efficient and productive 

operation. 

Deliver More Insight with 

Advanced Analytics 

Advanced analytics provides more depth 

to the levels of insight by doing more 

complex analysis from wider sources of 

data, as well as visualization and data 

mining. With the power to predict, it 

adds an extra level to not only what happened 

and why, but when will it happen 

again. For instance, predictions can help 

with calculating production against 

chemical costs, the corrosion levels of a 

pipe in terms of when it will need replacing 

and the subsequent maintenance 

required. The next logical step from this 

form of logic is prescriptive analytics – 

not only predicting an outcome, but also 

what is the best action to take next with 



sight into the performance and efficiency 

of any operation. What is often forgotten 

is the information on the assets themselves. 

Asset lifecycle information management 

provides structured control of 

asset information and managed change 

from cradle to grave, ensuring engineers, 

maintenance and operations always have 

accurate information. 

Knowing what and where assets are 

located exactly, what condition they are 

in, how they are performing and what is 

their remaining life is critical to knowing 

you have control over your operation 

with line of sight. Maintaining a 

seamless information stream between 

asset data, documents, organizations, 

requirements, people, and processes; 

asset lifecycle information management 

assures information integrity. For example, 

BP sees asset information becoming 

increasingly important and valuable 

within the business. By using cuttingedge 

technology solutions BP expects to 

provide new understanding of how to derive 

value from data. This will help drive 

standardisation and project execution 

efficiency that will be driven out across 

the enterprise rather than each project 

working on their own. 

Incorporate asset design data with designs to help risk based inspections. 

Display all of your operational data and more on a single dashboard and explore deeper. 

the most advantageous outcome. With 

machine learning, this becomes a reality. 

Machine learning involves doing the 

tasks engineers perform but with the 

ability to make the right decision from 

a variety of options. By using historical 

condition data from assets (corrosion, 

vibration, and so on) as well as current 

conditions (for example, temperature, 

pressure, turbidity), machine learning 

can sort through large data sets and 

identify patterns or connections, predict 

outcomes based on knowledge, and 

make predictions and recommendations 

to decision makers on the best course of 

action to take. 

Asset Lifecycle Information 

Management Leads to Agility 

and Value 

With so many assets producing so much 

data around the world, this information 

can be used to provide much more in- 

The Digital Transformation 

Has Already Started 

Advances in analytics, generated data, 

and hardware can lead to significant 

advantages across all areas of the oil and 

gas spectrum when it comes to leading 

the digital innovation charge, culminating 

in the ‘digital oilfield.’ Key to this is 

the convergence of operational technology 

(OT) and information technology 

(IT) for improved decision-making. 

While this is a step forward, converging 

engineering technology (ET) will provide 

more significant improvements to asset 

performance. With asset-related information 

linked to the digital engineering 

model, it facilitates efficient modifications 

and renovations. Before and during 

design, functional definitions and requirements 

define expected asset behaviour. 

With model data being used more 

often in the oil and gas industry, often 

in separate locations, it makes sense to 

incorporate them into the whole system 

for improved visibility. 

Engineering data (models that are in 

the form of networks, schematics, catalogues, 

3D designs, and so on) are not 

a static view, but can be a continuously 

evolving living thing, as assets change 

over time in terms of functions and repairs. 

Engineering modelling data is the 

‘digital twin’ of the physical asset. These 

digital representations of the physical 

asset allow producers to understand, 

predict and optimize the performance of 

their assets and their business. With real-time 

information from the OT laid on 

top of the models, they can then navigate 

and display all information relating to 

that asset or process, only recommending 

an engineer for inspections purposes 

if necessary, and all done remotely. The 

true value of convergence lies in reduced 

asset downtime and maintenance costs, 

which will only become more accelerated 

with the inclusion of machinelearning 

technology. 

You don’t have to wait for an upturn in 

demand and oil prices. Change can only 

take place if you embrace the technology 

that is already out there and available. 


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 

iLearnReliability 

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 

can you get training that is practical, going further than just filling you 

with facts and figures? 

iLearnReliability 

[Condition Monitoring] 

iLearnReliability [Condition Monitoring] is an 

All-In-One subscription based, training system 

that teaches your team everything needed to become champions at condition 

monitoring, and will provide the necessary guidance to setup or revitalize your plant’s 

condition monitoring program. 

LEARN MORE TODAY! 

www.mobiusinstitute.com/iLRcm 

Toll Free North America: (877) 550-3400, Worldwide: (+1) 615-216-4811 

AUSTRALIA · BELGIUM · UNITED STATES of AMERICA

PROCESS AUTOMATION 

Ethernet 

for the Process 

Industry 

Today’s process industries share many challenges with hybrid and discrete industries, 

such as increasing global competition. While users are looking to latest automation 

technologies to help address challenges, it can be more difficult for plants 

in process industries to adopt and benefit from many advances, such as industrial 

Ethernet and IP technologies. 

KATHERINE VOSS, 

President & Executive 

Director, ODVA, Inc. 

Contact: 

Adrienne Meyer, 

ODVA, Inc. 

(ameyer@odva.org) 

WITH AN AGING installed base of process 

automation systems and the need for 

additional capacity to meet consumer demand 

in emerging economies, the previous 

norms are about to change. It is projected 

that the process industries will invest 

over 100 billion US dollars globally in 

new control systems for process automation, 

split equally between modernization 

and new installations. As a result, many 

users in process industries will be looking 

to develop new strategies for maintaining 

cost-effective, sustainable production 

capacity. To achieve all of the business 

results needed, these strategies must take 

into account the efficient integration of 

the plant’s network infrastructure into 

the existing business applications. 

TODAY’S PROCESS 

INDUSTRIES SHARE MANY 

CHALLENGES WITH HYBRID 

AND DISCRETE INDUSTRIES. 



Moreover, these strategies call for 

a network architecture that provides 

the best integration, not only within 

the process plant but also with external 

systems. Unfortunately, the diverse and 

often complex nature of field devices 

in process plants has made integration 

complicated because users have needed 

to deploy a range of specialty process 

fieldbuses in the network architecture. 

This fact, combined with the often extreme 

nature of applications in process 

industries – extreme plant size, hazardous 

areas, climate, environmental 

hazards, or remoteness – have made 

it difficult for users to realize all the 

benefits possible from process integration. 

However, standard Ethernet and 

IP technologies – already proven in 

hybrid and discrete industries – stand 

to change this situation for the process 

industries. 

Convergent, Compatible and 

Scalable OPI 

ODVA envisions an approach to the optimization 

of process integration (OPI) 

that will be convergent, compatible, 

scalable and open for users and their 

suppliers. The approach will simplify exchange 

of configuration, diagnostic and 

production data between field devices 

and higher-level systems such as supervisory 

control and data acquisition systems 

(SCADA). In addition, plant asset 

management (PAM) and secure remote 

access of field installations will be enabled 

and plant-to-enterprise communication 

simplified. This, together with 

the proven benefits and cost advantages 

of commercially available, off-the-shelf 

Ethernet and Internet technologies will 

help businesses improve productivity 

and competitiveness. 

ODVA has a broad overall approach 

to OPI based on the three principle 

domains of the industrial ecosystem – 

production, enterprise and power grid. 

The focal point of OPI is the production 

domain and the process plant. This approach 

is characterized by the need for 

the integration of field and functional 

safety devices with the control systems, 

along with the business value of providing 

process information from the field 

to enterprise systems. The foundation 

of OPI is an interoperability framework 

achieved through a unified communication 

system using standard Ethernet and 

Internet technologies. This framework 

also covers other requirements particularly 

relevant to applications in the process 

industries such as intrinsic safety 

and configuration of field devices with a 

large number of parameters. 

ODVA’s plan for OPI leverages its core 

competency in information and communication 

technologies. These are grounded 

in ODVA’s media-independent Common 

Industrial Protocol (CIP) and in 

EtherNet/IP, its network technology 

which is based on standard, unmodified 

Ethernet and Internet technologies. For 

OPI between field devices and industrial 

control systems or ICS, often referred to 

as DCS or PAC, ODVA seeks to include 

objects, services and device profiles in 

EtherNet/IP that are optimized for applications 

in the process industries and 

permit the transparent and seamless 

exchange of production, logistics, configuration 

and diagnostic information. 

In the long term, ODVA envisions physical 

layer implementations that allow for 

the integration of devices on Ethernet 

that are intrinsically safe and networkpowered. 

ETHERNET AND IP TECHNOLOGIES HELP BUSINESSES IMPROVE 

PRODUCTIVITY AND COMPETITIVENESS. 

The production domain in process 

plants – where the tight integration of 

field devices with industrial control 

systems is required – is the focal point 

of OPI. Although integration of field 

devices is essential, plant engineers have 

not been provided with standard ways 

to facilitate this integration. Originally, 

process plants relied on 4-20 mA analogue 

signals for transmitting process 

values to and from field devices. More 

recently, these analogue signals have 

been often replaced with digital communication 

technologies in the form of specialized 

process automation fieldbuses. 

However, these fieldbuses traditionally 

require specialist training, knowledge 

and tools to integrate with higher-level 

networks and, in many cases, have not 



Industrial Enterprise Domain 

Financial and Cost 

Accounting 

Utilities and Material Cost, 

Demand and Delivery 

Business Planning 

and Analytics 

Utility 

Energy 

Cost 

Manufacturing Execution Systems 

Supervisory Control and 

Data Acquisition Systems 

Utility 

Energy 

Price 

Field Facility 

& Energy 

Infrastructure 

Systems 

Batch ProcessesProcess Plant Continuous Processes 

Industrial 

Control Systems 

Industrial 

Control Systems 

Plant 

Asset 

Management 

Systems 

Energy 

Production 

& Delivery 

Systems 

Field Devices 

Hazardous Production Area 

(IS classified Ex Zone) 

Safety Instrumented Systems 

Process Plant 

Power Grid Domain 

Industrial Production Domain 

been designed for the transmission of 

large amounts of data available from 

today’s instrumentation. Remote access 

is also complicated, requiring additional 

hardware in the form of gateways to allow 

remote access connections to the 

plant and its field devices, industrial control 

systems, and interrelated systems 

using IP-based technologies. 

An Evolved Approach to OPI 

ODVA, with its expertise in standard 

information and communication technologies 

for industrial automation, combined 

with its large community of device 

vendors, who make and sell EtherNet/ 

IP-compliant products for industrial 

automation, can provide the process 

industries with an evolved approach to 

OPI that is: 

• Convergent in its long term approach 

to support the deployment 

of standard Ethernet and Internet 

technologies in the process industries 

across all domains of the industrial 

ecosystem; 

• Compatible by enabling users to 

integrate new devices and systems 

with their installed base while evolving 

their automation architecture 

to complement the architecture for 

supervisory and enterprise systems; 

• Scalable from simple field devices 

to complex systems of automation 

ODVA HAS A BROAD OVERALL APPROACH TO OPI BASED ON 

PRODUCTION, ENTERPRISE AND POWER GRID. 

equipment in the enterprise environment; 

and 

• Open by virtue of its use of multivendor, 

interoperable standards 

managed by an independent, vendor-neutral 

organization 

Despite wider acceptance and use of 

Ethernet and IP technologies in process 

automation, there are still gaps between 

the field, control and enterprise levels. 

Plus, different control systems favour 

different fieldbuses. OPI will ease this 

situation by providing users with a 

unified communication solution that 

includes the information and communication 

standards for the objects, services 

and profiles needed. 

Learn more about ODVA’s vision for 

the Optimization of Process Integration 

by downloading the full vision white 

paper and connecting with ODVA for 

updates on technical releases. To learn 

more about ODVA’s technical work on 

OPI, visit www.odva.org/OPI. 

