Maintworld 2/2019

2/2019 www.maintworld.com 

maintenance & asset management 

Turning 

Big Data 

into Smart 

Decision-Making p 6 

EXPOSURE TO DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES PG 10 LEAK DETECTION WITH ULTRASOUND P 16 SMART RESOURCES IN CONDITION MONITORING PG 40

ACHIEVE 

TM 

THE NEXT LEVEL 

TM 

TRAINING & CERTIFICATION 

& I 

I 

CATEGORY - I- I 

ADVOCATE 

III III 

CATEGORY - III - III 

PROGRAM LEADER 

II II 

CATEGORY - II- II 

RELIABILITY ENGINEER 

XX 

Practitioners and and leaders leaders involved with with the the important role role of improving of the the reliability and and performance of an of industrial an facility facility should should be recognized be for for their their knowledge, experience, and and contribution. 

The The ARP ARP CATEGORY I-III I-III training training is aligned is aligned and and available through through global global Mobius Mobius Institute training training centers centers and and via via 

online online learning. Our Our certification is accredited is and and recognized worldwide. ARP ARP certification is quickly is quickly becoming 

recognized as the as the highest highest standard in reliability in certification.

EDITORIAL 

Engineering the 

Maintenance Debt 

THE ISSUE OF MAINTENANCE DEBT, which 

has been discussed a lot within the framework 

of EFNMS (http://www.efnms.eu/), 

is a common problem at least on the European 

level. 

According to a study commenced by 

the Finnish Maintenance Society Promaint, 

Finland’s infrastructure maintenance 

debt is estimated to be between 

35-55 billion euros. This represents 15-25 

percent of Finland’s GDP. The level is so 

high that managing it by massive investments 

alone is hardly possible. 

In Finland, the current situation in 

terms of maintenance debt is visible to all 

just by looking at the condition of roads, 

the amount of building renovations and the existing problems and growing 

costs of the water supply. My assumption, however, is that maintenance debt is 

not only a problem that touches Finland – but a global one. 

Although the figures we calculated for Finland are related to infrastructure, 

there is also maintenance debt inside the process industry. Our last recession 

forced companies in Finland to reduce investments. There has also been a 

growing need to either shut down production facilities or improve the quality of 

production machinery in the country. 

Maintenance debt – whatever its source – puts a big challenge on the planning 

of the maintenance activities, proactive improvements and the development 

of human resources. 

Step one is to understand the real level of your maintenance debt. The way to 

calculate company depreciation is normally very mechanistic and based on preset 

values, not on the actual level of the machinery deterioration. Normally, we 

say that we have maintenance debt when the level of investments is less than 

depreciation. We should improve the analysis and try to understand the actual 

condition of our installed base better. 

Digitalisation is said to be one of the solutions for improvement. With it we 

hope to get better information for analysis and effective usage for our own resources. 

There are already a large number of digitalisation solutions available on the 

market, but at least today, the field is quite fragmented, and the solutions are 

not compatible with each other. I believe that services related to digitalisation 

will mainly be acquired from specialized service companies and there will be 

several global/local maintenance ecosystems. 

A growing need for co-operation between companies will require new types 

of operational models, personal know-how, and patience from maintenance 

managers and the management of service companies. 

At the end of the day, engineering competence is key for handling the maintenance 

debt and the tools are only supporting elements. 

4 maintworld 2/2019 

Jaakko Tennilä 

Executive Director 

Finnish maintenance society, Promaint 

20 

Technology 

advances 

could see the 

‘uberisation’ of the 

field service market.

IN THIS ISSUE 2/2019 

32 

The 

term “Improve 

Reliability” is often 

used to define future 

improvement efforts 

48 

Sulphur and nitrogen 

emissions of ships are 

well under control in the 

Baltic Sea. 

6 

10 

14 

16 

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES Improve 

Maintenance Efficiency and Asset 

Performance 

Osha EU-OSHA Helps to Protect 

Workers Across Europe From 

Exposure to Dangerous Substances 

Lubrication Reliability – Start with a 

Revolution 

Leak Detection with Ultrasound: 

How Does It Work? 

20 

22 

24 

26 

30 

GE ME AND MY ROBOTIC 

COLLEAGUES 

Four innovations awards... no 

coincidence 

Battery Research Consortium 

Promises ‘Big Leap’ in Performance 

for Energy Storage Technology 

Developing the Leadership Mindset 

Audit for Excellence 

Why use OPC UA instead of a 

RESTful interface? 

32 

36 

40 

46 

48 

Creating the Reliability Plan at Your 

Plant 

Maintenance of Industrial 

Equipment in the Era of Portable 

Devices and IoT 

Smart Resources in Condition 

Monitoring 

Erosion in Wind Turbine Blades 

Solved with the Help of AI 

Shipowners on the Baltic Sea are 

Highly Environmentally Aware 

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 Layout Menu Meedia, www.menuk.ee Subscriptions and 

Change of Address members toimisto@kunnossapito.fi, non-members tilaajapalvelu@media.fi Printed by Painotalo Plus 

Digital Oy, www.ppd.fi Frequency 4 issues per year, ISSN L 1798-7024, ISSN 1798-7024 (print), ISSN 1799-8670 (online). 

2/2019 maintworld 5

DIGITALISATION 

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 

improve maintenance efficiency 

and asset performance 

Text: Cyril Pinede, Plantweb business development manager Europe, Emerson 

6 maintworld 2/2019


A wealth of plant and equipment data is now 

available to help process companies make operational 

improvements, but managing this data can be timeconsuming. 

The latest asset performance platforms 

aggregate predictive intelligence and deliver concise 

information to the right people, wherever they are 

located. 

GREATER VISIBILITY into the health of 

equipment is essential for improving operational 

efficiency, increasing plant and 

worker safety, and supporting predictive 

maintenance strategies. That means 

obtaining relevant and important data 

from assets such as compressors, pumps, 

turbomachinery, valves and sensors and 

providing this data to maintenance staff 

to enable them to perform proactive actions. 

Digital communications and smart 

sensing are providing access to a huge 

amount of new data from these assets 

that offer this improved visibility. 

However, for maintenance teams, all 

this extra data can become a hindrance 

rather than a benefit. For example, in a 

typical processing plant with 4000 field 

devices, an asset management system 

can deliver more than 2000 alerts a 

day to a maintenance manager due to 

equipment anomalies. Knowing which 

of these alerts are critical and which can 

wait can be a challenge and too much 

time is spent managing the data, rather 

than using it productively. Instead of 

drowning in data, there needs to be a 

way to prioritise assets, with a focus on 

the real troublemakers. 

Turning “big data” into smart 

decision-making 

With staffing and time limitations being 

an issue for maintenance departments, 

it is important that often-complex information 

is filtered to quickly determine 

asset health and identify what is critical 

and needs immediate attention. This 

“refined” information needs to be delivered 

to the appropriate people responsible 

for the equipment and with the 

expertise to make the right decisions. 

To get ahead of potential problems, 

information is required immediately, 

wherever workers are located, be that 

out in the field, at a different site or even 

when they are offsite. There is also a 

need to ensure information is available 

on demand and for it to be presented in 

a concise and simple format to support 

quick decision-making. 

Maintenance teams responsible for 

multiple sites require access to data 

about all the assets, and it is critical that 

information can be easily shared with 

other members of the team, to ensure 

the right decisions are made about the 

next steps. Failure to accurately predict 

equipment failures leads to lost profits, 

production and even confidence in your 

maintenance programme. There is also a 

need to enable plant management to see 

critical data from various siloed systems 

and its impact on broader operations. 

Existing solution 

A typical company within the processing 

industry may use software to help 

determine the health of the plant. This 

includes asset management, device 

management, machinery health and 

system performance tools. Should abnormal 

conditions exist, various analysis 

tools and historic information may be 

available to troubleshoot and determine 

the next course of action. The daily 

routine of a maintenance team would 

normally necessitate different software 

being accessed in the control room and 

time spent identifying the most critical 

issues. This methodical process can be 

time-consuming and prevents maintenance 

teams from being out in the field 

performing repairs. 

New solutions 

The latest technology is making it easier 

than ever to stay on top of asset health. 

New software, such as Plantweb Optics 

asset performance platform from 

Emerson, help reduce the thousands of 

alerts to just critical ones for the assets 

that need immediate attention. Getting 

the right data into the hands of the right 

people is paramount and these plat- 



members. There is also the opportunity 

to attach and access photos, documents 

or reports to an asset. These tools support 

well-informed and faster decisions 

that contribute towards greater availability. 

This was certainly the case when the 

control room operator of a refinery in 

the US identified an underperforming 

pump. Based on the process data available, 

it was clear that the pump was a bad 

actor. Immediate repair was essential, 

because the pump’s performance significantly 

impacted plant production. Historically 

it may have taken days or even 

weeks for this essential information to 

be passed back and forth as key players 

traded notes and performed their roles. 

However, having implemented Emerson’s 

Plantweb Optics, essential data 

was immediately placed into the hands 

of the right people. 

The operator notified the plant’s 

forms aggregate asset health information 

from various sources and not only 

prioritise the most important and relevant 

data, but easily target actionable 

data to the people responsible for acting 

on it. With greater insight, real-time, 

informed decisions can be made that 

are necessary to maximise availability 

and reduce unexpected interruptions. 