About ODVA 

Founded in 1995, ODVA is a global association 

whose members comprise the 

world’s leading automation companies. 

ODVA’s mission is to advance open, 

interoperable information and communication 

technologies in industrial 

automation. ODVA recognizes its media 

independent network protocol, the 

Common Industrial Protocol or “CIP” – 

and the network adaptations of CIP – 

EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet 

and ControlNet – as its core technology 

and the primary common interest 

of its membership. ODVA’s vision is to 

contribute to the sustainability and 

prosperity of the global community by 

transforming the model for information 

and communication technology in the 

industrial ecosystem. For future interoperability 

of production systems and the 

integration of the production systems 

with other systems, ODVA embraces the 

adoption of commercial-off-the-shelf 

(COTS) and standard, unmodified Internet 

and Ethernet technologies as a guiding 

principle wherever possible. This 

principle is exemplified by EtherNet/IP 

– the world’s number one industrial Ethernet 

network. For more information 

about ODVA, visit odva.org. 


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

INTERNET SECURITY 

Leveraging OPC UA 

to Help Meet Site 

Security Requirements 

Today’s industrial control systems leverage the latest OPC Unified Architecture (UA) 

standards, which provide cross-platform interoperability between software applications 

and devices. This allows for the vendor-independent exchange of real-time, 

alarm and condition, historical, and many other types of data. 



TONY PAINE, 

Kepware Tecnologies, 

tony.paine@kepware.com 

only the applications, devices, and users 

who are authorized to interact with the 

system are allowed to do so. In addition, 

this removes the possibility for non-authorized 

applications, devices, and users 

to impact the operation of the system or 

gain access to critical data. 

setup and managed. OPC UA’s client/ 

server architecture also bodes well with 

a defense-in-depth strategy, as UA-aware 

applications can act as an intermediary 

between different layers within a site 

and limit the amount of information that 

can be exposed or manipulated. 

DUE TO THE CRITICALITY of Industrial 

Control Systems (ICS) and the desire 

to make process and business information 

available to anyone, anywhere, 

and at any time, the information that is 

exchanged between interested parties 

must meet the security requirements 

of the site. The OPC UA standards are 

designed to meet these security requirements 

while maintaining the level of 

flexibility and control that site administrators 

expect. 

Security Objectives 

Before we discuss how OPC UA can meet 

site security requirements, lets review 

the security objectives that apply to industrial 

control systems. These include: 

• Auditability: This provides traceability 

on all actions performed within 

a system, with the goal of logging 

which user performed what action 

and when—as well as any attempts 

that have been made to compromise 

the system. 

• Authentication: An ICS is comprised 

of hardware, software applications, 

and users. Each component 

must be able to prove its identity 

in order to be considered a trusted 

party. 

• Authorization: Even though a party 

may be trusted, components should 

be given the minimum access needed 

to perform their functions. 

• Availability: This ensures the ICS is 

fully operational by limiting factors 

that may impact its execution. 

• Confidentiality: The information 

exchanged between trusted parties 

must be hidden from those that are 

not trusted or have no reason to view 

the information. This requires that 

the sender and receiver of information 

must be able to encrypt and decrypt 

the data they exchange. 

• Integrity: The information exchanged 

between trusted parties 

must not be modifiable. 

By meeting each of these security objectives, 

a site will be able to ensure that 

Security Threats 

Though not comprehensive of all possible 

threats, some that have plagued ICS 

over the years are as follows: 

• Compromising User Credentials 

• Eavesdropping 

• Malformed Messages 

• Message Alteration/Spoofing 

• Message Flooding 

• Message Replay 

• Profiling 

• Session Hijacking 

By implementing a security strategy for 

a site, an administrator can thwart the 

above threats and achieve the security 

objectives needed to protect critical infrastructure. 

Site Security 

Most sites will incorporate a Cyber Security 

Management System (CSMS) to 

address security-related requirements. 

These requirements may range from 

the adoption of security policies around 

physical and electronic boundaries, auditing, 

and preventative and response 

procedures. In order to address the 

threats discussed earlier, a security risk 

assessment will be initiated and appropriate 

security measures will be implemented. 

A good implementation will 

follow a “defense–in-depth” strategy, 

where there will be multiple layers of 

protection. This may include a combination 

of firewalls, intrusion detection/ 

prevention systems (IDS/IPS), patchmanagement 

systems, and IT rules for 

what is allowed and what is not allowed 

within the context of the system. 

OPC UA can adapt to a site’s CSMS 

by allowing the administrator complete 

control on how communications are 

OPC UA Security Architecture 

To mitigate against security threats, OPC 

UA has a multi-tier design that consists 

of an application layer, communications 

layer, and a transport layer. 

The majority of OPC functionality is 

handled within the context of the application 

layer i.e. where clients and servers 

process UA information—operations like 

reading, writing, and browsing items. It 

is also where UA provides management 

for authentication and user authorization 

through the concept of a session between 

a client and server instances. 

The secure channel that makes up 

the communications layer provides the 

functionality that allows for application 

authentication, confidentiality, and integrity. 

It does this by utilizing an appropriate 

level of encryption and decryption 

to maintain confidentiality of communication 

messages, by signing messages 

INTEROPERABILITY ALLOWS FOR THE EXCHANGE OF 

INFORMATION THAT IS CRITICAL TO ANY INDUSTRIAL 

CONTROL SYSTEM. 

to ensure the integrity of data, and by 

utilizing digital certificates that provide 

application authentication. The resulting 

secured data is then passed on to the 

transport layer for further processing. 

The transport layer handles the actual 

sending and receiving of the data 

over a communications infrastructure. 

The transport mechanism used (such as 

OPC UA Binary or XML Web Services 

via HTTP) impacts the implementation 

of the secured channel managed by the 

communications layer. 

How It Works 

Every OPC UA application has a unique 

digital (X.509) certificate assigned to it 

per installation that is referred to as an 

application instance certificate. This 

certificate is comprised of a public key 



Common ICS Security Threats 

# 

? @ 

! 

Compromising User Credentials 

When an attacker assumes a user's identity 

by obtaining their credentials. 

Eavesdropping 

When an attacker intercepts confidential 

information for personal gain or to leverage 

in future attacks. 

Malformed Messages 

When abnormal communications are sent 

with the intent to limit or interrupt the 

receiver's availability to authorized users. 

Message Alteration/Spoofing 

When an attacker manipulates or forges a 

message in an effort to perform 

unauthorized tasks under an authorized 

user’s identity. 

Message Flooding 

When an attacker sends frequent and large 

amounts of communications with the goal 

of taking the receiver offline. 

Message Replay 

When authenticated messages are 

captured and re-sent later, allowing an 

attacker to perform valid operations at 

invalid times. 

Profiling 

When an attacker applies knowledge 

about a particular device or application’s 

security vulnerabilities. 

Session Hijacking 

When an attacker takes over a session from 

an authorized user. 

that can be shared with other trusted 

parties, as well as a private key that is 

only known to the application instance. 

These keys vary in size, where the longer 

the key, the harder it is for a third party 

to guess. 

When a client application connects 

to a server, it creates a secured channel. 

Only if an administrator has configured 

the client and server to trust each other’s 

certificates will the secured channel be 

established. This procedure provides application 

authentication. 

In order to provide the identity of 

the user of an application, the client will 

next create a session that leverages the 

secure channel for communications. Applications 

may utilize this user information 

to limit or restrict access to certain 

operations, thus providing a level of user 

authorization. 

From here on out, the client will encrypt 

all communications it sends to the 

server with the server’s public key, and 

will sign each message with its own private 

key. Upon receiving a message, the 

server will test the integrity of the message 

by validating the signature against 

the client’s public key and decrypt the 

message with its own private key. This 

ensures that all messages remain confidential 

and are not tampered with. 

THE MAJORITY OF OPC FUNCTIONALITY IS HANDLED 

WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE APPLICATION LAYER. 

Mitigation of Threats 

OPC UA’s secure channel/session model 

protects against potential threats in 

many ways. First of all OPC UA limits 

what actions a client can perform on a 

server before it is authenticated. Clients 

are limited to obtaining the security and 

connection requirements of a server 

and creating a secure channel. In the 

case of security and connection requirements, 

this information seldom changes 

after deployment and will require little 

processing time on the server. For the 

more processor-intensive secure channel 

creation, servers should monitor for 

repeated failed secure channel creation 

requests and intentionally delay the 

handling of future requests to minimize 

the impact of a potential attack. Servers 

should also allow administrators to 

limit the number of concurrent connections 

it will handle at any given time. 

These steps will prevent against message 

flooding. An additional benefit of limiting 

what an unauthenticated party can 

accomplish is that any known security 

vulnerabilities that could be compromised 

are limited, which minimizes the 

server profiling that could be done by an 

attacker. 

Each message that is exchanged contains 

a session ID, secure channel ID, 

request ID, timestamp, and sequence 

numbers. Since these messages are not 

modifiable, applications can validate 

these values to ensure that an attacker 

has not captured a message to replay at 

some point in the future. Clients and 

servers also validate each message to 

ensure it is of the proper form. Together, 

this eliminates the concerns around 

message replay and reception of malformed 

messages. 

Summary 

OPC UA provides the industry with interoperability 

between software-based applications 

and hardware appliances from 

various vendors. This interoperability 

allows for the exchange of information 

that is critical to any industrial control 

system, as well as for the overall business. 

In order to make optimal operating and 

business decisions, the ability to obtain 

information from anywhere in the world 

is pivotal. Since this will require data to 

be transmitted over public domains, it 

must be done securely in order to protect 

the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality 

of information. OPC UA’s adoption 

of today’s widespread IT principles and 

techniques makes this possible. 


When things 

just work, 

work gets done. 

Kepware’s industrial connectivity software provides 

secure and reliable data from the shop floor to the top 

floor, so you can focus on productivity. 

Learn more at kepware.com/MW

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET 

The Mixed 

Reality of IIoT 

If I told you it was possible to use a mixed reality device to control a 

manufacturing robot using HMI/SCADA software for the Industrial Internet 

of Things (IIoT), would you believe me? Certainly there is a “wow” factor in 

being able to do so, but it is a reality today. 

TAKE A MOMENT to parse through that 

statement and you can appreciate the 

multiple technological advancements 

that have had to take place to lead to 

this opportunity. There is the evolution 

of HMI/SCADA and analysis software 

to take advantage of the Internet 

of Things. There are the continuous 

breakthroughs in operating systems, databases and 

business intelligence, as well as in augmented/mixed 

reality and wearable devices. 

This combination of technologies was not thrown together 

by coincidence either. It is based on real use cases 

from manufacturers who want to be able to leverage 

their investment in existing automation systems, while 

applying the latest breakthroughs in IoT and wearable 

device technology. Such an innovation will be on display 

at Hannover Messe 2017 in April, where global automation 

software provider ICONICS will demonstrate its 

IoT-integrated Holographic Machine Interface (HMI) 

and analytics solutions working in collaboration with 

Microsoft Azure and a Comau robot. 

Let’s take a step back and look at what it has taken to 

make this a (mixed) reality. 

IIoT Compatibility 

Companies looking to enhance their operations by 

connecting to the Industrial Internet of Things should 

know that there are off-the-shelf solutions available 

today. Adding IIoT connectivity helps organizations to 

scale operations when necessary, to ensure against IT 

hardware obsolescence, and to provide global access 

to connected systems. Plus, this can be done without 


MELISSA TOPP, 

Senior Director of 

Global Marketing, 

ICONICS, Inc. 

requiring any expensive 

retrofitting or costly new IT 

infrastructure. 