This is transforming how companies 

manage data and digitally enable their 

workforces. 

To achieve this, data about assets 

such as rotating equipment, instruments 

and valves is aggregated from 

wired and wireless field-based sensors, 

asset management and predictive intelligence 

applications. Information on the 

most critical situations is then delivered 

to the appropriate personnel, which 

could be to a vibration analyst, instrument 

engineer or indeed a group of 

relevant people throughout the organisation. 

Asset performance platforms 

overcome the issue of siloed information 

about assets and make it securely 

available throughout the organisation. 

This provides management the opportunity 

to understand how assets affect 

production efficiency, supporting longterm 

decisions that lead to operational 

improvements. 

Modern communication tools deliver 

the alerts to desktop PCs and laptops, 

tablets and smart phones. On mobile 

devices, personnel can quickly access 

FAILURE TO ACCURATELY PREDICT EQUIPMENT FAILURES 

LEADS TO LOST PROFITS, PRODUCTION AND CONFIDENCE 

IN YOUR MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME. 

equipment health scores any time, from 

anywhere, and can combine multiple 

views for easier monitoring of facilities 

across multiple locations. Providing 

remote accessibility to alerts in a 

secure environment means reliability, 

production and maintenance personnel 

are always aware of the status of critical 

production assets, wherever they 

are located. Intuitive visualisation and 

customised alerts reduce or eliminate 

irrelevant data. Personalised dashboards 

showing asset health-related 

KPIs ensure different members of the 

organisation see exactly the information 

they need to make decisions. There is 

also the opportunity to “drill down” on 

individual alerts to get more details and 

launch diagnostic applications for asset 

heath diagnostics. 

Collaboration 

When troubleshooting issues, the opportunity 

for real-time collaboration 

with other members of the organisation 

ensures greater accuracy and better 

decisions. Asset performance platforms 

enable broadcasted messages to team 

process engineer, who used the asset 

performance platform to immediately 

flag the pump, and include all relevant 

information such as screenshots, documentation 

and historical data. The operator 

had also notified the reliability 

team simply by tagging the reliability 

engineer while flagging the asset; this 

avoided the need to scour the plant to 

track the engineer down. The reliability 

engineer, having received the notification 

on his mobile phone, inspected the 

health of the pump on the same phone. 

With the pump displayed in an “unhealthy 

asset” list, the engineer accessed 

additional process, vibration, and oil 

data, again from his phone and quickly 

diagnosed the problem. 

Plantweb Optics allowed the different 

personnel to work as a seamless, 

integrated unit. Instead of spending 

time finding stakeholders and collecting 

critical data from various siloed systems, 

operations, reliability and maintenance 

workers enjoyed instant notification of 

problems and solutions, as well as onetouch 

access to the critical data necessary 

for diagnosis and mobilisation. 


HSE 

EU-OSHA Helps to Protect 

Workers Across Europe From 

Exposure to Dangerous Substances 

EU-OSHA’s flagship awareness-raising activity is a pan-European campaign named 

the Healthy Workplaces Campaign. Under the slogan “Safety and health at work 

is everyone’s concern. It’s good for you. It’s good for business,” activities in a given 

cycle cover a specific topic, aimed at spreading the message to workplaces all over 

Europe and beyond. 

DR. CHRISTA 

SEDLATSCHEK, 

Director of EU-OSHA 

THE ONGOING 2018-19 campaign focuses 

on the safe and efficient management 

of dangerous substances, to overcome 

the threat to workers’ wellbeing and 

success ful business performance. A dangerous 

substance can be any solid, liquid 

or gas material that has the potential to 

cause damage to the safety or health. 

Exposure to and the health impact of 

dangerous substances in the workplace 

is not well understood by everyone concerned. 

Many workers and employers 

are unaware that dangerous substances 

and the related legislation cover more 

than some well-known chemicals. 

Examples are different types of dust, 

substances produced during welding 

or combustion processes in engines, or 

substances created in degradation processes, 

like in the waste and recycling 

sector. 

Reports suggest that chemical or biological 

substances are used in 38 percent 

of enterprises, with this figure reaching 

almost two-thirds in certain industries. 

Large businesses often use more than 

1,000 different chemical products and 

a single worker can come in touch with 

hundreds of different substances. 17 

percent of EU workers report handling 

or being in skin contact with chemicals 

for at least 25 percent of their working 

time and 15 percent breathing in smoke, 

fumes (e.g. welding or exhaust fumes), 

powder or dust (such as wood dust or 

mineral dust). 

Whilst such exposure can occur in 

almost all working environments, certain 

sectors are at higher risk. Industrial 

maintenance workers are due to the 

nature of their work more likely to come 

into contact with hazardous chemicals. 

Depending on the specific type, these 

substances may not only cause diseases, 

but many of them are highly flammable 

and explosive. Dangerous substances 

may be encountered from different 

sources – from heavy use of products in 

cleaning, painting or degreasing activities 

to dermal and inhalatory exposure 

in welding, machinery or equipment 

maintenance. Maintenance workers are 

subject to a wide range of risks emerging 

from detergents, solvents and acids 

or substances generated as by-products, 

such as diesel exhaust, welding fumes, 

sanding dust or even poisonous gas. 

Harm can arise already from a single 

short contact, while continuing 

exposure to dangerous chemicals leads 

to longstanding accumulation of substances 

in the body. They can enter the 

human body through skin penetration, 

inhalation or ingestion. The impacts 

range from mild and temporary effects, 

such as skin and throat irritation, to serious 

long-term diseases. These include 

life-changing and life-threatening illnesses, 

respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma, 

asbestosis and silicosis), damage to the 


HSE 

Musculoskeletal 

Disorders Next in Focus 

EU-OSHA already looks towards its 

next Healthy Workplaces campaign, 

addressing one of the most common 

issues of work-related ailments, 

namely musculoskeletal disorders 

(MSDs). Nevertheless, the Agency’s 

efforts reach far beyond campaign 

activities. OSH overviews collected 

within numerous project undertakings 

give a clear view of what lies 

ahead in the future of work. 

As part of its work on anticipating 

the risks associated with new and 

emerging technologies and ways of 

working, EU-OSHA has embarked on 

a series of foresight studies. It has 

also been investigating how to ensure 

that such studies can be used to 

inform policies. Issues addressed by 

EU-OSHA’s foresight projects include, 

so far, the impact of digitisation, artificial 

intelligence and robotics on OSH 

and the potential risks for workers in 

‘green’ jobs. 

Such foresight studies will be 

increasingly relevant as the world of 

work changes ever faster in the next 

25 years. 

brain and the nervous system, and occupational 

cancers (e.g. leukaemia, lung 

cancer, mesothelioma and cancer of the 

nasal cavity). It can also result in reproductive 

problems in men and women 

and birth defects in children. 

Furthermore, the majority of fatal occupational 

diseases in the EU stem from 

carcinogens. It is estimated that more 

than 120,000 workers in the EU annually 

develop cancer as a result of workrelated 

exposure to such substances, 

triggering almost 80,000 deaths per 

year. EU-OSHA is, alongside five other 

European organisations, member of the 

Roadmap on Carcinogens and committed 

to reducing the presence of cancercausing 

elements. Through activities and 

events organised within the Roadmap 

scheme, the partners involved provide 

significant information on exposure 

limit values and influence behaviour and 

development of a risk prevention culture 

in small and medium-sized enterprises 

(SMEs). Started in 2016 under the Netherlands 

EU Presidency, the roadmap’s 

next destination is Helsinki, with the 

forthcoming Finnish EU Presidency announcing 

to support the scheme to the 

end of 2019. 

Key to Safety is a Strong Risk 

Assessment Culture 

Taking into consideration EU-OSHA’s 

tools and resources, businesses can 

best contribute to workers’ protection 


HSE 

About EU-OSHA 

17 PERCENT OF EU WORKERS REPORT HANDLING OR BEING 

IN SKIN CONTACT WITH CHEMICALS FOR AT LEAST 

25 PERCENT OF THEIR WORKING TIME. 

with active and participatory safety and 

health management. This means employers 

and employees working together 

and sharing responsibility for preventing 

workplace risks. The involvement 

of workers enables a better assessment 

of their needs and expectations and ensures 

a comprehensive understanding 

of the necessary organisational changes. 

Efficient management of dangerous 

substances is in the interest of everyone, 

as both parties benefit from improved 

working conditions. Workers become 

more aware of risks and protection 

measures, which increases compliance 

with safety requirements and brings a 

higher level of job satisfaction. At the 

same time, the organisation’s costs get 

reduced following the lower accident 

and sickness-related absence, providing 

for greater business reputation. 

The key to managing the hazards is 

creating a strong risk assessment culture. 

Identification of risks requires an 

overview of dangerous products and 

processes with the purpose to compare 

substances’ safety and health properties. 

The most effective way to minimise the 

threats is to completely eliminate the 

use of dangerous substances. However, 

THE EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR 

SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK 

(EU-OSHA) contributes to making 

Europe a safer, healthier and more 

productive place to work. The Agency 

researches, develops and distributes 

reliable, balanced, and impartial 

safety and health information and 

organises pan-European awarenessraising 

campaigns. Set up by the 

European Union in 1994 and based 

in Bilbao, Spain, the Agency brings 

together representatives from the 

European Commission, Member State 

governments, employers’ and workers’ 

organisations, as well as leading 

experts in each of the EU Member 

States and beyond. 

2019 is a special year for EU- 

OSHA as it honours 25 years since its 

foundation. In celebration of a quarter 

of a century of working together 

to make Europe’s workplaces safer, 

healthier and more productive, an 

article published each month walks 

readers through the Agency’s story. 

In June, high-level European and 

national representatives will gather 

at a ceremony in Bilbao. The last 25 

years have seen significant changes 

in the world of work and no different 

is anticipated for the future. EU-OSHA 

will continue adding its European value 

by bringing together actors from 

across Europe and by providing the 

tools to create a common approach to 

occupational safety and health (OSH) 

while respecting national specificities. 

We help OSH in Europe to be more 

than the sum of its parts by collecting 

and exchanging technical information 

and good practice. 

Follow the hashtag #EUOSHA25. 

if this is not possible, EU legislation 

outlines a hierarchy of prevention measures 

to tackle the risks at the source. It 

is referred to as the STOP principle and 

it sets out the steps in order of priority: 

Substitution, Technological measures, 

Organisational measures, and Personal 

protection. Companies should always 

strive to substitute hazardous products 

with a safer alternative. Exposure may 

also be prevented or reduced by applying 

technical or organisational measures, 

such as better ventilation to minimise 

the concentration of the dangerous substance 

or decreasing the duration and 

intensiveness of the worker’s exposure. 

To improve the understanding of the 

necessity to manage dangerous substances 

in workplaces and to provide appropriate 

data on policy developments 

and legislation, EU-OSHA has produced 

a comprehensive collection of available 

resources. For instance, a database of 

practical tools and guidance contains 

over 800 good practices and case studies 

offering useful advice on risk prevention. 

The main facts are presented in a visually 

attractive and easy-to-follow way 

in infographics, info sheets and reports. 

Furthermore, an interactive e-tool provides 

tailored support for SMEs to carry 

out a risk assessment and a campaign 

toolkit assists with running an awareness-raising 

campaign on occupational 

safety and health. Particularly popular 

is a series of promotional videos featuring 

the cartoon character Napo in his 

humorous approach to educating about 

safety and health at work. All informational 

materials are available through 

thematic web sections on the official 

Healthy Workplaces Campaign website, 

which is accessible in 25 EU languages. 


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LUBRICATION 

Lubrication Reliability – 

Start with a Revolution 

Here is the reality. If you 

are looking to improve 

equipment reliability 

across your entire site, 

you might wait for Big 

Data, IioT or I4.0 to 

break through, or to do 

it for you, but I would 

recommend that you start 

a lubrication revolution. 

Text: Pedro Viña, Senior Consultant Reliability 

Engineering for Maintenance, I-care 

WHY A REVOLUTION? Well, it appears 

that despite the efforts in awareness 

over the past decade, many plants still 

ignore, disbelieve, overlook or just 

struggle to define and comprehend the 

requirements of a disciplined lubrication 

program that promotes defect free 

operation. Furthermore, most actual 

lubrication programs are antiquated or 

rely on gut feeling, guess work and old 

habits nor has it been given the proper 

attention it deserves. So just by improving 

the actual program, in the long run 

you will revert to old ways again, neglecting 

the effective sustainability that 

comes with a holistic approach. A holistic 

view enhances equipment reliability 

and cuts out all manner of unnecessary 

losses that results in major bottom-line 

savings from lower maintenance costs, 

maximized production levels, improving 

risk-safety, higher energy efficiency, best 

utilization of all staff and reduce the carbon 

footprint to mention a few. In other 

words: the revolution means reinventing 

how lubrication is done at your plant instead 

of going blindly through the same 

old tasks of lubricating your equipment 

and jeopardize its reliability. 

Lubrication has multiple ties to reli- 


LUBRICATION 

ability being the lifeblood of plant equipment 

and is fundamental to keeping it 

working correctly. Its most important 

role is coating sliding or rolling surfaces 

and carrying away friction-generated 

heat, thus eliminating wear and corrosion. 

Lubrication determines reliability 

not only through how a particular lubricant 

is designed for use in specific machinery, 

but also in the way it is applied, 

or misapplied, in the field. 

Successful implementation of a Lubrication 

Reliability Program considers 

several technical, organizational and 

~the utmost important~ human factor. 

No single program works for everyone. 

Lubrication is a continuous evolving 

process that requires a combination of 

technical improvements and employee 

engagement to yield successful results. 

as no one will intentionally stand in the 

way of any of his or her words. 

Having the seeds planted for a behavioural 

change in Lubrication Reliability, 

leadership support will consist of measurements 

systems and feedback loops so 

behaviours become self-perpetuating. 

The rewards of successes will seek that 

the Lubrication Reliability Program will 

In a Lubrication Reliability Program, 

lube techs are knowledgeable workers 

with highly specialized skills. They have 

a fundamental understanding about 

machinery engineering - how machines 

operate and what makes them fail, lubrication 

fundamentals, chemistry to 

understand the lubricants themselves, 

reliability engineering, maintenance 

Technical 

There is no such thing as a one-sizefor-all 

lubricant. Industrial lubricants 

evolved over time into highly specialised 

and carefully designed products. They 

possess a collection of physical and 

chemical properties that ultimately define 

the lubricant’s performance properties. 

Depending upon its electromechanical 

design, each piece of equipment has 

certain lubrication reliability requirements 

that are a function of the forces, 

stresses, and strains placed on the lubricant. 

Thus the correct lubricant is always 

application-driven. The Lubrication 

Reliability Program applies engineering 

analysis to match the lubricant’s performance 

properties to the equipment’s 

lubricant reliability requirements. Procedures 

for lubrication at design and engineering 

processing make it sustainable 

to stay updated on industry standard as 

new technologies and innovations are 

continuously introduced. 

Organizational 

A Lubrication Reliability Program has 

to be a business decision. Leadership 

and leadership support is paramount in 

Lubrication Reliability; it is not something 

the maintenance department can 

do on its own. It requires support from 

the highest levels of the organization as 

resources and potentially line time will 

be required. Countless studies indicate 

that when communicating the business 

need for change, the most effective communicator 

in an organization is the CEO, 

“THE POWER OF THE PLUS FACTOR IS POTENTIAL, BUT IT IS 

NOT SELF-ACTIVATING. IT IS LATENT IN HUMAN BEINGS AND 

WILL REMAIN LATENT UNTIL IT IS ACTIVATED “ 

TOM PETERS 

not be suffering from a slow implementation 

pace or incomplete implementation 

or even return to old practices but 

becomes self-reinforcing. In fact, the 

more we cultivate the behaviours required 

to support Lubrication Processes, 

the more we understand Lubrication 

Reliability as a visionary belief that is 

tied to the business strategic objective to 

drive inefficiency, risk and defects from 

the system. 

Human Factor 

Performing lubrication seems elementary 

and has been approached the same 

way for many decades. While lube tasks 

are considered routine and often assigned 

to low skilled workers at the 

plant, it is critical to get the right lubricant 

in the right place at the right time 

using the right procedure or technique, 

every time, to ensure machine condition 

and equipment reliability. 

engineering, and all the technologies, 

software, gadgets and services required 

to make lubrication work in the plant. 

They are engaged, dedicated and continually 

evolve the lubrication process that 

proactive lubrication strategies prevent 

damage or excess wear before it starts. 

END 

The key to Lubrication Reliability is 

finding a company that not only can 

recommend the right high-performance 

lubricants for vast applications but also 

can recommend and implement sustainable 

reliability solutions. Deciding to 

start with your lubrication revolution 

can be easily done with the help of a 

professional. I-care has knowledgeable 

lubrication consultants helping you to 

shift your business-as-usual lubrication 

to adopt, implement, sustain and 

continuously evolve into reliability best 

practices. 



ADRIAN MESSER, 

CMRP 

adrianm@uesystems.com 



Leak Detection 

with Ultrasound: 

How Does It Work? 

Leaks can form practically anywhere in a plant. This includes pressurised systems 

and systems under a vacuum. Leaks can occur internally through valves and steam 

traps, in heat exchanger and condenser tubes or to the atmosphere. While it is 

important to locate potential safety hazards from leaks, the loss of gases through 

leaks can be very costly. 

LEAKS CAN FORM practically anywhere 

in a plant. This includes pressurised 

systems and systems under a vacuum. 

Leaks can occur internally through 

valves and steam traps, in heat exchanger 

and condenser tubes or to the atmosphere. 

While it is important to locate potential 

safety hazards from leaks, the loss 

of gases through leaks can be very costly. 

One major concept to understand is 

that everything leaks. Determination of 

when and what types of leak to look for 

depend on many variables, such as economies, 

safety, performance, the impact 

on related objects or products (for example 

quality), as well as the economies of, 

and the ability to repair the leak once it 

has been found. 

Leakage occurs when a material can 

move from one medium to another. In 

a pressure or a vacuum leak, the fluid 

(liquid or gas) moves from the highpressure 

side through the leak orifice to 

the low-pressure side. When it enters 

the low-pressure point, a turbulent flow 

is produced. Turbulence disturbs the air 

molecules producing white noise, which 

contains both low- and high-frequency 

components. In most plant environments 

surrounding sounds can mask 

this noise. The audible component, being 

a larger waveform, can appear omnidirectional, 

which makes locating and 

identifying a leak source difficult. 