Combining low-cost, 

small footprint IoT gateways 

with proven HMI/ 

SCADA, analytics, and mobile 

technology running in 

the cloud gives customers global visibility, scalability, 

and reliability. Those gateways connect companies’ 

core equipment to their preferred cloud platform 

(e.g. Microsoft Azure), communicating via the most 

popular communication protocols, such as OPC UA, 

BACnet, SNMP, and Modbus. However, best-in-class 

IoT gateways should provide functionality beyond basic 

connectivity – a form of “connected intelligence”, so 

to speak. Users should look for included IoT gateway 

software that provides additional capabilities such as 

data collection, web-based visualization, edge analytics, 

alarm management, fault detection and diagnostics, 

and energy management to name a few. Such bi-directional 

control provides complete contextualization of 

an organization’s data, making the previously invisible 

knowledge points now visible. 

Some customers are not sure where to start, given 

the plethora of affordable gateway devices available on 

the market today. To assist with this, ICONICS recently 

initiated its own IoT Alliance Program for qualified 

hardware providers to complement its end-to-end 

IoTWorX solution. This alliance program is geared 

toward original device manufacturers (ODMs) and offers 

end users the ability to select from a number of pretested, 

approved devices from preferred providers.




Microsoft Software/Hardware Integration 

Recently, some of the most interesting developments in cloud 

services, business intelligence, machine learning, and data 

analysis have come out of Redmond, Washington. Such new 

products and services add to Microsoft’s proven legacy of operating 

system, desktop productivity, database, and web connectivity 

solutions. Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a leader 

in its Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Platform as 

a Service (in 2016), as well as for Infrastructure as a Service (in 

2015), so manufacturers are now more readily embracing and 

investing in software solutions built on the Microsoft Azure 

cloud platform. IoTWorX leverages the Azure IoT Hub for 

rich connectivity to things, secure cloud communications, and 

built-in real-time visualization and analytics. 

COMPANIES LOOKING TO ENHANCE 

THEIR OPERATIONS SHOULD KNOW THAT 

THERE ARE OFF-THE-SHELF SOLUTIONS 

AVAILABLE TODAY. 

Another of Microsoft’s extraordinary technology breakthroughs 

is its HoloLens self-contained holographic computer. 

HoloLens is an evolution in user interfaces, allowing the 

wearer to see and interact with a “mixed reality” of 2D and 3D 

holograms superimposed over the real world environment. 

“HMI” has been redefined through ICONICS’ development of 

a Holographic Machine Interface, which uses HoloLens technology 

to perform remote monitoring, asset management, and 

predictive maintenance on production equipment. 

Robots … and Other Connected Machines 

As part of a working relationship with Comau, a business within 

the Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) Group, a Comau Racer 

3 robot will be featured at Hannover Messe 2017 this spring. 

While visiting the Microsoft booth, attendees will be able to interact 

with the robot with associated data visualized, analyzed, 

and mobilized via high-tech software solutions. 

However, as cool as using a HoloLens with integrated HMI/ 

analytical capabilities to monitor and control a robot over IoT 

seems, it is only partially representative of the multiple applications 

where these technological breakthroughs can be 

applied. Process, factory, and building automation applications 

can all benefit from the openness and standardization of IoTconnected 

visualization and control. Organizations now have 

their pick of easy-to-add IoT gateways with onboard software 

that includes energy, building and industrial protocols (including 

BACnet, OPC UA, Modbus and Web Services) with the latest 

in security measures and the ability to be configured from 

anywhere in the world. 

Those looking for the latest in HMI/SCADA and analytical 

software that integrates with cutting edge technology in a wide 

array of applications in multiple industries should pay close attention 

to what’s going on at Hannover Messe in April. Because 

there’s no denying the (mixed) reality of it all. 


ONE BUS FITS ALL 

Sercos = Real-Time + IoT. 

That‘s the Sercos ® world. 

www.sercos.org

CASE STUDY 

QR CODE 

Scan to read 

full version. 

Text: VIJAYA RAMA RAJU, Systems Architect, Yokogawa and Paul Hunkar, Consultant, DS Interoperabilityz 

Using Nodeset Files to Exchange 

Information: A Case in MDIS 

Any client that needs to work with an OPC UA Server has to understand the 

information model present in the server and discover the instance of the model 

to be able to wire up to the correct nodes and 

exchange data. 

MDIS Companion 

OPC UA Specification provides various 

ways for clients to get information. 

These include: 

a. Browsing the address space for the 

information required 

b. Server Developer and Client Developers 

agreeing upon the information 

model outside of OPC UA 

c. Server Developer providing excel 

files or text documents describing 

the instances. 

However, the methods described above 

have serious limitations in the context of 

MDIS. These are: 

1. The server might not be deployed 

by the time the client needs this 

information. 

2. The MDIS Standard defines Object 

Types. Vendors however, are 

allowed to, and often do define 

Object Types in order to extend or 

customize these objects. 

3. The instances of objects depend 

on each vendor or installation, and 


providing the instance information 

in excel or text files with different 

formats cause problematic data 

entry issues. 

An “Information Model XML Schema” 

describes a standard syntax that information 

model developers can use 

to define their information models in 

way a computer program can read. A 

file that uses the XML Schema is usually 

referred to as a NodesetFile. It is 

used extensively for defining industry 

standard models such as MDIS. There 

are also a number of modelling tools 

that generate information models and 

provide a description of each model as a 

NodesetFile. This method also applies 

to instance data, not just models. The 

XML Schema can easily be used to serialize 

information models directly from 

a server (i.e. Import/Export) and there 

are multiple ways this feature helps in 

the development of clients and servers, 

especially in MDIS. 

Modelling Tools 

Client 

Development 

Server 

Development 

Method 1 (Chart 1): 

Server vendors and client vendors 

implementing MDIS can agree upon 

an Information Model (extension and 

sub-typed Objects) and exchange this 

as an Xml File which can be version 

controlled. The server & client vendors 

can proceed to develop client and server 

extension or sub-types in parallel. When 

instance information is available, additional 

NodesetFiles can be generated 

representing all of the instance information. 

The client vendor can process and 

configure the client system based on 

these NodesetFiles.

CASE STUDY 

OPC UA Server 

Nodest Extraction 

Client Development 

Method 2 (Chart 2): 

If the Server is readily available, the 

actual configuration of the server can 

be extracted. Since OPC UA servers include 

type information, the extraction 

includes custom type information as 

well as any instance information. The 

generation of an extracted NodesetFile 

can be done with a standard third party 

tool. These tools can run on a separate 

machine and only need access to the UA 

Server. The client can use the exported 

NodesetFiles to generate any configuration, 

including all instance data. 

Client Configuration 

The nodeset format, since it is defined 

in the specification, allows the same tool 

to be used for importing configuration 

information from different server vendors. 

It allows for easy determination 

of changes in models. Tools can be built 

that actually provide detailed configuration 

for the client system. Yokogawa as 

part of the pilot project for MDIS built 

tools that include generating logic for 

interlock handling, mapping of MDIS 

types to existing Yokogawa Centum and 

UGS types, generation of Centum logic 

and assignment of standard faceplates 

to these types. These tools made use of 

Smart Parts, which is a standard feature 

in Centum systems. 

The tools allow for easy extension for 

new types, just by configuring the additional 

sub-type or extension in a configuration 

file; any additional logic could 

be generated. The tool only needs to be 

validated for a single instance of a custom 

type, i.e. that the configured logic is correct, 

and all instances will work correctly. 

Providing the Nodeset configuration and 

tools to import the industry standard format 

greatly reduced configuration time 

as well as testing time. The end user can 

be assured that no data entry errors exist, 

and that configuration errors do not 

exist. If the designed logic for the given 

type needs to be changed, a single change 

and a quick regeneration will correct it 

for all instances. Yokogawa saw that it 

took only a few minutes to generate a 

complete configuration for its UGS OPC 

UA Client including Centum logic. 

Conclusion 

The usage of Nodeset Files simplifies the 

exchange of information models and the 

configuration of clients and servers. It 

has the capability to decouple the development 

of client and server. It also has 

the ability to overcome the ever-present 

late changes and testing pressure that 

results from them in-server. End user 

can be assured that configuration is correct 

and it can minimize the testing of 

systems. 

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www.eltherm.com

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION 

INDUSTRIAL 

COMMUNICATION 

in the Context 

of Industry 4.0 

and IoT 

The blending of the digital world 

with the physical thanks to the 

Internet heralds the start of the 

intelligent factory era. Flexibility, 

efficient use of resources, 

improved ergonomics, and 

integrating customers and 

business partners into the 

business and value creation 

processes, are all features of 

this blending process. 

PETER LUTZ, 

Managing Director of 

Sercos International, 

p.lutz@sercos.de 

INFORMATION and communication 

technologies play a key role in implementing 

Industry 4.0 concepts. 

Cyber-physical systems such as sensors, 

actuators, embedded computers, smartphones 

and machines are connected 

to one another and exchange data both 

between themselves and outside of the 

factory work floor. Today’s automation 

networks and fieldbus systems 


must therefore not only guarantee that 

machines and facilities can carry out 

production with safety, precision and efficiency, 

but they must also help towards 

establishing a universal solution for 

integrating different IT systems on different 

rungs of the organizational ladder 

within a factory. 

The fourth industrial revolution will 

result in dramatic upheavals within 

the industry similar to those we have 

already experienced in the private sector 

when introducing the Internet and 

mobile communication. One can expect 

flexibility from Industry 4.0 in production 

processes that has never before 

been available. Processes will become 

more energy and resource efficient. The 

machines are therefore able to influence 

production/planning systems or stock 

management directly. It also means that 

manufacturers can be contacted directly 

when their products experience gradual 

wear and tear so that condition monitoring 

and preventative maintenance 

can be started, therefore minimizing 

dead time and optimizing productivity. 

When we have a closer look at today’s 

situation, we recognize that an increasing 

number of manufacturers are using 

Industrial Ethernet solutions to implement 

new machine concepts and to 

connect systems. The advantages over 

traditional fieldbus systems are obvious. 

There is sufficient bandwidth available 

to transmit safety-critical data as well as

INDUSTRIAL COMMUNICATION 

IT protocols via a common medium in 

addition to fast real-time data transmission. 

In addition, users and manufacturers 

benefit from the use of standardized 

Ethernet hardware, such as passive and 

active infrastructure components. 

However, a uniform standard remains 

a dream: There is a large number 

of competing communication 

solutions and although they all use the 

widespread Ethernet technology, they 

specify different protocols and profiles 

in the superimposed ISO/OSI layers. 

Thus, devices that support different 

Industrial Ethernet standards are not 

compatible or interoperable with each 

other. Moreover, most devices that 

support different real-time Ethernet 

protocols cannot coexist in a common 

network, thereby losing the advantages 

of a common network standard. Most 

real-time Ethernet solutions use the 

network on an exclusive basis, meaning 

that only devices of one’s “own” protocol 

can be operated on the network. Devices 

that support other real-time Ethernet 

protocols, as well as standard Ethernet 

protocols, can be connected only via 

gateways or special switches. Other 

protocols can only be transmitted over 

the network by tunnelling them over the 

underlying real-time protocol, which 

can significantly harm the functioning 

and performance of a system. The future 

Ethernet IEEE 802.1 TSN (Time Sensitive 

Networks) standard will eventually 

make time-controlled transmission of 

real-time critical messages via standard 

Ethernet components possible. Most 

likely, this Ethernet TSN technology will 

have a significant impact on improving 

the heterogeneous landscape of realtime 

Ethernet dialects. 

Important Role of OPC UA 

OPC UA plays a very important role in 

advancing the convergence of IT and automation 

technology, thus enabling the 

consistent exchange of information from 

the corporate level down to the control 

or field level. From a technical perspective, 

OPC UA is characterized by the fact 

that it contains both, mechanisms for 

data exchange and an information model 

which allows the structure and semantics 

of the information exchanged to be 

defined. This technology can not only be 

integrated into devices on any platform 

with various programming languages, 

but systems of any degree of complexity 

can be fully described with it. In addition, 

the OPC UA technology is standardized 

on an international basis and has 

very wide acceptance from manufacturers 

and users worldwide. 

However, although OPC UA is in fact 

a communication standard that extends 

from the enterprise level down to the 

control & field level, it has two key limitations. 

One is that OPC UA can use or 

replace existing fieldbus and Industrial 

Ethernet systems only where there are 

no specialized and sophisticated timeand 

deterministic-communication 

requirements. The other limitation is 

that OPC UA only defines how data are 

described and exchanged. The actual 

meaning of the data, which is generally 

understood and defined as semantics, is 

not defined. 

A very promising approach is therefore 

to combine and map the existing 

real-time Ethernet protocols and the 

respective profiles with OPC UA. In doing 

so, process and device data are made 

available not just locally via the respective 

real-time network but also via any 

superordinate network infrastructure, 

e.g. the Internet or Intranet, via OPC 

UA, in a uniform and cross-manufacturer 

manner. Thus, not only is data exchange 

between the machine periphery 

and superordinate IT systems simplified, 

but the requirements of Industry 

OPC UA PLAYS A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN ADVANCING THE 

CONVERGENCE OF IT AND AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY. 

4.0 with respect to semantic interoperability 

are also supported. 

In this scenario, real-time capabilities 

of OPC UA are not required, as the 

real-time performance is guaranteed 

by the respective underlying real-time 

network. Of course, application scenarios 

are possible in which a real-time 

capability of OPC UA is necessary, 

for example in machine-to-machine 

communication or in the linking of 

process-related machine periphery via 

OPC UA. For this, the so-called OPC UA 

publisher-subscriber protocol extension 

in combination with the future Ethernet 

TSN standard is positioned. 

In order to apply OPC UA in a consistent 

way down to the field level, without 

affecting the performance and realtime 

characteristic of the underlying real-time 

network, the real-time networks 

need to be capable of supporting the 

multi-protocol capability, meaning that 

real-time protocols and IP based protocols 

can coexist and at the same time can 

run independent of each other. 

If these requirements are fulfilled, 

today’s bus systems in combination with 

technologies such as OPC UA and Ethernet 

TSN can make a significant contribution 

to the further convergence of 

information and automation technologies. 

Let’s make it happen. 


Road Map to Operational 

Readiness and Asset 

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© 2017 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, and AssetWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley 

Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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CASE EXAMPLE 

CARDAN SHAFT MEASUREMENT – 

Working in Confined Spaces 

Winter Grün Markier-technologie GmbH produces, at their site in Wilnsdorf, machines 

specially designed for making road markings. In addition to this, trucks are fitted 

with special installations 

and equipped according to 

customer requirements. 

Text: MICHAEL STACHELHAUS, 

PRUFTECHNIK Condition Monitoring GmbH. 

ONE OF THE company’s special installations 

is a Unimog, which is fitted with 

a high-pressure water pump made by 

Hammelmann. With the help of highly 

specialized spraying tools, water pressure 

of up to 2500 bar generated by this 

pump is used to remove rubber abrasion 

from runways at airports, to establish a 

defined traction on roadway surfaces or 

to remove roadway markings. 

The image shows the output 

side of the gearbox for the 

auxiliary drive. The cramped 

conditions are clearly visible. 

A Cardan shaft is guided to the highpressure 

pump on the gearbox output 

side. This shaft then drives the highpressure 

pump at the required speed. 

Actually cardan shafts should not balance 

any angular offsets. If they do so, 

the offset has to take place in a narrowly 

limited angle range. 

Unimog platform with the driver's cab raised. The high pressure pump is visible at the rear. 

The deflection angle ß must be the same at 

both universal joints of the Cardan shaft. 


CASE EXAMPLE 

Objective of the alignment: 

Deflection angle ß1 = ß2 

There are two methods for measuring 

the Cardan shaft: one with the Cardan 

shaft disassembled and one with the 

Cardan shaft mounted. 

The first check measurements 

showed that measurement with the 

Cardan shaft mounted is not possible as 

the spatial conditions simply do not allow 

for the Cardan shaft rotation mechanism 

to be mounted and be rotated 

congruently. 

The measuring procedure with the 

Cardan shaft removed was thus the only 

option available. Removal of the Cardan 

shaft in this design is very quick. The 

possibility of straightforward disassembly 

of multiple components was taken 

into account during Werner-Grün’s development 

of this design. 

Laser set-up on the gearbox output 

shaft. The laser has already been set up 

to record the measurement values. 

Receiver on the high 

pressure pump. The 

sensor head is mounted 

on a rotation mechanism. 

Only the angular error is 

recorded. 

Principle schema of the design. Laser with 

holder and on the opposite side of the 

receiver, mounted on the motor shaft. 

The laser is now positioned centrally 

on the gearbox output side and set up. 

In this regard the laser must be placed 

exactly in the gap in the structure so 

that the laser can map out a measuring 

circuit of 90°. A smaller rotation range 

would indeed be possible but this would 

significantly impair the accuracy of the 

measurement. 

The “Intelli-Point” measuring procedure 

patented by PRUFTECHNIK is 

used to take the measurements. In this 

context, the lasers and receivers are positioned 

together at different points. An 

angle display with an additional pointer 

shows the congruence of the sensors 

and also checks whether the relative 

angular difference always remains the 

same. 

All measurements are repeated in 

order to rule out potential measurement 

errors. The measurement values are 

compared against each other using the 

“measurement table”. The measurement 

values are checked for potential discrepancies 

by means of quality analysis. 

Conclusion: 

Following the procedure explained 

above makes it very easy to measure potential 

errors or excessive strain on the 

body on-site and in a very straightforward 

manner. Subsequent corrections 

can also be carried out. The focus is now 

shifting towards even more demanding 

projects involving trucks. Moreover, 

some new features, which are also to be 

measured, will soon be available. 

Measurement results in the overall view. The maximum alignment error is 0.2°. The unit is within the specified tolerances. 


CONDITION XXXXXX MONITORING 

LEVERAGING 

PLANNED OUTAGES 

AT POWER PLANTS 

Many of the world’s most efficient power plants are 

Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Plants (CCGT) incorporating 

gas and steam turbines. These turbines present 

demanding motion control challenges, which affect 

machine performance, safety, reliability and supply of 

power to customers. 

Gas valve-actuator assembly undergoes 

factory acceptance test. 

STEVE BEDDICK, 

Moog Inc., 

sbeddick@moog.com 

POWER PLANT operators are looking for 

ways to keep turbines running at peak 

performance. Some of the most important 

ways to accomplish this in a power 

plant are to make the most of planned 

outages and reduce the risk of unplanned 

downtime. Many industries can 

benefit from some practical approaches 

to the strategic use of long-life upgrades, 

retrofits and exchange programmes. 

Why is motion control 

important? 

In the turbine system, the hydraulically 

actuated fuel gas control valve is the primary 

interface between a complex control 

system and the mechanical portion 

of the plant. From a safety perspective, it 

is vital to ensure a rapid closing time for 

the main valve actuator in the case of an 

emergency shutdown to avoid collateral 

damage to the turbine. 

The motion control system affects: 

• The power output of the turbine 

and the revenue stream 

• Energy efficiency that equates to 

profitability (i.e., 80 percent of the 


cost of running plants is fuel) 

• Emissions level, which is both a 

cost and compliance issue since 

improperly calibrated equipment 

can cause a plant to exceed its 

emission allowance 

• A safe, controlled shutdown, which 

protects human life and property 

The challenge for power plants is keeping 

motion control systems operating at 

a high level in spite of around-the-clock 

operations in rugged environments. Turbine 

OEMs have recommended planned 

maintenance schedules that help plant 

operators to minimize downtime and 

ensure optimized energy output. All repairs 

and maintenance of critical components, 

such as actuators and servo valves, 

need to be scheduled during an outage 

along with thousands of other maintenance 

tasks involving numerous vendors 

and complex scheduling. 

Maximizing maintenance 

budgets during plant outages 

As an original supplier of fuel control 

valves for General Electric (GE) 7FA turbines, 

Moog routinely works with power 

plants to ensure that the actuators and 

valves can be refurbished to “as new” 

condition during very tight outage windows. 

With experience in advanced material 

gleaned from many years of developing 

products for demanding environments 

ranging from aerospace to downhole 

oil exploration, Moog developed a 

long-life actuator as an upgrade offering. 

When GE introduced a new technology 

called Advanced Gas Path (AGP), the 

maintenance interval was extended from 

48,000 to 64,000 hours. Moog had the 

long-life product but needed to work 

closely with its partner Emerson to develop 

a process valve upgrade that is part 

of the gas valve assembly. 

Over the life of the equipment, an 

OEM will use data on the performance of 

products and capabilities, such as failure 

analysis, to understand how to increase 

reliability for a long service life. Engineers 

identified several key improvements 

to ensure that the gas valve actuator 

would operate reliably for 64,000 

hours, even in harsh conditions: 

• Low pressure dual elastomeric seal 

design to eliminate galling on the 

piston rod 

• New buffer seal for more durability 

• Harder rod surface through proprietary 

aerospace coating that replaces 

chrome plating for extended 

life 

• Hard, dense chrome coating added 

to cylinder bore surface 

Likewise, Emerson, which manufactures 

the EAB process valve, engineered 

a retrofit to extend scheduled maintenance 

intervals in two key areas: 

• The bonnet is machined to receive 

a Stellite alloy insert, eliminat-

CONDITION MONITORING 

Process valve tagged for shipment to 

Emerson IVS repair facility. 

ing the traditional coating that can 

degrade over time 

• A live-loaded packing system 

replaces the original manually 

adjustable configuration to ensure 

the integrity of the packing seal for 

extended operating periods 

Recently, Moog introduced a new Gas 

Control Valve Assembly 64 K Upgrade 

for General Electric 7FA turbines. It was 

the first offering able to extend the maintenance 

interval of gas control equipment 

from the typical 48,000 hours of 

operation to 64,000 hours. 

To complete the 64 K Upgrade package, 

the actuator and process valve are 

returned to “zero-hour” condition. The 

actuator receives a factory overhaul, and 

the process valve undergoes a Fisher 

Encore repair performed at an Emerson 

IVS repair facility. The integrated 

assembly overhaul is a 100 percent 

OEM repair. This process ensures the 

turbine’s valves are returned to as-new 

specifications and performance, resetting 

the inspection clock to hour zero. 

For turbine plants with the Advanced 

Gas Path Technology, the benefits of 

synchronizing major inspection periods 

means managers will never find themselves 

trying to overhaul gas valves when 

they have a much smaller outage window. 

Of course, many operators see the 

benefits of the extended life even if they 

have the 48,000 maintenance interval 

due to high confidence in the reliability 

of the assembly. 

Exchange programmes help 

leverage planned outage 

Risks during a scheduled outage are 

eliminated through the so-called Advanced 

Exchange Programme, which 

offers a turbine owner rebuilt gas control 

valves that arrive prior to the start 

date of an outage. This allows managers 

to remove the used valves and install 

the rebuilt valves in sequence, saving 

money and time. When considering the 

complexity of an outage and all of the 

tasks a maintenance manager must juggle, 

having a spare actuator assembly on 

hand when needed can help prevent the 

cost of an extended outage or unplanned 

downtime. 

One example of a power plant that 

effectively used its outage is a combined 

cycle power plant in the Southeastern 

U.S. that began planning for an extended 

outage months in advance. 

The plant’s managers had 21 days 

for the inspection of each combustion 

turbine and 18 days per steam turbine. 