The ultrasonic component has attributes 

that make leak detection much easier. 

As a shortwave, weak signal, the amplitude 

falls off rapidly from the source. 

It also is a longitudinal waveform and is 

considered relatively directional. Since 

ultrasonic sensors do not detect the lower-frequency 

components, locating and 

identifying a leak can be very effective, 

even in noisy plant environments. 

What Affects the Detectability 

of a Leak? 

There are several factors that make a 

leak detectable using ultrasound. 

1. Turbulence 

There are two types of viscous flow: turbulent 

and laminar. Laminar flow can be 

defined as: ‘Fluid flow in which the fluid 

travels smoothly or in regular paths. The 

velocity, pressure and other flow properties 

at each point in the fluid remain 

constant’. 

Turbulent flow is defined as: ‘A fluid 

flow in which the velocity at a given 

point varies erratically in magnitude and 

direction’. 

Ultrasound will therefore not detect 

laminar flow (as found, for example, in 

air conditioning diffusers) but will detect 

turbulent flow. Most leak situations 

will produce a turbulent flow. However, 

there are other variables that must be 

taken into consideration to determine if 

there is enough turbulence to produce 

‘detectable’ ultrasound for a leak to be 

found. 

2. Orifice Shape 

Regardless of orifice size, it is important 

to remember that a smooth orifice will 

not produce as much turbulence as a jagged 

orifice. An orifice with multiple edges 

can affect fluid flow and produce more 

turbulence, which is referred to as the 

‘reed effect’. A narrow ‘slit’ opening, such 

as a thread path leak, will not produce as 

much turbulence as a ‘pin hole’ leak. 

3. Viscosity of Fluid 

The viscosity of a fluid is its resistance 

to flow, a measure of the fluid’s internal 

friction. For example, if we compare the 

viscosity of water to steam, water has 

a higher resistance to flow. The factors 

that influence flow through leak sites 

are the viscosity of the fluid, the pressure 

difference causing the flow and the 

length and cross-section of the leak path. 

For example, at the same pressure, air 

will leak through a leak site significantly 

more than a fluid such as water or oil. 

This is important to understand should 

you be presented with a leak in which 

the fluid has a high viscosity but not 

enough pressure to produce a turbulent 

leak. For example, when presented with 

a water leak underground, changing the 

fluid to a gas will greatly assist in locating 

the leak. 

4. Pressure Differential 

Pressure differential is a significant issue 

when performing most leak tests. A pressure 

differential is created when pressure 

across a leak is changed and the flow 

changes in proportion to the differences 

of the square of the absolute pressure. 

When performing airborne ultrasound 

leak inspection, it is important to consider 

the viscous flow of a given pressure 

differential acting across the leak. 



5. Distance from the Leak 

Another factor influencing the detectability 

of a leak is the distance from the 

leak. The intensity of the ultrasound 

signal decreases as the distance from the 

source sending the ultrasound increases. 

Intensity refers to the relative strength 

of a sound signal at a certain point. 

Accessibility to the Leak 

Due to the shortwave nature of ultrasound, 

the amplitude of the emission 

drops exponentially as the sound travels 

from the source. Distance of detection 

becomes a factor. If an inspector cannot 

get within detection distance of a leak, 

it will be hard to find it. It is important 

that the leak is accessible. Providing it 

is safe, the closer an inspector can get 

to the leak the better the chances are of 

detecting and evaluating it. If a leak is 

buried behind several structures, it will 

have a tendency to reflect off the various 

structures. The ultrasound from the 

leak is then sent off in other directions, 

bouncing from one object to another and 

consequently confusing the inspector 

as to where the source of the leak is. In 

some cases, ultrasound may be hitting 

material that absorbs the sound waves. 

The further the leak has to travel, the 

more likely the leak is to attenuate and 

weaken. Get closer to the leak source, remove 

interfering objects and use aids to 

gain access to the leak, such as a contact 

probe for structure-borne sounds found 

in enclosed cabinets, a parabolic microphone 

or flexible probes. 

If a leak occurs in a confined space, 

be sure to follow all safety procedures. 

These are very hazardous conditions and 

any mistake can be fatal. 

Finding the Leak 

Specialised modules may be called for, 

such as a parabolic microphone for longdistance 

scanning, a close-focus module 

for close-up scanning or flexible probes 

for hard-to-access scanning. 

The preferred method for locating a 

leak is called ‘gross to fine’. This is used 

to pinpoint and identify the location of 

leaks. Start at maximum sensitivity and 

scan by moving the probe around in all 

directions to locate a leak sound. This 

will be heard as a ‘rushing’ noise. Follow 

the sound to the loudest point. As 

you move, the leak noise might increase, 

making it difficult to identify the direction 

of the leak. Reduce the sensitivity as 

you move closer to the area and listen for 

the loudest leak signal. Scan all around 

the suspected leak area. Whenever it is 

difficult to determine the direction of 

the leak sound, adjust the sensitivity up 

if the sound level is too low or down if 

the sound level is too high. It is possible 

to pinpoint the exact site of the leak if 

you scan completely around the area of 

interest. Once near the site, place the 

rubber focusing probe over the scanning 

module and continue to move in 

the direction of the leak. To confirm, if 

possible press the tip of the probe over 

the suspected site. If the leak sound continues 

or increases in volume, you have 

found the leak; if the sound level drops, 

continue looking. 

Compressed Air Leak Surveys 

One area that can show fast returns is 

through establishing a compressed air 

leak survey program. In fact, in the USA, 

the Department of Energy has estimated 

that of all the compressed air used in the 

USA by industry, about 30% was lost to 

leaks. They estimate this to cost from 1 to 

3.2 billion US dollars annually. It is not 

LEAKAGE OCCURS WHEN A MATERIAL CAN MOVE FROM 

ONE MEDIUM TO ANOTHER. 

uncommon to hear of reports by users 

who, after performing a leak survey and 

repairing the leaks, have eliminated the 

use of an extra compressor. 

Compressed gas survey software or 

mobile applications organise results so 

that when leak data is recorded, the software 

or app will calculate the losses per 

leak in terms of money lost. It can also 

provide information on gases that contribute 

to the carbon footprint. 

In addition to the results of the survey, 

the software or app will keep tabs on 

what has been repaired and what leaks 

have not. This helps users to manage 

their survey and provides information 

on actual money saved and carbon gas 

emissions cut. 

Conclusion 

When used correctly, ultrasound instruments 

are very powerful tools to detect 

leaks and can greatly contribute in energy 

saving efforts. Even though leak detection 

with ultrasound is a very simple 

and straightforward exercise, it is always 

advisable for maintenance professionals 

to get proper training, which will greatly 

enhance their skills with the ultrasonic 

instrument and the creation of leak reports. 


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ROBOTICS 

ME AND MY 

Text: Mark Homer, Vice President Global 

Customer Transformation for ServiceMax 

ROBOTIC COLLEAGUES 

Field service techs may have to embrace the 

gig economy and that could be a good thing 

It is easy to be a little 

sceptical when you hear 

stories of the future of 

work because no one 

really knows for sure how 

it is all going to pan out. 

What we do encounter is 

plenty of noise. 

SELF-APPOINTED FUTUROLOGISTS are either 

dishing out doomsday scenarios or 

painting pictures of Jetson-style worlds 

where we all live in a state of semi-permanent 

laziness, kicking back and letting 

robots do all the heavy lifting. Whichever 

world will become true, it is certain that 

automation will have a big impact, but 

how will humans react? How will we 

earn money and do our jobs alongside 

intelligent machines? 

What is clear is that there is not going 

to be a big bang moment. Work is already 

changing. Over the past few years we 

have seen a shift in employment patterns 


ROBOTICS 

and working environments. According 

to one survey last year, approximately 57 

million Americans are freelancing (36 

percent of the U.S. workforce). The US 

Bureau of Labor Statistics put it closer to 

16.5 million. Whichever number is correct, 

what is certain is that the market is 

already witnessing changing work patterns. 

Much of this change appears to have 

been driven by attitudes to work/life 

balance. One survey recently found that 

81 percent of 3,500 employees valued 

the importance of flexible working. 

Employees, said the survey, want to be 

trusted to manage when, where and how 

they work. Of course, not all industries 

can make this happen. It depends on the 

job, but what we are seeing is universal 

shifts in how people want to work and 

how employers want to deploy staff. If 

anything, employers like the idea of contract 

working because it reduces the tax 

and benefits burden and gives them access 

to skills as and when they need it. 

Automation and data analytics could 

drive this sort of decision-making. Machines 

can effectively optimise staffing 

levels and product and service performance, 

feeding the corporate profit 

worm but also meeting the growing requirements 

for workplace flexibility. 

Softbank’s proposed investment in We- 

Work is a good example of the growing 

confidence in the future shape of office 

lives, and we are already seeing data analytics 

and, in some instances, automation, 

suggesting change if not yet dictating it. 

For example, one AI assistant is being 

trialled by emergency dispatchers 

in Copenhagen. It is an interesting idea 

that is looking to optimise resources 

based on automated screening. The AI, 

called Corti, listens to calls to emergency 

services and helps dispatchers form the 

right questions, suggests next steps, and 

even proposes possible diagnoses. The 

software not only detects the words that 

are spoken, but also the tone of the voice 

and the caller’s breathing patterns. This 

is compared with data stored from previously 

analysed and categorised calls, 

leading to recommendations for further 

action. For the moment at least, this is 

an assistant to a trained dispatcher and 

can in no way replace the dispatcher. 

Likewise, in manufacturing we are also 

seeing industry embrace cobotics, robotic 

assistants that support humans, and 

in-field service scenarios robotic inspection 

devices are already being used to 

support maintenance and service calls, 

such as inspecting pipelines. 

These are all interesting uses of the 

technology and you can see how it can 

evolve in the future. In the case of field 

service, this could have a significant 

impact. Imagine a scenario where a company 

has a human cloud of gig workers, 

skilled service technicians available for 

work. The AI can assess data collected 

directly from devices via IoT networks 

and predict problems, align the job with 

available human skills and despatch the 

worker automatically. It is a sort of Uber 

approach to field service, where clusters 

or clouds of human skills become 

increasingly important both in terms of 

products but also geography. 

Uberisation of the Field 

Service Market 

Likewise, technology advances could 

also see the ‘uberisation’ of the field service 

market. Many large customers, particularly 

on the OEM side, are making 

use of new labour market models, where 

they use contingent labour on an ad-hoc 

basis to service their clients in the field. 

Some companies executing field service 

will increasingly use third parties to 

deliver against that service. Almost like 

an Uber-type delivery model. Consumers 

want to have a brand experience 

with that company in how it is delivered. 

They don’t really want to know if their 

technician is a badged employer or third 

party – they want it to go just as well regardless 

of who is sent. 

Companies could use additional field 

service technicians ad-hoc on a dayto-day 

basis, and the work gets thrown 

out to be bid on. Technicians could see 

there are ten jobs in the vicinity, where 

companies could see who is available to 

address the workload they have got that 

day. 

In reality, the type of work would not 

change that much, regardless of technology 

assisting in the field or acting as a 

skills aggregator. It is really about access 

to jobs and companies making the best 

use of its available resources to ensure 

customer service levels are kept to a 

high standard. We know of course that 

field service techs are already benefiting 

from predictive maintenance and 

a connected approach to spare parts, 

deliveries and optimised journeys. The 

gig economy and the capability of AI to 

manage workflows will enable both work 

and flexibility. It will also drive change 

in training. Companies will still demand 

certifications or a similar sign of competency 

on their products, and service 

techs will have to ensure they are up to 

date on their training. Responsibilities 

will be shared for mutual benefit with AI 

facilitating. 

While the AI may drive jobs of the 

future it will not necessarily drive job 

culture. That could, or perhaps should, 

already be in place by the time AI is sophisticated 

enough to manage jobs in 

their entirety. It may not be called the 

gig economy then, but it will almost certainly 

involve increased contract work. 

And that decision is one that is already 

being driven by humans. 


4 

innovations... 

PARTNER ARTICLE 

awards... 

no coincidence 

Here are reasons why SDT Ultrasound Solutions 

has been rewarded the last two years. 

1 – SOLUTIONS 

rather than products 

SDT Ultrasound Solutions makes 

reliable products and design them 

to be solutions. We do not clutter 

our design with fluffy features that 

provide no real value for the end 

user. We do not window-dress our 

offer to mislead the consumer. We 

produce solutions that give our 

customers a better understanding 

about the health of their assets 

and the reliability of their 

plants. No compromise, no sellouts, 

only solutions. 

2 – Acoustic Lubrication 

For greasing to be effective, it must 

be tailored to the real needs of rotating 

machinery (right time, right 

lubricant, right amount). LUBExpert, 

a modern, fully developed 

ultrasonic detector is the answer 

expected by lube technician. 

3 – LIFETIME WARRANTY 

Innovative solutions must stand the test 

of time... and your workplace. SDT Ultrasound 

Solutions manufactures the most 

reliable instruments in the condition 

monitoring business. We know it and we 

put our money where our mouth is. Lifetime 

for SDT means 10 years after 

obsolescence. So, all solutions sold today, 

might still be covered by warranty in 2050. 

4 – focUS Mode 

focUS mode (available with SDT340) is 

a new way to enhance analysis of machines; 

especially gearboxes and slow speed mechanical 

assets. With focUS mode we can 

select from 64, 128, or 256k samples 

per second. We can see rubbing, scratching, 

impacting, gear mesh, reciprocating 

valves in focUS mode that remain hidden 

in standard sample rates. This supports 

our Reliability Partner vision of ZERO 

unplanned downtime by allowing us to do 

deeper analysis and find hidden defects. 

5 – Headset Volume 

Precautions 

Independent volume/sensitivity adjustment 

and SDT’s written assurance that 

inspectors will never be exposed to noise 

levels higher than national governed 

standards. No other ultrasound gun can 

make that claim. Why go deaf when you 

can #HearMore. 

6 – Crazy Long Data 

Acquisition Time 

Up to 10 minutes per measurement! 

Imagine a bearing turning so 

slow you need 600 seconds to capture 3 

full rotations. What do you do? Set your 

SDT340 to 10 minutes, plug in your ultrasound 

and vibration probes, hit record 

and enjoy your coffee. 

7 – Swiss Army Detector 

Four technologies in one: Ultrasound, 

Vibration, Temperature, RPM. No other 

device offers this level of versatility combined 

with ease of use. 

8 –Clear Colourful Display 

Clean, clear colour display featuring 

zooming Time Waveform and Enveloping 

FFT. 

9 – Apps & Software solutions 

Connected Solutions: LEAKReporter, 

SHERLOGReporter, ULTRANALYSIS 

4.0 are apps and software available on 

your desktop, server or in the Cloud. Collecting 

data, capturing signals, storing 

and analyzing them has never been so 

easy with the most powerful ultrasonic 

measurement management solutions designed 

for maintenance professionals. 


Data Collector 

Detect, Measure, Analyze 

Ultrasound and 

Vibration 

Ultrasound Soluons 

sdtultrasound.com 

Scalable 

Multi-technology 

Multi-platform 

UAS4.0 

Analysis Software 

APPLICATIONS 

MECHANICAL 

Detect defects in 

any mechanical 

system. 

LEAKS 

Find pressure and 

vacuum leaks in 

noisy conditions. 

LUBRICATION 

Avoid over/under 

lubrication. Grease 

bearings right. 

ELECTRICAL 

Inspect medium and 

high voltage systems 

for arcing, tracking 

and corona. 

VALVES 

Asses valve 

tightness. 

STEAM 

Find faulty steam 

traps and leaking 

components. 

HYDRAULICS 

Troubleshoot any 

hydraulic system 

for passing and 

blockages. 

TIGHTNESS 

Determine the 

tightness of any 

enclosed volume.

TECHNOLOGY 

Battery Research 

Consortium Promises ‘Big Leap’ in Performance 

for Energy Storage Technology 

The Consortium for Battery Innovation, which includes more than 

90-member companies worldwide and supports pre-competitive research 

into lead battery technology, is preparing for a surge in demand for energy 

storage in the next decade. 

SINCE BEING FORMED as the ALABC 25 years ago, the Consortium 

has ushered in major breakthroughs including start-stop 

batteries – the technology which allows car engines to stop and 

re-start, reducing CO2 emissions and boosting fuel economy. 

Now the Consortium for Battery Innovation has prepared 

a new technical roadmap designed to extend both the performance 

and lifetime of the core battery technology. 

The program, which will be unveiled later this year, will fund 

projects designed to increase the cycle life of advanced lead batteries 

and further improve their ability to operate in applications 

such as start-stop and micro-hybrid applications. Other 

areas highlighted for future study include in-depth research 

into the addition of elements such as carbon aimed at extending 

both lifetime and performance. 

One of the Consortium’s studies is already underway in the 

United States in partnership with the Argonne National Laboratory. 

It is using the laboratory’s synchrotron x-ray source to 

study the chemical changes occurring during charge discharge 

reactions in real time, something not previously conducted 

with lead batteries. 

- I expect worldwide demand for energy storage to jump significantly 

in the next decade. In Europe alone demand is set to 

jump by up to ten times by 2050. So advanced lead batteries will 

be critical to meeting that requirement, which is over and above 

existing uses such as start-stop batteries and back-up for mobile 

networks and emergency power, Dr Alistair Davidson, 

Director of the Consortium for Battery Innovation, said. 

- There are many factors driving this demand, including 

DEMAND FOR BATTERY 

ENERGY STORAGE SET 

TO JUMP TEN TIMES IN 

EUROPE BY 2050 


decarbonisation and electrification. Excitingly, lead batteries 

are now becoming more common as energy storage for 

renewables, such as solar and wind, as local grids and independent 

electricity systems come on line. Cost, recycling, 

safety and reliability as well as performance are all important 

factors for these systems, which play to the strengths of 

lead batteries. 

The push for greater electrification requires a mix of battery 

technologies capable of delivering at scale. The Consortium, 

which includes an advisory panel made up of global 

battery experts who help define, assess and guide research, 

is working with government research teams and universities 

in the US and Europe to develop the technology that 

will usher in the next generation of advanced lead batteries. 