Managers had to refurbish fuel gas and 

steam control valve assemblies during 

these outages. To maintain reliability, 

the plant had to return the equipment to 

as-new condition. The plant managers 

wanted OEM repairs and upgrades, and 

the timeframe to perform the repairs 

within the inspection window left no 

margin for error. If power was offline 

even for a single day, everyone knew the 

lost revenue would be significant. Moog 

service technicians proposed a service 

plan that included a combination of 

spares, repairs and exchange units to 

meet the plant’s inspection schedules. 

For the combustion turbine units, 

the plant purchased one spare set of 

actuators. These served dual roles as a 

rotatable set during planned outages and 

emergency spares during forced outages. 

Technicians used the power plant’s 

spares and a set of Moog’s exchange 

units complete with process valves. At 

the end of the preventative maintenance 

outage, technicians returned the plant’s 

spare set to the site and replaced the 

Moog set in the exchange pool inventory. 

The plant managers and service 

technicians determined that the steam 

turbines’ actuators and valves could be 

repaired within the allotted time, too. 

The plant’s managers coordinated the 

repair and removed the steam process 

valves from the actuators and sent the 

actuators to Moog for repair. After completing 

the actuator repairs, technicians 

conducted a final acceptance test and 

sent the actuators to the power station 

with a two-year warranty. The plant 

reassembled the valve to the actuator, 

installed the assembly, and tested it for 

commissioning. 


TECHNOLOGY 

SMALL COST, 

BIG SAVINGS 

in Packaging and 

Bottling Industries 

Conveyors and assembly processes are widely used across many industries. 

As automation continues its upward trend, markets like PET bottling, food and 

beverage, and general packaging, which see many sudden stops and starts are 

seeing an increased need for shock absorbers to safely control and dampen the 

kinetic energy produced throughout the production line. 

DIETER KLAIBER, 

Project & Application 

Manager, ITT Endine 

Europe, 

dieter.klaiber@itt.com 

MOTION CONTROL technologies can 

be utilized in all areas of conveyance, 

whether linear or rotational motion. In 

facilities that use systems like diverter 

gates, conveyor stops, pick and place, and 

overhead pushers, shock absorbers are 

central to maintaining machine reliability 

by dissipating the energy and reducing 

wear. Shock absorbers are relatively lowcost 

components to purchase, install and 

maintain as compared to the equipment 

they protect, and they provide additional 

savings to a facility by preventing machine 

downtime, safety concerns and potential 

quality issues. Investing in shock 

absorbers that are engineered to your 

facility’s unique needs and equipment 

cycle counts—and maintaining the shock 


absorbers and surrounding equipment 

as suggested by the user manual—is a 

small overall cost and time commitment 

for a facility that results in huge overall 

savings. 

Small Cost, Big Savings 

Shock absorbers are key to maximizing 

a material handling system’s speed 

and load, making the machine more 

efficient and cost effective. A customengineered 

shock absorber can save the 

manufacturer valuable design time and 

solve multiple problems economically. 

In certain applications like the beverage 

bottling industry, conveyor systems are 

required to quickly bring a product to a 

stop at regular intervals along a conveyor 

line in order to be cleaned, filled, sorted 

and packaged. The high rate of speed of 

the conveyor transport, coupled with the 

rapid deceleration of a sudden stop could 

result in problems for the product and 

the conveyor equipment if the energy is 

not properly absorbed throughout. It is 

important to custom engineer the shock 

absorber to the specific industry, application, 

machinery load and product produced. 

If the initial design of machinery 

involves the implementation of shock 

absorbers, it can mean high reliability 

and cycle time for a facility, while ensuring 

quality. 

Maintaining the shock absorber on a 

regular interval ensures efficiency, avoids 

unexpected failures and reduces costs. 

Shock absorbers are adjustable based 

on the specific operating condition and 

maintaining, adjusting and replacing 

them accordingly is an additional step in 

the safe and optimal maintenance of your 

total assembly equipment. The shock 

absorber is a relatively cheap component 

within the larger, more expensive machine 

system. Lower impact forces from 

the motion, results in less bounce and 

more control over the motion. As shocks 

reduce the impact forces on equipment, 

replacing shock absorbers on schedule is 

an inexpensive step that will ultimately 

save significant long-term maintenance 

costs by preventing downtime and po-

TECHNOLOGY 

In PET bottle plants, shock absorbers 

are required to maintain the highest 

cycle rate possible while preventing 

damage to the bottle moulds. 

“A packaging systems manufacturer 

incorporated custom-engineered shock 

absorbers to minimize component failure and 

optimize cycle rates.” 

SHOCK ABSORBERS ARE KEY TO MAXIMIZING A MATERIAL 

HANDLING SYSTEM’S SPEED AND LOAD. 

tential quality issues. Dissipating the 

energy and force applied to equipment 

parts keeps machines reliable, ensures 

consistency, quality output and reduces 

overall wear on the equipment overtime. 

The installation and proper maintenance 

of a high-class but inexpensive hydraulic 

shock absorber can mean big savings in 

overall time and costs. 

Providing Added Safety 

Increased productivity demands are 

placed on everyone in the facility, the 

managers, machine operators and packagers. 

This increased demand on staff 

translates to increased demand on the 

equipment as packaging and bottling 

facilities operate their assembly processes 

above recommended speeds, with 

uneven loads and in harsh environments 

that the original equipment may not be 

designed to accommodate. This puts excess 

strain on equipment and conveyor 

systems and endangers the health and 

welfare of employees. As machines run 

faster and longer, the concern for safety 

and the need for emergency stops is 

critical. 

Packaging and bottling equipment 

manufacturers will often design equipment 

with shock absorption to the 

specifications that meet safety and 

industry requirements. However, when 

it comes to application, the end-user 

inevitably cranks up the speed because 

they want to run the machine faster to 

increase throughput. Shock absorbers 

manage the impact, or kinetic energy, of 

the pieces that are moving (KE = ½ m 

V2). Therefore, a small increase in speed 

means a significant increase in energy 

causing unplanned and unnecessary 

wear on the machinery and shock absorber. 

With the machine running faster 

than it should and the shocks calibrated 

to run at lower speeds, safety issues are 

presented for equipment operators. In 

some cases, shock absorbers aren’t designed 

into machinery in the first place, 

causing additional wear and equipment 

fatigue. 

Shock absorbers can, and often are 

a retrofit solution. Ideally though, they 

would be designed upfront to meet the 

requirements of the equipment and be 

installed before the original equipment 

is used, whilst working alongside the 

end-user to set realistic expectations for 

run-time, cycle and maintenance. Custom 

shock absorbers can help curb safety 

concerns by ensuring the extra daily 

force is being dissipated appropriately 

instead of being pushed through machine 

components, avoiding failures, and 

equipment can be slowed and stopped 

safely, if an emergency does happen. 


TECHNOLOGY 

Shock absorbers maximize 

a material handling system’s 

speed and load, while increasing 

efficiency and cutting costs. 

Decreasing Downtime 

No Matter the Industry 

With today’s tight time constraints and 

ambitious production goals, shutting 

down a production line altogether can 

prove very expensive. For industries like 

packaging, food and beverage and PET 

bottling, machinery and its components 

also need to withstand environments 

like frequent wash down and high temperatures, 

while operating at a high cycle 

rate. As shock absorbers protect against 

excess force and prevent additional 

wear and tear, they can help minimize 

component failure and help machines 

operate at their highest capacity. Designing 

shock absorbers into the equipment 

is key in meeting unique requirements, 

whether a bottling facility requires specific 

location sensors or a food packaging 

plant needs components that operate 

in small spaces and unique wash-down 

environments. Downtime due to component 

failure is minimized, allowing 

equipment to operate at design conditions. 

For example, a packaging systems 

manufacturer produces a variety of machines 

that package food products such 

as deli and sausage products. One of 

these packaging machines was specifically 

used to package poultry products. 

During operation, this machine needs to 

withstand the wet and messy environment 

of poultry packaging, including 

frequent wash down. As a market leader, 

the company needed this machine to 

operate at the fastest cycle rate in the 

industry. This means that each machine 


must process 15 to 18 birds per minute. 

The machine was designed with shock 

absorbers installed at the end-of-stroke 

position on a pneumatic rodless cylinder 

used for a shuttle operation and 

at-the-end of cycle position as a positive 

stop for a pivot. Unfortunately, the 

pre-installed shock absorbers could not 

withstand the high cycle rate or harsh 

environment. 

ITT Enidine worked with the company 

to design a special shock absorber 

that would withstand the cycle rate, 

processing environment and frequent 

wash down. The solution was customengineered 

to have a substantially higher 

capacity and a smaller envelope than 

pre-installed, competing shock absorbers. 

With the new solution, downtime 

due to component failure was minimized 

and the packaging machines operated at 

optimal cycle rates. Because of this productivity 

increase, the company maintained 

its market position and increased 

sales annually. Packaging machines are 

excellent candidates for shock absorption 

technology, which control air cylinders 

and help machines operate at their 

highest capacity. 

Ensuring Quality and 

Reliability 

Shock absorbers can improve the overall 

quality of equipment by meeting the 

necessary environmental needs, like extreme 

heat or cold, production speed and 

uneven loading. Custom engineering of 

a shock absorber for each unique application 

will allow that shock absorber to 

work specific to that application. Regular 

equipment maintenance, including 

replacement of shock absorber, is key to 

keeping machinery running at its highest 

potential to ensure quality and reliability 

throughout the production process. 

In PET bottle plants, shock absorbers 

can create efficiencies and protect equipment 

in applications like blow moulding, 

case packing, carton forming or 

container labelling. The machines that 

are used to create today’s PET bottles— 

typically made of a high-gloss, crack 

resistant plastic known as Polyethylene 

Terephthalate (PET)—have the highest 

production rates in the industry and are 

referred to as blow moulding machines. 

The equipment consists of multiple 

“clam shell” moulds placed around a vertical 

axis, rotated in a horizontal plane. 

The rotated plane creates centrifugal 

force to move the plastic material within 

the mould cavity, creating the bottle 

shape. Shock absorbers are required to 

maintain the highest cycle rate possible 

while preventing damage to the opening 

and closing of the clamshell. 

In cases like PET bottle plants, shock 

absorbers are central to ensuring quality 

and reliability. By scheduling maintenance 

and proper replacement parts, 

facilities will see an increase in performance 

and durability in applications 

that encounter uneven loading, bending 

or harsh environments. Ultimately, 

this equipment protection results in 

increased safety, efficiency and product 

quality, while decreasing downtime and 

cost.


The parallel paths 

of maintenance 

and lubrication 

For maintenance programmes, the decades-long migration from Breakdown to 

Planned to Predictive strategies represents significant, albeit slow-paced, progress. 

It is interesting to note, however, that by comparison, this progress did not filter 

down equally to lubrication programmes. A look at the first two strategy phases 

- Breakdown and Planned – shows a close analogy between corresponding 

maintenance and lube processes. 

TOM MURPHY, 

CRL, SDT International, 

tom@sdthearmore.com 

OVER THE BETTER part of forty years, 

maintenance departments transitioned 

from a breakdown strategy to planned, 

task driven, interventions based on time 

in service. Replacing reactive firefighting 

with planned tasks reduced waste 

and extended life. Further evolution to 

a predictive model delivered even more 

value. This transition happened for 

maintenance in general, but did lubrication 

processes keep pace? 

Most lube programmes evolved beyond 

the reactive breakdown strategy 

phase, to employ a planned approach. 

Lubricating bearings on a prescribed 

schedule, dictated by time in service 

made more sense than waiting for 

failure to happen. A transition from 

Planned to Predictive rarely happens. 