- Overall there is of course an ever-present need for 

better performance and longer lifetime, so our next set of 

research priorities will amount to a big leap in the technology’s 

capability to help meet this surge in demand, Davidson 

said. 

www.batteryinnovation.org 

Energy Storage Market Booms 

FALLING COSTS and new deployment incentives are 

fueling record investments in energy storage. Depending 

on the application, costs have declined 74 percent 

since 2013 and are projected to continue a steady 8 

percent per year decline through the mid-2020s, a 

report from . 

Over the next two decades, these investments are 

projected to soar by 620 billion USD. China, the United 

States and seven other nations will lead the race — and 

between 2017 and 2022, projections suggest that the 

market will grow nine times in size. 

• $620 billionin new investments by 2040 

• 235%increase in jobs from 2015 to 2016 

• 9x market growth projection from 2017 to 2022 

• Employment is booming, too. From 2015 to 2016, 

energy storage jobs increased 235 percent to reach 

90,800 jobs. By 2022, deployments are projected to 

increase an eye-popping 859 percent. 

WHAT IS DRIVING 

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH? 

With firms such as Tesla, GE and Lockheed Martin 

leading the sector, hundreds of millions of dollars of 

capital is flowing toward research, development and 

commercialization, lowering costs. 

In fact, the cost has come down so fast that today, 

many utilities are moving toward renewable energy 

— coupled with energy storage — rather than building 

costly new natural gas power plants. 

The largest price drop in utility-scale lithium-ion 

storage systems occurred between 2014 and 2015, 

plummeting 29 percent. The following year saw a 26 

percent price decline, and last year, 12 percent. As 

hardware costs fall, the utility-scale system price is 

expected to continue its decline, dropping 36 percent 

by 2022. 

www.edf.org

LEADERSHIP 

Part II: Developing the 

Leadership Mindset 

Audit for Excellence 

The most successful sports team in history is the New 

Zealand Men’s National Rugby team, known to Rugby 

fans as the All Blacks for their kit colour. Their win 

percentage, over 125 years of competitive games, 

is 77 percent. How does a team maintain an almost 

unbelievably high standard for more than a century? 

One of the factors allowing them to sustain their incredibly 

high performance has been the protection of 

their standards of practice, competitive play, and how 

they conduct themselves in their private lives. 

THOMAS J. FURNIVAL, 

Director of 

Training Services, 

MARSHALL 

INSTITUTE, INC. 

WITH HIGH STANDARDS known, understood, 

and protected, the accountability 

to adhere to them becomes the responsibility 

and privilege of each person/player. 

An environment of ‘all for one, one 

for all’ is created and all players commit 


LEADERSHIP 

to something much bigger than themselves. 

They work together to achieve 

their higher purpose, which for the All 

Blacks is national pride and identity. 

Although this article is not about 

sport, the All Blacks provide an inspiring 

benchmark and parallel to the link 

between performance in business and 

the leadership mindset. I covered the 

seven elements of the leadership mindset 

in the previous article titled ‘Developing 

the Leadership Mindset: Set your 

Mind, Manage your Destiny’ published 

in the March 2019 issue of MaintWorld. 

For those who haven’t yet read the 

article, here’s a quick recap… 

Leadership Mindset Recap 

The power and influence of our mindset 

is hard to overstate. My definition of 

mindset is the orientation of key beliefs 

that act as an internal compass directing 

how we think and act. 

A leadership mindset is an exemplary 

mindset, one which allows individuals 

and organizations to make the most 

valuable and meaningful global impact. 

To understand how to cultivate what a 

leadership mindset is, I first set out to 

identify the elements that comprise it. 

I landed on seven elements which encompass 

this superpower perspective: 

purpose, potential, motivation, responsibility, 

capability, change, outcomes. 

The beliefs we hold around these seven 

elements can dramatically elevate performance 

and catapult life’s experience 

to a whole new level. 

For example: Do you live and 

work with an understanding of 

the higher purpose? Do you understand 

the role you play in making 

the world a better place? Or 

do you see your job tasks as small 

and insignificant? The truth is not 

that relevant. But the beliefs you 

hold around your purpose, the 

purpose of tasks, and of other people 

have great significance. 

In order to reach our potential, and 

travel our ideal path, we must develop 

and protect the right mindset. One invaluable 

tool to use is a self-audit. 

The purpose of this sequel article is 

to provide a practical audit framework 

to progressively and successfully develop 

the leadership mindset. 

Self-Audit for Excellence 

Self-auditing has played a powerful role 

in my personal and professional development. 

I recommend two formats: 

a daily reflection, and a monthly inventory. 

I’ve attempted to create the tools 

and a format which require the minimum 

effort to establish a valuable habit. 

Scale up or down as you need. 

Daily Reflection 

Business management guru Tom Peters 

importantly stated that excellence 

is not a long-term aspiration, it is a 

short-term strategy, and is determined 

in the next 5 minutes or not at all. Daily 

reflection allows us to adjust our behavior 

daily. It’s a short-term tactic for 

a short-term goal with life-long consequences. 

I practice and believe strongly in 

daily reflection. For me, this process 

has proven to be most enduring when 

I do it mentally for only a few minutes 

each evening. Quite simply, it’s a review 

of daily performance. If you prefer to 

write it down, go for it. Do what works 

best for you. 

Before you begin your daily reflection, 

you must understand what standards 

you are reflecting against. Create 

your definitions for each of the seven 

leadership mindset elements. You can 

use what I defined in the first article as 

a starting point. 

Mindset 

Belief 

Doing Well 

Daily Reflection 

Audit 

Suggested Approach: 

• Complete the audit either in your 

head or on paper in about 5 minutes 

(long enough to be valuable, 

but short enough to become a daily 

habit) 

• Assess your daily thoughts and 

behaviours against one or all seven 

elements of leadership mindset. Remember, 

this is a high-level assessment, 

simply ask yourself, “Were 

my thoughts and behaviours today 

aligned with my leadership mindset, 

or do I have opportunities for improvement?” 

• If you believe that you are doing well, 

give yourself a pat on the back. If you 

conclude that you’re doing well for 

more than 7 consecutive days, then 

you are either on fire, or you need to 

be a bit more honest with yourself. 

• If you have opportunities for improvement, 

identify how you will 

respond tomorrow to improve your 

behavior and performance. How can 

you better align your behavior to 

your leadership mindset? 

Below is an example of a completed daily 

reflection table. Even though I complete 

mine mentally, you can write yours down 

if you prefer. 

EXCELLENCE IS NOT A LONG-TERM ASPIRATION, IT IS A 

SHORT-TERM STRATEGY, AND IS DETERMINED IN THE NEXT 5 

MINUTES OR NOT AT ALL – TOM PETERS 

Purpose 

Potential 

Motivation 

Responsibility 

Capability 

Change 

Outcomes 

Opportunities for 

mprovement 

Tomorrow’s Improvement 

Response 

Example: I am losing confidence 

in my potential to lead this project. 

In response tomorrow I am 

going to reflect on my past successes 

leading projects. 

Example: I did not facilitate a 

challenging meeting with my 

team as well as I could have. 

Tomorrow I will ask for feedback 

and insight from my mentor. 

I want to grow my facilitation 

capability. 


LEADERSHIP 

The Monthly Inventory 

Once daily reflection is an embedded 

habit, it’s part of your day, and you’re 

improving your performance through 

loyal adherence to your leadership 

mindset, you’re ready to take your selfaudit 

to the next level with a monthly 

inventory. Taking a monthly inventory 

is like reading a map on a long road 

trip, it provides you with the ability to 

where you are in relation to your starting 

point and your goal. It provides 

perspective. For me, this audit is valuable 

to capture in writing. 

Suggested Approach: 

• You should be able to complete 

the audit in about 30 minutes 

• Write down your gains and 

growth over the last month. 

• What powerful behaviours have 

you successfully adopted? 

• How have your thoughts improved? 

• What negative behaviours and 

practices have you eliminated 

from your performance? 

• Identify the improvement opportunities 

you will focus on 

for the following month. What 

important gains you can make in 

how you think and act? 

• Ask for feedback from those 

who will provide valuable and 

accurate insight. I suggest doing 

this quarterly to give you time to 

improve your performance, and 

for others to notice. 

Excellence Awaits 

The adage, practice makes perfect 

is ‘fake news’. It makes for a simple 

message and a powerful headline, 

but it’s misleading. A more helpful 

and realistic, but admittedly less concise, 

saying might be something like, 

‘purposeful practice produces better 

performance’. Being purposeful in 

practice requires at least: a goal, the 

right habits, and a robust auditing process 

to support informed continuous 

improvement. 

Take the audit tools and what 

you’ve found valuable from this article, 

and make it your own. Develop 

the habits and continue to honestly 

reflect. Be proud of your incremental 

gains as you develop and strengthen 

your leadership mindset. And remember, 

give your best to the next 5 minutes. 

Excellence awaits. 

A LEADERSHIP MINDSET 

IS ONE WHICH ALLOWS 

INDIVIDUALS AND 

ORGANIZATIONS TO 

MAKE THE MOST 

VALUABLE AND 

MEANINGFUL GLOBAL 

IMPACT. 

Monthly Inventory 

Month Gains & Growth Improvement Opportunities 

Jan 

Feb 

Mar 

Feedback 

April 

May 

June 

Feedback 

July 

August 

September 

Feedback 

October 

November 

December 

Feedback 

Example: I loyally completed 

my daily reflection. I find that I 

am becoming a better listener 

to my team. I feel I am becoming 

a better meeting facilitator. 

Example: I am finding myself 

negatively impacted by external 

change. I will pay more attention 

to anticipate change, and better 

identify the opportunities that 

external change presents. 


The The The Uptimization Experts. 

What does 

DOWNTIME 

mean to you? 

marshallinstitute.com 

marshallinstitute.com


Why use OPC UA 

Text: John Rinaldi, Chief Strategist 

and Director of WOW! for Real 

Time Automation (RTA) 

instead of a RESTful 

interface? 

The manufacturing floor needs consistent, 

standard mechanisms for accessing 

devices, describing data and its 

meta-data characteristics, and moving 

that data securely and reliably 

EXACTLY 40 YEARS AGO, the Modicon 

Corporation birthed Modbus, and the 

manufacturing world has never been the 

same. For the first few decades, manufacturers 

battled with competing physical 

layers standards and wiring schemes 

like RS232, RS485, Token Ring, Arcnet 

and others. For most of those decades, it 

was never certain which standard might 

ultimately win, so some manufacturers 

adopted ARCNET, some preferred 

Token Ring (IBM’s favorite), and others 

stayed with good old Modbus. Everyone 

fought the battle of integrating different 

physical layer standards in their plant; 

melding RS485 Modbus over there, with 

a little ARCNET over here, and some Token 

Ring and other now obscure standard. 

It was costly and laborious. 


The New Puzzle: Standardized 

Software Interfaces 

Now that we’ve adopted Ethernet, that 

hardware battle is over. But now there’s a 

new battleground where manufacturers 

are bleeding time and money; software 

interfaces. Manufacturers face a complex 

jigsaw puzzle of software standards 

used by devices and applications that 

are largely incompatible and difficult to 

cohesively assemble. Some software systems 

provide Application Programming 

Interfaces (APIs), some custom and 

some not. Many application developers 

love Web Services, especially HTTP with 

a Restful interface. Some devices provide 

I/O Network interfaces (EtherNet/ 

IP, PROFINET IO, Modbus TCP). And, 

of course, there are those out there who 

will only give up their obsolete OPC drivers 

when it’s pulled from their cold, dead 

hands. 

This mish-mash of interfaces means 

that even though everything is largely 

on Ethernet, nothing meshes together 

easily. What often happens is that people 

who need the data create secondary, 

parallel applications and systems – often 

undocumented and unsupported – to 

work around what’s in place. More time 

lost, more information lost, costs rising – 

it’s a nightmare. 

One Way to Solve the Puzzle: 

Web Services 

One of the more popular mechanisms to 

interface applications is Web Services. 

It’s sometimes helpful to think of Web 

Services as merely some kind of API 

wrapped in HTTP. HTTP is the low-level 

communication service that supports 

much of what we do every day on the Internet. 

HTTP provides the basic service 

functionality (Get and Put) that moves 

generic data between two Internet systems 

without knowing anything at all 

about what it is moving. 

A very popular architecture style 

to use with HTTP is RESTful. RESTful 

is a stateless mechanism for accessing 

resources at a destination node using 

the basic GET and PUT services of HTTP. 

It is stateless and completely generic, 

built for performance, reliability and the 

ability to access the kinds of information 

found on the Internet; XML and JSON 

objects. 

An Alternative: OPC Unified 

Architecture (OPC UA) 

Another way to standardize application 

interfaces is OPC UA, the successor to 

OPC (Open Process Control). It provides 

more open transports, better security, 

and a more complete information model 

than the original OPC (OPC Classic). UA 

provides a very flexible and adaptable 

mechanism for moving data between 

the kinds of controls, monitoring devices 

and sensors that interact with real 

-world data and enterprise type systems. 

OPC UA is an open architecture, 

standard way for applications, con-


trollers, sensors and other devices to 

interact. Data in an OPC UA device is 

discoverable. A client device can browse 

another OPC UA device to learn what 

data is available, its name, format and 

properties (meta-data characteristics). 

Once data required by an application 

is identified, it can be read, written or 

scheduled for transfer at some chosen 

frequency. 

UA uses scalable platforms, multiple 

security models, multiple transport 

layers and a sophisticated information 

model to allow the smallest dedicated 

controller to freely interact with complex, 

high -end server applications. UA 

can communicate anything from simple 

downtime status to massive amounts of 

highly complex plant-wide information. 

The Information Model is the foundation 

of OPC UA. An Information Model 

is nothing more than a logical representation 

applied to a physical process. 

An OPC UA Information Model can 

represent something as tiny as a screw, 

a component of a process like a pump, 

or something as complex and large as an 

entire filling machine. The Information 

Model is simply a structure that defines 

the component, devoid of any information 

on how process variables or metadata 

within that structure are accessed. 

Figure 3 is the Information Model 

for a curing oven. It details all the significant 

components of the oven and the 

information that is available. It details 

the logical structure of the data, its data 

types and the characteristics of each variable 

(properties in OPC UA terminology). 

Other than the structure implied by 

the way the information is related, there 

is no detail on how the data is stored or 

how it is accessed. In OPC UA, those 

mechanisms are distinct and separate 

from how the information is modeled. 

RESTful or OPC UA? 

A prevalent question among manufacturing 

developers is “What’s the 

advantage of OPC UA over a RESTful 

interface?” That question usually 

comes from developers, and it’s easy to 

see why they ask it. A RESTful interface 

is straightforward, simple, fast and fun to 

develop. Integrating a standard like OPC 

UA, an open source package, or somebody’s 

toolkit just isn’t as appealing. 

Who wants to eat spinach when they can 

have ice cream? 

RESTful’s weakness is that data is 

usually transferred as XML and JSON 

Figure 1 – 

Manufacturers finally 

solved the hardware 

interface puzzle with 

Ethernet, but now it’s 

a software interface 

puzzle 

Figure3 - Sample 

Information Model for a 

Curing Oven 

files devoid of type data and meta-data. 

There is no standardized mechanism for 

a client to obtain data schemas describing 

these files, access common services (Start 

Pump, Execute Recipe…etc.) or schedule 

data file transfers. RESTful is simple and 

straightforward at the expense of functionality. 

Unlike RESTful, OPC UA provides 

more robust transports, encodings, security 

mechanisms, services and information 

modeling capabilities. OPC UA provides 

a more complete device data model 

and data values that, unlike ASCII files 

transferred by RESTful architectures, 

retain their original data type, precision 

and accuracy. 

The manufacturing floor is a much 

more structured and more permanent environment 

than the Internet, and doesn’t 

need the simplicity and quick, easy implementation 

that RESTful provides. The 

manufacturing floor needs consistent, 

standard mechanisms for accessing devices, 

describing data and its meta-data 

characteristics, and moving that data securely 

and reliably. OPC UA provides that 

in a more standard way than RESTful. 

RESTful is perfect for the Internet 

where applications come and go, requirements 

frequently change, and nothing 

lasts 20, 30 or even 40 years like Modbus. 

OPC UA is the right choice for valuable 

manufacturing applications that need 

superior data modeling, precise data 

representations, an extensive services infrastructure, 

and flexibility over the long 

term. 


RELIABILITY 

Text: Torbjörn Idhammar, President of IDCON 

Creating the Reliability 

Plan at Your Plant 

The term “Improve Reliability” is often used to define future improvement efforts 

and set expectations for employees and managers. But, the term is often not clear 

to all involved. Most of us intuitively have a general understanding what a reliable 

plant is, but, when the term is used in order to drive an improvement project, it has 

to be clarified what we mean… exactly. 


RELIABILITY 

WHEN I ASK AN 

ORGANIZATION TO DEFINE 

WHAT RELIABILITY 

IS AND HOW IT IS 

MEASURED, I SELDOM GET 

A COMPREHENSIVE OR 

CONSISTENT ANSWER. 

WHILE A COMPANY’S Mission Statement 

may be “To increase profitability 

through increased reliability”, this is in 

fact very vague. Expectations need to be 

clarified with supporting measurable 

and time limited goals and action plans, 

but should also have clear definitions 

around reliability. 

The term reliability is used often, but 

the concept is seldom explained more 

than what we find in Webster’s definition 

in the dictionary. So, let’s try to clarify 

the meaning and what responsibilities it 

leads to. 

First, the goal of a typical plant is not 

only to be reliable. Plants have many other 

requirements such as cost/unit, safety, 

and environmental responsibilities. Reliability 

must therefore be discussed in 

the context of plant operation as a whole 

– not as an isolated project. On a positive 

note, it has been proven that reliability is 

interlinked with many of the other goals 

of a plant. For example, there is a strong 

correlation between a reliable plant and 

a safe plant, the more reliable a plant is, 

the safer it is. This makes sense since a 

reliable plant needs fewer repairs, and 

any necessary repairs are better planned. 

Cost per unit is also lower at a reliable 

plant. 

Measuring reliability 

The goal for any plant is typically to safely 

increase overall production reliability 

and to reduce cost per unit. Safety and 

cost per unit is almost always measured 

at plants while reliability is measured in 

different ways and sometimes not at all. 

Reliability can be measured by 

Overall Production Reliability (OPE). 

Traditionally, this measurement is 

called overall equipment effectiveness 

(OEE). OEE and OPR refer to the same 

measurement, but I use the name OPR 

since it better describes the partnership 

between operations, maintenance and 

engineering we want in our reliability 

efforts. 