Technology – 

A Catalyst for Change 

Technology breakthroughs often serve 

as a catalyst for change. This change is 

happening now in lubrication. The shift 

from Breakdown (grease that screaming 

bearing) to Planned Lubrication (grease 

with a set amount on a set date) to Predictive 

Lubrication, (lubrication on condition) 

is real, and driven by innovative 

ultrasound instruments that help lube 

techs grease bearings correctly. 

It is generally quoted that over 40 

percent of bearings (some say up to 80 

percent) are killed by inadequate lubrication. 

Logically this must lead to the 

conclusion that Breakdown and Planned 

lubrication processes sometimes fail. 

Advances in ultrasound technology 

now provide the maintenance world 

with an enhancement to the Planned 

strategy and an equivalent to Predictive 

strategies; namely, on-condition lubrication. 

There are three key problems with 

the existing planned strategy – we don’t 

know: 

1. when the bearing needs lubrication 

2. how much lubricant is needed 

3. that the lubricant we just injected 

did the job 

The current lube process is generally 

based upon a series of assumptions. 

First, the quantity of grease to inject 

into a bearing is approximated from its 

dimensions using this formula: 

Outer diameter (mm) x width (mm) x 

0.005 grams 

For example, a bearing with an outer 

diameter of 180mm and a width of 

40mm, has a theoretical grease quantity 

of 36 grams. 

REPLACING REACTIVE FIREFIGHTING WITH PLANNED TASKS 

REDUCES WASTE AND EXTENDS ASSET LIFE. 

The trickier part is to then derive a relubrication 

frequency. Once again, a series 

of approximations and calculations 

involving the operational conditions of 

the bearing, its size and rotational speed 

provide an estimate of this. 

The problem is to apply the correction 

factors to suit every operating condition 

that a bearing may find itself in. Applying 

the two extremes for a correction 

factor might produce on the one hand a 


! 

! 

! 

• Say what you’re going to do 


g to do 

relubrication interval of 5,333 hours and 

on the other hand 6 minutes! How can a 

machine manufacturer provide recommendations 

that account for every operating 

condition in the world? 


On-condition Lubrication 

Using Ultrasound 

Alternatively, on-condition lubrication 

using ultrasound provides data that 

eliminates these three problems by giving 

the lube tech 

1. A sound to assess 

2. Condition Indicators with alarms 

to measure 

3. A dynamic history of the health of 

every bearing in the programme 

In a Planned maintenance strategy, 

ultrasound will tell you when to stop 

injecting grease. In the Predictive strategy, 

an ultrasound measurement alerts 

the lube tech when and if lubrication is 

needed at all. The grease quantity and 

interval calculations become only guidelines. 

Measurement of friction using 

ultrasound is the driving and controlling 

parameter. 

Ultrasound “hears” friction, so the 

trained lube tech acquires valuable information 

on the frictional state of that 

bearing. 

As a rule, “to fail to prepare is to prepare 

to fail”. So many mistakes occur 

before the grease gun even reaches the 

lubrication point. Organizational tasks 

like lubrication management, storage, 

and contamination control are essential 

and their need cannot be over-emphasised. 

Likewise, the lubrication task 

itself must also be preceded by preparation. 

Preparation Information Essentials: 

1. Which lubricant do I use for this 

bearing? 

2. What is the calculated maximum 

amount? 

3. How frequently should we check 

this bearing? 

This task is best managed with software. 

Combining preparation with friction 

measurement software provides a 

smooth, seamless integration between 

the condition assessment and the lubrication 

function. 

A measurement and lubricant database 

is created for each bearing. The 

database controls the sensor type, the 

lubricant type and the calculated maximum 

quantity. 

How much grease does your grease 

gun dispense? If the answer is, “I don’t 

know”, then calibrate your grease guns. 

Minimise variables that cause errors. 

Ensure that the majority of grease guns 

used deliver the same amount. 

“Patience is a virtue” applies to lubrication. 

Build in a waiting time between 

each injection of grease to ensure that 

the impact of that injection is detectable. 

This prevents over-lubrication 

and allows you to spot failures such as 

blocked and broken grease tubes. 

A database Tree and Lube Surveys, 

similar to ones used for condition assessment, 

is now created. These surveys, 

loaded into your ultrasound data collector, 

guide you to a precise lubrication. 

In Survey Mode, the ultrasonic instrument 

guides the lube tech from point to 

point and measurement data is the reference 

to lubricate the bearing. With the 

reference stored, the detector prompts 

the technician to begin adding grease. 

After the waiting time, another measurement 

dictates the next action. 


Planned vs. Predictive 

Approach 

To assist the lube tech, the ultrasound 

meter’s built-in algorithms compare 

each successive reading and suggests the 

technician either add more grease at a 

controlled rate, or decides to stop. 

The integration of ultrasoundassisted 

lubrication can be deployed in 

either a Planned or Predictive strategy. 

In a Planned strategy, ultrasound guides 

the lube process, however the calendar 

still dictates the intervals between lube 

tasks. This time-based approach does 

not take full advantage of ultrasonic 

conditional data to trigger the lube 

process. Progressive lubrication programmes 

want to get to that stage. 

A successful migration from Planned 

to Predictive lube tasks is earmarked by 

message changes. “Inspect Bearings and 

Grease as Necessary” is replaced with 

“Take Ultrasound Readings and Grease 

ULTRASONICALLY Based on Need.” 

The result becomes a history for each 


XXXXXX ASSET MANAGEMENT 

Maintenance 

Breakdown 

“Firefighting” 

Only fixing things when 

they break. 

Planned 

Scheduled maint. tasks on 

a calandar based system. 

Predictive 

Scheduled maint. tasks 

based on asset health. 

30 year 

timeline 

Lubrication 

Breakdown 

The method at this 

time was: 

“Grease it because 

it’s loud.” 

Planned 

“Grease it because 

it’s due.” 

Lubrication is based 

on a calendar 

schedule 

Predictive 

This graphic illustrates how maintenance processes continued to evolve from Planned to Predictive, while parallel evolution for 

lubrication stalled at the Planned stage. 

bearing with the latest bearing condition 

data always available to listen to or 

analyse for the presence of early-stage 

bearing defects. 

It is important to show that this new 

lubrication strategy is working. That 

means developing some performance 

indicators. 

The data collector records the number 

of shots of grease applied during the 

lube process and the database knows 

how much grease is in a shot. Calculating 

grease consumption therefore, 

becomes a simple task for this software; 

and the corresponding consumption reports 

are meaningful and useful. Showing 

a reduction in grease consumption 

along with a measurable improvement 

in machine reliability is a great way to 

prove that your programme is working. 

“None of this is particularly new,” you 

might say. To some this is old news. But 

for others, this is science fiction. One 

great success is documented from a 

mine in South Africa. 

Prior to implementing a Predictive ultrasound 

lubrication programme, they 

identified 945 grease points; all lubricated 

on a time-based schedule. After implementation, 

the number of bearings 

needing lubrication quickly reduced. 

They used to pump all 945 bearings full 

of grease, every month. This reduced on 

average to only 19 bearings each week. 

At the start of the programme, the 

plant purchased 22 18kg drums of 

grease each month. Within one month 

that dropped to 17 drums and within 

6 months, it was below 10 drums. The 

average amount of grease bought for 

the subsequent 6 months reduced to 6 

drums. Instead of wastefully pumping 

bearings full of grease, the technicians 

now devote their time to monitoring 

bearing condition. Furthermore, while 

huge savings accrued due to lower 

grease consumption, it is recognised 

that 95 percent of the bearings are operating 

at the lowest possible friction 

levels. This highly effective lube programme 

is delivering longer equipment 

life and reliability. 

There are very few organizations, if 

any, which benefit from a Breakdown 

maintenance strategy. Likewise, the concept 

of the squeaky bearing getting the 

grease is a dinosaur concept. If a bearing 

is greased because it is screaming, the 

damage is done; its lifecycle is already 

jeopardized. The migration from a Breakdown 

approach to a Planned approach 

represents beneficial evolution for both 

maintenance and lube processes. 

The next step forward, from Planned 

to Predictive, already happened for 

most maintenance departments. It 

was a competitive necessity. But lube 

programmes lagged, instead opting for 

antiquated OEM recommendations that 

insist lube tasks be triggered by timebased 

events rather than condition. 

The same competitive advantages 

enjoyed by maintenance, also exist for 

lubrication programmes. As they play 

catch up, more success stories like our 

South African mine will appear. These 

success stories will be driven by innovative 

technology advancements from 

progressive ultrasound manufacturers. 

Indeed, ultrasound-assisted lubrication 

is the driving force that will realign 

these two reliability strategies back to 

their parallel path. 


Be a LUBExpert 

® 

A COMPLETE ULTRASOUND SOLUTION TO MANAGE YOUR ACOUSTIC LUBRICATION PROGRAM 

Poor greasing practices are 

a leading cause of bearing failure. 

Many lube departments re-grease on a wasteful 

calendar-based schedule. This leads to over and 

under greased bearings that fail to deliver their 

engineered value. 

LUBExpert tells us when to grease... 

and when to stop. 

Grease reduces friction in bearings. Less friction 

means longer life. LUBExpert alerts you when 

friction levels increase, guides you during 

re-lubrication, and prevents over and under 

lubrication. 

Grease Bearings Right 

Right Lubricant 

Right Location 

Right Interval 

Right Quantity 

Right Indicators 

Ultrasound Soluons 

sdtultrasound.com/lubexpert

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT 

Reliability and Maintenance 

Management Beliefs 

Excellent leadership is an essential success factor for lasting results for any 

improvement initiative an organization undertakes. As a leader you need to 

create an organization of disciples that will follow you to make your vision, 

or future organization, a reality. 

CHRISTER 

IDHAMMAR, 

Founder and CEO of 

IDCON INC., 

Raleigh NC, USA, 

info@idcon.com 

AS A LEADER it is very important to develop 

and communicate your beliefs to 

your organization. In this column I will 

share three beliefs that I hope can serve 

as a guideline to develop your own beliefs 

for the benefit of your organisation. 

The holistic system with its 

processes and elements can be 

supported by other tools and 

supporting processes. 

A holistic overview of the reliability and 

maintenance management system, processes, 

elements, tools and supporting 

processes can be described in the models 

below: 

The System 

The market drives the production plan, 

all maintenance work requiring shut 

down of equipment must be coordinated 

with the production plan for best time to 

be executed. When maintenance work 

is planned and then scheduled you have 

set the process that people work in correctly 

so they can execute work much 

more safely and more cost effectively. To 

plan work efficiently you must have access 

to an up to date technical database 

including Bills of Materials (BOM) and 

other information. After work is completed 

it should be recorded as to what 

was completed, parts and material used, 

update information to BOM and other 

valid information. The recorded information 

shall be used to continuously 

improve utilising Root Cause Problem 

Elimination (RCPE). However, most 

organizations do not work in this “Circle 

of Continuous Improvement” they work 

too much in the “Circle of Despair”. This 

means that they React to problems at 

short notice and bypass the planning and 

scheduling of work. Repairs made will 

therefore be of low quality. Because of 

this, failures will be Repeated and it will 

be necessary to Return to do the work 

again and the circle Repeats itself. To get 

out of this “Circle of Despair” you must 

set up the processes for Prevention, 

Condition Monitoring, Prioritization, 

Planning of work, and Scheduling of 

work, Execution of Work, Recording of 

executed work, and how to do RCPE. 

The Processes 

An example of a process is Planning and 

Scheduling, or the Work Management 

Process. It contains several steps and 

starts with Work Request then Priority 

of Request etc. as seen in the picture 

below. 

Within the process called Planning 

and Scheduling each step consists of a 

number of elements. E.g. the best practice 

within the work request process 

is that the request is not a work order 

and shall be done using the Computerized 

Maintenance Management System 

(CMMS), the requested priority shall 

be done according to a priority guideline 

agreed to between operations and 

maintenance. The object identity shall 

be clearly described verbally and with 

equipment number, etc. These elements 

are what we call the right things to do. 

The Tools and Supporting Processes 

The tools can be used to improve the 

processes in the holistic system. To avoid 

confusion and the “programme of the 

month ailment”, it is very important that 

tools are not mixed up with the holistic 

system. To be successful you must have 

a very well established holistic system 

including its processes. Tools such as 5S, 

Six Sigma, Reliability Centred Maintenance 

(RCM) etc. are good and very useful 

when used in the right environment. 

Implementation of only a tool will only 

result in temporary non-sustainable 

improvements. The holistic system and 

processes must be in place to support 

sustainability and continuous improvement. 

Always Explain What, Why 

and How 

People do not mind change, but they do 

not like to be changed. Any improvement 

initiative is a selling process. You 

need to have a clear vision of what the 

improvement initiative entails and why 

it is necessary to do it. You might have a 

clear idea of how it is going to be done, 

but after explaining the “what” and the 

“why” it is effective to ask people involved 

in the improvement initiative to 

come up with ideas on how they think 

it can be done. Focus first on getting an 

agreement on “The right things to do” 

then discuss how to do it. It is easier for 

people to agree on the right things to do 

than on how to do these things. 

Many organizations put too much 

emphasis on change management and 

make this more complicated than necessary. 

We often hear “We already do this” 

and this might be true. Most organizations 

do most of the elements of best reliability 

and maintenance practices, but 

most can do these elements much better. 

Of course there might be an element of 

change with some people, but as most 


MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT 

of the improvements we talk about here 

are common sense and nothing new, the 

change management element should not 

be neglected but also not overdone. 

It can also help to describe, “What 

good looks like” and present a picture of 

what the future will look like. That is: 

• Production Reliability 

improved by 3 percent 

• Maintenance cost down by 

15 percent 

• Very few maintenance people 

on late shift (24/7 operation) 

• Majority of basic equipment 

done by trained operators 

• And so on 

Execution is Key to Success 

The elements of a maintenance management 

system have not changed much 

since the 1960s. Technology such as 

computerized maintenance management 

systems and predictive maintenance 

tools have changed dramatically 

and are today much better and much 

more affordable. Since the 1970s industries 

have moved away from fixed-time 

overhauls and replacements of equipment 

components to much more condition-based 

maintenance. 

It should be obvious that an improvement 

plan is executed, but many plans 

are never implemented to completion 

before a new initiative starts. I have seen 

so many excellent plans and Power Point 

presentations followed by no action. 

The time it takes to develop a best 

practices document, define roles for 

the team members involved to lead the 

project, educate the team members, and 

agree on a common repeatable assessment 

methodology and strategy documents 

might be 5 percent of the total 

effort. To get acceptance from those who 

are going to implement might be 10 percent 

of total effort, the remaining 85 percent 

is On-The-Job training and coaching. 

Often the time is spent more on 

development etc. and almost no time is 

spent on supporting execution through 

On-The-Job training and coaching. 

The only major difference I have seen 

between the best performers and the 

lagging organizations is that the best 

performers execute well-defined best 

practices. Most organizations know what 

they need to do, but they do not consistently 

execute the best practices better 

and better. 


XXXXXX ASSET MANAGEMENT 

Text: NINA GARLO-MELKAS, Maintworld-magazine 

Extracting Maximum 

Economic Value from 

Ageing Assets 

More than 40 maintenance professionals 

from chemical production plants in 

Benelux joined Mainnovation last 

month to discuss challenges facing their 

industry. The key message of the event 

was straightforward: maintenance is an 

increasingly critical factor for industrial 

companies. More attention must, 

however, be devoted now to extending 

service life of ageing plants and to 

technological modernisation. 



Mark Haarman, Managing Partner of 

consultancy company Mainnovation N.V. 

THE KEY TOPIC of the special event was 

ageing assets. The subject is important 

because industry in the western countries 

is ageing rapidly. Not so much in 

terms of employees, but in terms of 

production assets. Moreover, the phenomena 

is not only facing the chemicals 

industry, but other industries as well, 

including the pharmaceutical and food 

and beverage sectors of western economies. 

– Many plants especially in the chemicals 

industry in western countries were 

built after World War II, and after 40-50 

years of operation they are now rapidly 

approaching the end of their service life. 

This is the new challenge faced by many 

modern-day maintenance managers, 

says Mark Haarman, Managing Partner 

of consultancy company Mainnovation 

N.V. of the Netherlands. 

Mainnovation specialises in Maintenance 

& Asset Management. The company 

has developed a so-called VDMXL 

methodology for Value Driven Maintenance 

and Asset Management, which 

explains how to extract maximum economic 

value from an existing plant, fleet 

or infrastructure using a professional 

management approach. Now, with the 

firm having successfully staged its first 

a sector-specific event with focus on the 

chemicals sector, it plans to organise similar 

happenings this autumn for professionals 

operating in the pharmaceutical 

and food and beverage industries as well. 

Learning from Good Examples 

Several case examples were introduced 

in the event’s presentations by representatives 

of major chemicals businesses. 

These included industry leader 

BASF from Germany, maintenance organisation 

Sitech from the Netherlands, 

and EVAL Europe N.V. – Belgium-based 

division of Japanese chemicals company 

Kuraray, which specialises in the production 

of various barrier materials. Each 

company presented examples of how 

they have themselves managed to compete 

against ageing assets in the highly 

competitive global chemicals market. 

– We started with chemicals companies 

because the challenges of ageing 

assets is quite notable in the industry. 

The event also marked a kick-off start 

to building a new maintenance network 

for the sector, which will give its companies 

the opportunity to learn from each 

Discover 

the hidden 

treasure in 

Maintenance 

Discover 

the hidden 

treasure in 

Maintenance 

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 

Control Panel, the Process Map and our benchmark data base myVDM.com, we will help you to discover the hidden treasure in 

your company. 

Do you want to discover the hidden treasure in your maintenance organization? 

Go to www.mainnovation.com 

CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE, CREATING VALUE.


other, Haarman says. 

Haarman adds that the core message, 

which stood out from all presentations, 

was similar: to survive in the globalizing 

industry, we must increase the competitive 

strength of our ageing assets. 

– The challenge confirms that maintenance 

is an increasingly critical factor 

for industry. It also means that maintenance 

managers of industrial companies 

need to start replacing old technologies 

with modern solutions. 

Maintenance departments of the future 

must be drivers of improvement. 

This means that if a company is faced 

with ageing assets maintenance management 

is not enough – the company 

must also focus on asset management. 

– To stay competitive with ageing assets, 

chemical companies need to get 

more economic value from their existing 

plants. This can be done through 

uptime improvement, cost reduction, 

higher safety levels and/or lifetime extension, 

writer of the book “Value Driven 

Maintenance & Asset Management 

(VDMXL)”, Haarman, highlights. 

Evolution of Assets 

So what does the challenge of ageing 

assets mean in practice for a chemicals 

plant manager? Ultimately it brings out 

the need for a broader view on assets operated 

by chemical companies. 

Fig. 4.5 

– Maintenance managers need to 

change their business model. This requires 

another way of working, applying 

new best practices like asset portfolio 

management, brown field project management 

and predictive maintenance 

with big data. These best practices are 

incorporated in our VDMXL –model. 

TO SURVIVE IN THE 

GLOBALIZING INDUSTRY, 

WE MUST INCREASE THE 

COMPETITIVE STRENGTH 

OF OUR AGING ASSETS. 

Due to ageing assets the maintenance 

market in western countries is estimated 

to grow by as much as 20 percent in 

the coming years. This despite the swift 

increase of robotics and plant automatization, 

Industrial Internet of Things and 

digitalisation i.e. factors that have been 

viewed as potential threats to many industrial 

professions in the future. 

Haarman also specifies that the challenges 

related to ageing assets in industry 

are not only tied to technical aging but 

the commercial aging of plants as well. 

– Is the plant still producing a product 

that is in demand or does the company 

have to modernise the plant to be able 

to produce products that customers 

want to buy? The maintenance manager 

of tomorrow not only needs to look at 

technical ageing but also commercial 

and economic ageing. 

So what should the chemicals industry 

do to succeed better? Haarman 

notes that the first thing that chemical 

companies should start doing in to start 

measuring the performance of their 

Maintenance & Asset Management 

organisation. For this to be possible, 

Mainnovation is building on its already 

extensive database, which includes over 

1,000 industrial companies of which 

some 150 are chemical companies. 

– We have developed a VDMXL 

benchmarking platform with 12 Key 

Performance Indicators with which 

chemical companies can compare themselves 

with industry peers. By benchmarking 

the KPIs one sees directly how 

competitive the Maintenance & Asset 

Management organization is. 

Via the company’s new platform 

chemicals companies can obtain various 

data related to Maintenance & Asset 

Management. This includes information 

on technical availability, maintenance 

budgets, capital expenditures and 

planning compliances. 

VDMXL Competence Model 


© Mainnovation 2

CERTIFICATION TRAINING 

A Grease Caddy can be 

attached to a grease gun 

for easy lubrication. 

Building the Foundation for 

a Successful Ultrasound 

Programme 

Ultrasound is a key technology used by maintenance professionals all over the 

world. Its many applications and quick learning curve are adding to the popularity, 

but to get the maximum out of an ultrasonic inspection tool, companies need to invest 

in standardized Certification Training. 



PETER BOON, 

European Training 

Manager, UE Systems 

Europe, 

peterb@uesystems.com 

THERE IS a lot one can do with an Ultrasonic 

inspection instrument. Leak detection 

is just one of its basic applications: 

listen to the leak, pinpoint it and fix it. 

Finding vacuum leaks, however, requires 

more experience and knowledge. The 

same goes for creating reports on detected 

and repaired leaks to include savings, 

costs, LPM losses and the carbon 

footprint. 

More recently, ultrasound has become 

the primary choice when it comes 

to optimizing a lubrication programme. 

UE Systems Grease Caddies are designed 

specifically to perform conditionbased 

lubrication. There is a lot more 

however: creating a lubrication programme 

using data management software 

like DMS or correctly setting up a 

dB baseline for bearings can make a huge 

difference in your asset’s lifetime. 

Maintenance professionals can also 

use ultrasound for an efficient steam 

traps & valves inspection, with the right 

accessories and procedures. Ultrasound 

can even pick up certain electrical failures 

- do you know you can identify a 

specific electrical failure by making a 

sound recording with the ultrasonic 

instrument, and analysing it on special 

sound analysis software such as Spectralyzer? 

There is a lot ultrasound can do for 

a maintenance programme. To get the 

ULTRASOUND TECHNOLOGY WILL PROVE ITS BENEFITS 

AND RESULTS IN SHORT TIME. 

maximum out of it, training is fundamental. 

Well-trained inspectors will 

be able to explore all of the potential of 

ultrasonic inspection instruments. And 

from a management perspective, having 

qualified engineers working with standard 

procedures is a safe road to success. 

Ultrasound 

Certification Training 

UE Systems offers two options for Ultrasound 

Certification Training – Level 

I and Level II – meeting the requirements 

of the American Society for Nondestructive 

Testing (ASNT) Recommended 

Practice, SNT-TC-1A and in accordance 

with ISO 18436-8, the standard 

for condition monitoring and diagnosis 

of machines. These are 32-hour courses, 

consisting on a mix of theory and handson 

practice, covering all application 

areas of ultrasound, operation, test procedures 

& how to use the software. 

Topics Covered 

These are the topics covered by a Level I 

Ultrasound Training course: 

EXTEND YOUR BEARINGS LIFE 

USING ULTRASOUND 

An Ultrasonic 

Instrument is 

the perfect tool 

to inspect 

and lubricate 

your bearings! 

ULTRAPROBE ® 15000 

For Inspection 

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 

GREASE CADDY ® 401 

For Lubrication 

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


With the 

correct training, 

inspectors can 

create reports 

on identified 

compressed air 

leaks. 

Learning how to 

analyse sound 

spectrum will 

help inspectors 

detecting early 

failures. 


• All aspects of airborne/structure 

borne ultrasound technology 

• Effective mechanical analysis, 

leak detection and electrical inspections 

• Compressed air leak surveys, condition-based 

lubrication, steam 

trap inspections, bearing analysis 

and electrical inspections 

• How to improve asset availability 

and company profitability 

• How to enhance recording and 

reporting skills through a data 

management software and special 

analysis software 

• How to reduce and save on energy 

consumption 

Maintenance professionals who wish to 

take their ultrasound programme even 

further can attend a Level II course, 

which will give them deeper knowledge 

on inspection techniques and procedures: 

• Sound theory & ultrasound principles 

• Advanced leak detection: pressure 

leaks, vacuum leaks, reporting 

and costs analysis, developing a 

compressed air programme/procedures 

• Electrical inspection: inspection 

methods, spectral analysis, developing 

an electrical inspection 

programme 

• Valve inspection: configure instruments, 

software for ABCD 

record keeping and reporting, 

review of compressors 

• Steam traps: software for steam 

trap record keeping, data logging 

and steam cost analysis, review 

procedures 

• Bearings: monitoring, trending 

and lubrication, set up alarm 

groups and trend reports, developing 

a bearing detection / lubrication 

programme 

How to achieve Ultrasound 

Level I/Level II Certification 

Normally the training courses consist 

of open enrolment sessions, which are 

scheduled in advance. UE Systems has 

available trainings all over the world, 

in different languages, offering more 

than 80 annual courses worldwide. 

On-site Level I training is also a possibility; 

in case a company wishes to train a 

whole maintenance team at their own 

facility. 

In order to achieve the official certification, 

one must pass the general, 

specific and practical examinations with 

a score of 80 percent or more. 

Level II certification can only be obtained 

after getting the Level I certification. 

The complete agenda for the training 

sessions provided by UE Systems can be 

found at: 

United States: 

www.uesystems.com/training/ 

Europe: (training sessions available 

in English, French, German, Spanish and 

Polish) 

www.uesystems.eu/training-agenda 

Application & Implementation 

Training 

Besides certification courses, UE Systems 

also provides other training solutions 

regarding the use of ultrasound in 

maintenance and reliability activities: 

On-site introduction training 

• Typically, ½ or 1-day course 

• Operation of the equipment & 

software 

• Where it can and where it cannot 

be used 

On-site implementation training 

• Typically, 2 or 2½ days (but can 

be customized) 

• Custom tailored training depending 

on the application interests 

• Hands-on orientated training to 

help setup a maintenance programme 

• Setup of test cases & evaluation 

MAINTENANCE 

PROFESSIONALS CAN 

CARRY OUT A VARIETY OF 

TASKS WITH ULTRASOUND 

TECHNOLOGY. 

Application specific training 

• Typically 1-day course 

• Application specific subjects: 

– Steam trap inspection courses 

– Leak auditing courses 

– Electrical inspection courses 

– Bearing inspection, 

optimizing lubrication pro 

gramme courses 

When companies want to achieve excellence 

in their maintenance programmes 

and get the maximum possible return on 

their investment, training their technicians 

is fundamental. A well-trained 

maintenance team will bring huge savings 

in money & energy spending and 

will keep the company’s assets always in 

top-condition, reducing downtimes and 

maintenance costs. Ultrasound technology 

together with training is a sure bet 

for any company and will prove its benefits 

and results in short time.

More Uptime. 

Better Returns. 

Strategy Management 

Zero tolerance for unexpected failures. 

Your assets are the value delivery engine of your business. Their most 

important function is to operate as engineered for their intended design 

life. With predictable performance and predictable results. Maximizing the 

return on your capital employed (ROCE), allowing you to bank more of your 

turnover. Being less sensitive to uncontrollable external factors such as 

commodity price fluctuations, macroeconomics, or monetary policies. 

Nexus Global Strategy Management implementations typically result 

in a 15%-40% reduction in operational costs with a 5%-10% increase in 

capacity utilization while maintaining or improving the risk tolerance of 

the business. 

Download our whitepaper and learn more at 

www.nexusglobal.com/bankonuptime 

+31.30.799.5050 

europe@nexusglobal.com

VIBRATION DIAGNOSTICS 

When VIBRATION DIAGNOSTICS 

Fails to Work 

In some cases the use of 

applied diagnostics fails 

to give you the expected 

end result. For instance, 

a company may buy 

a system for vibration 

diagnostics and offer 

proper training on the 

device to its staff, but 

still the anticipated results 

from it use, such as 

reduced costs and less 

unexpected shutdowns, 

are just not forthcoming. 

Why is this so? 


EVA GERDA BOJKO, 

Adash, 

eva.gerda@adash.cz 

THERE ARE a few factors, which may 

cause applied diagnostics to not be efficient. 

In this article we will have a look 

on what can go wrong. 

Vibration diagnostics needs 

proper knowledge 

The goal of vibration diagnostics is to 

receive the information about the current 

machine condition and decide if the 

condition is good, or if some repairs or 

adjustments need to be made. 

First of all, it is crucial to train the 

maintenance staff that uses the vibration 

diagnostics equipment. Vibration 

diagnostics is definitely a scientific discipline. 

However, this does not mean that 

the person using a vibration meter needs 

to have a deep knowledge of its theory! 

Obviously, when we train the maintenance 

staff that will be responsible for 

data collection and basic data trending, 

they don’t need knowledge of advanced 

data analysis such as orbits or similar issues. 

It is important to provide the appropriate 

level of knowledge and training. 

However, the person using an advanced 

vibration analyzer should have 

advanced knowledge. It is not enough to 

buy an expensive professional analyzer 

when we do not have anybody who can 

understand the measured data. 

Vibration evaluation is very similar 

to X-ray photo evaluation in medicine.


Some things are obvious and visible to 

almost anyone, but a more advanced 

evaluation depends on the doctor’s experience 

and knowledge. 

You can probably see that it would be 

not be wise to set up automatic standards 

for X-ray photo evaluation. With 

vibration diagnostics it is the same, the 

procedures and some limit values can be 

recommended, but the vibration diagnostician 

needs to make the final decision 

and evaluate the reading. 

Failing Communication 

between Maintenance Staff 

and the Diagnostic Team 

There are different organizational structures 

in different companies. The following 

scheme however, is common: vibration 

diagnosticians collect and evaluate 

the data and the mechanical maintenance 

staff take care of the repairs and other 

machine treatments. If the communication 

and data transmission between those 

two teams does not work properly, it unavoidably 

leads to poor results. 

maintenancenext2017-210x145-UK-hr.pdf 1 23-2-2017 15:04:46 

Whatever the structure in your company 

looks like, the communication and 

understanding of data is essential. If decision-makers 

do not have sufficient information, 

they obviously cannot make 

the right decision. Correct advanced 

vibration analysis is worthless if it just 

stays in the hands of those who cannot 

take any further steps or decisions. 

Moreover, the reports about machine 

condition should be accessible throughout 

the whole company for everybody 

who is responsible for the machines. 

Those reports should ideally include recommendations 

for further actions and 

deadlines when those actions need to be 

taken by. 

Proper Customer Service 

is Missing 

Customer service provided after purchasing 

the product is essential. When 

you buy an expensive professional analyzer 

it is necessary to be able to contact 

somebody who will answer your questions 

and provide you with sufficient 

information and training. Different 

systems have different functions and 

controls. It is important to know how the 

purchased system works and to be able 

to send questions directly to the producer 

and to get an answer. Unfortunately, 

contact details for the producer are not 

always available nowadays. 

The Human Factor 

The human factor is definitely one of 

the main influences on vibration diagnostics 

efficiency. The best situation is 

if when the person who is responsible 

for diagnostics is also the person who is 

interested in it. Vibration diagnostics is a 

fascinating field and a personal interest 

can fundamentally increase its efficiency. 

The more the person knows and cares 

about the machines, the better the diagnostics 

results are. If diagnostics tasks 

are given to a person who already has 

plenty of work under his or her responsibility 

(usually electricians) without 

increasing their salary, the results will be 

poor, or totally nonexistent. 

Register 

for a free visit 

PARTNERS IN PERFORMANCE 

Visit Maintenance NEXT in Rotterdam Ahoy from 11 to 13 April 2017. The technology and 

maintenance expo in the Benelux, building on today’s and tomorrow’s maintenance industry. 

Go to www.maintenancenext.nl for an overview of all participants and the programme. 

@MaintenanceNEXT 

Strategic partners 

Organizer


Wrong System Purchased 

A top-quality, but inappropriate system 

is sometimes purchased by companies. 

When the decision of purchasing a new 

diagnostic product relies solely on the 

economic department, who only has 

the list of the required functions, the 

wrong decision may be made. Only a 

person with the appropriate knowledge 

can make a decision for the right solution. 

Moreover, you should consider the 

achievable skills of your staff properly 

before purchasing a system. You will not 

achieve expected results from purchasing 

an advanced system for somebody 

who will never learn how to use it. 

Wrong Application 

It is necessary to use the vibration measurement 

devices according to rules, 

which ensure correct signal transmission 

between the inspected machine 

and the measuring device. If not, we can 

get an incorrect reading; even an experienced 

diagnostician is unable to read 

the information that is simply not there. 

For example, measuring places are very 

important; we need to select the correct 

places and also prepare them properly. 

The best solution is to use measurement 

pads and glue them to the measuring 

points. This ensures good transmission 

of the signal and repeatability of the 

measurements. 

Insufficient Communication 

with External Service Provider 

All of the reasons above describe the 

situation when the company itself takes 

care of the diagnostics applied. The other 

option is to hire an external company 

providing diagnostic services. In some 

cases this could definitely be a good solution, 

especially in cases when we know 

we are not able to ensure all the factors, 

which are mentioned above. However, 

in this case all the issues are also not 

automatically solved. In this case the 

communication between the factory and 

diagnostics service company together 

with its correct interpretation are essential. 

Both groups needs to work as partners 

and discuss the finding and recommended 

solutions. Recommended steps 

by a service company should be taken, 

otherwise the services are worthless. 

There is one disadvantage when hiring 

an external service company, which cannot 

be reduced easily and that is the fact 

that they don’t know the machinery park 

as well as the employees of the company 

itself. The factory employees must say 

and report what they experience and see 

on their machinery to reduce this factor. 

A typical example of bad communication 

is a situation when the maintenance staff 

carried out a machine repair and nobody 

informed the external company about 

that repair. Then the external service 

company stares at the new measurement 

and vainly tries to find the reason 

for machine condition change. 

Conclusion 

You may think that all the reasons listed 

above sound quite obvious. However, in 

practice we see that it is not so easy to 

fulfill them all. Unfortunately, the listed 

mistakes can lead to the wrong judgment 

that the vibration diagnostics methods 

themselves are not working. The company 

may blame the method for not working 

as they imagined, but in this case the 

problem is only the bad application of 

the method. Correctly applied vibration 

diagnostics is definitely worth doing and 

it is a very effective part of a predictive 

maintenance programme. 

54 maintworld 3/2016 1/2017

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE 4.0 

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MASTER THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR MACHINERY

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QUALITY MEANS TO US: 

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• Laser shaft and geometric alignment 

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Tel.: +49 89 99616-0 

info@pruftechnik.com 

pruftechnik.com

Maintworld 1/2017

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