OPR is calculated as: 

OPR = Quality (%) x Speed (%) x Time 

Availability (%) 

Speed, Time Availability and Quality 

describe all losses in a production or process 

line. OPR is, therefore, an excellent 

measurement to use when setting joint 

reliability goals for operations, maintenance 

and engineering. 

OPR should be measured at bottlenecks 

of the production, or if possible, on 

a whole production line. 

Common mistakes when measuring 

OPR is to hide opportunities while the 

whole point of the measurement is to reveal 

the full potential of the production. 

The availability should be based on 8760 

hours, planned shutdowns and other 

downtime should not be taken away 

from the denominator of the calculation. 

The exception to this rule is economic 

downtime, meaning that the plant or line 

is shutdown because the product can not 

be sold. 

Another common mistake in measuring 

the OEE is to divide the OEE by 

department so that the Mechanical 

department has, for example, 96% OEE, 

the electrical 96%, instrumentation 

96%, and operations 96%. In this scenario 

everyone think they are excellent, 

but the total OPE is 85%. OPE should 

be a JOINT measurement to create a 

partnership between departments and 

should show the full potential of the production 

line. 

Process and equipment 

reliability 

The primary responsibility for Operations 

is process reliability. The “reliability 

goal” is for the process, or manufacturing, 

to operate with as little waste 

as possible. Examples of process waste 

are quality and production losses due to 

operating parameters such as setting of 

pressures, machine speeds, cutting tool 

selection or concentration of chemicals. 

Equipment reliability is Maintenance’s 

primary responsibility. Lack of 

equipment reliability creates waste due 

to failing components, quality losses for 

the reason of equipment problems, or 

speed losses because of component wear 

or breakdowns. 

Engineering should focus on supporting 

equipment and process reliability 

through Life Cycle Cost (LCC) design. 

LCC is used to consider the cost of buying 

and owning equipment. It is common 

that engineering departments only 

focus on making sure a new installation 


RELIABILITY 

is on time and under budget. Reliability 

and maintainability aspects of the equipment 

design are forgotten. For example, 

why would someone buy a motor or 

gearbox without jacking bolts (pushbolts 

used when aligning equipment) 

installed? 

We know world-class shaft alignment 

is virtually impossible to do with a 

sledgehammer, so why don’t we specify 

jacking bolts as part of the design? 

Reliable production can only be 

achieved when these three groups 

work in concert. We should therefore 

not measure each departments OPE, 

it should be a joint measure, but each 

department must understand its role in 

reliability. 

Creating the reliability plan at 

your plant in 5 steps 

Starting to improve reliability requires 

clarity and a path forward. How can 

management create a clear plan for 

equipment reliability improvement? In 

my experience, there are often competing 

views on what needs to be done to 

improve reliability. If we simply tell the 

plant that reliability needs to improve 

without a clear path forward, there will 

probably be many disjointed efforts 

started that may lead to the opposite 

result. 

I am pretty sure you are trying to improve 

reliability at your plant as you are 

reading this. Does your plant have a collective 

plan (operations, maintenance, 

& engineering) to achieve improved 

reliability? If so, do the employees with 

“skin in the game” understand the plan 

and how to execute it? 


If you cannot answer a definitive "yes" 

to these questions let me offer some 

advice on how to create a clear path of 

action following five (5) steps. 

1. Get all necessary people 

involved 

There will be no “buy in” if a lone individual 

creates the plan. Create a team 

and build awareness of the reliability 

process. This is by far the most important 

step in the process and the one most 

often forgotten. When creating the 

team remember these points: 

• The team has to have “clout” in 

the organization AND management 

must take part 

• Involve operations, maintenance 

and engineering 

• The bigger the team, the more 

buy-in 

• The bigger the team the longer it 

will take 

• The team must have an understanding 

for what good looks like, 

where they want to go. 

• The team must understand how 

good/ poor the plant currently is 

with regards to reliability. 

• The facilitator must be respected 

by the organization and viewed 

as a leader for the improvement 

effort 

2. Create a vision and/or 

mission statement and goals 

for reliability 

The vision is where the plant wants to 

be in the future. The mission is how the 

plant is getting there. The statements 

should be simple but clearly understood. 

It is important your organization understands 

where you want to go, what is the 

destination? Here is an example: 

Vision – We will achieve 80 percent 

of our agreed “best practices (see below 

in bullet 3)” by X date 

Mission – We will execute the best 

practices 

Goal – We will achieve a 90% OEE in 

line 1 by Jan 2021 

3. Create a best practices 

checklist 

Reliability best practices are those 

actions that improve equipment reliability. 

It is a good idea to define best 

practices and to divide the best practices 

by work processes. You may define a 

work process as something that is – 1. 

Documented (set expectation), executed

RELIABILITY 

and followed-up upon. Here are two 

examples: 

Job Planning 

• Document the definition of a 

planned job 

• Execute job planning by the definition 

• Follow up by assessing the percent 

of jobs that are planned correctly 

Condition Monitoring 

• Document condition monitoring 

(CM) on-the-run inspections for 

mechanical equipment 

• Execute the CM routes 

• Follow up by measuring the route 

compliance and the number of 

corrective work orders initiated 

by the CM routes for the mechanical 

equipment 

You should end up with anywhere from 

150 to 300 points by describing reliability 

processes this way. 

4. Prioritize opportunities and 

create a detailed plan 

This begins with an honest assessment 

of your plant’s current performance versus 

the best practice checklist. You will 

then have a good idea of the areas within 

the checklist that need priority. It could 

be hard to select which processes to start 

with. Try to get the team to select improvement 

opportunities that will have 

the biggest financial benefit for the plant. 

It is easy to slide into pet projects for 

area and department heads. 

Make a detailed implementation plan 

for each item, including training and 

support for the frontline. The plan has 

to be more detailed than for example 

“Improve planning”. The plan should 

describe the actions needed to achieve 

a result, not just list the result itself. 

Improve Planning may contain actions 

such as “define workflow for planning 

including roles and responsibilities”, and 

“train team in new process” and “coach 

the frontline in the new process 3 days a 

week”, etc. 

5. Audit your plan’s progress 

using the best practices 

checklist 

For best practices to be embedded (and 

embraced) by your plant, you need to 

monitor the progress. 

I suggest you follow the process two 

different ways: 

1. Assess Work Process: Use your 

checklist of best practices and create 

a scoring system to assess the 

work processes. Use your checklist 

every 6-12 months to do a gap 

analysis of the work processes. 

2. Performance Management. The 

newly improved work process 

should include new role descriptions. 

Managers need to follow 

up with each individual to make 

sure that each role follows the 

work processes. Any organization 

should have a performance 

system through the HR department, 

but in my experience these 

processes do not exist or are not 

aligned with the agreed upon 

work processes for reliability. I 

suggest making a checklist of 

the 8-10 most important tasks 

for each role. Ask managers to 

sit down with each role they are 

responsible for and ask how each 

of the 8-10 tasks is going. This 

should happen at least 6 times a 

year. 

The hardest part in an implementation 

process is to change the behaviour of 

people. People may understand they 

can improve, they may even know how 

to do it, but this does not mean they will 

make the change. Human behaviour is 

hard to change. A fat smoker may know 

he needs to stop smoking and start eating 

better, but it does not mean he will. 

A driver knows that texting and driving 

is a bad idea, but it does not mean he 

will stop. In reliability, we are trying to 

change the behaviour of a whole department. 

It can be done, but it will take 

determination and consistent follow up 

to make the change. 


MAINTENANCE TECHNIQUES 

Text: Antonis Kalipetis, 

Arpedon Private Company 

Maintenance of Industrial 

Equipment in the Era of 

Portable Devices and IoT 

With demands constantly 

increasing it is important 

that the production line 

remains at peak operational 

levels. Equipment 

maintenance is one of the 

key factors in achieving 

this goal and with today’s 

breakthrough technologies 

and practices, advanced 

maintenance is 

now affordable, easy and 

effective. 

The value of advanced 

maintenance techniques 

For a number of years, most industrial 

sectors have been in harmony with the 

concept of preventative maintenance. 

In order to have the best results in preventative 

maintenance, work is planned 

based on predetermined time intervals, 

events or indicators during operation, 

taking into consideration the age of 

the equipment and the manufacturer’s 

recommendations. As a matter of fact, 


preventative maintenance is the predetermined 

maintenance. Nevertheless, 

this time-based approach probably does 

not represent the actual condition of the 

equipment and can lead to maintenance 

work regardless of whether it is necessary 

or not. 

For example, in a packaging factory, 

a new machine is installed for packing 

larger items. The needs of the production 

line impose on alternating between 

the new machine and the pre-existing 

one. After the first three months, the 

new equipment has packed 5,000 items. 

The manufacturer of the newly introduced 

machine proposes changing the 

ball bearing every three months or after 

every 15,000 packages. So, just three 

months after installing and minimally 

using the machine, an expensive change 

of bearings is necessary. 

This is an example of preventive 

maintenance. 

Let’s take another crack at it. Assume 

the same machine, but in a factory 

that has implemented a maintenance 

program that regularly checks the state 

of the new asset in combination with a 

series of sensors. After six months and at 

least 19,000 packaged objects, a new alert 

pops up on the maintenance personnel 

task list proposing that the bearings 

should be changed before the machine 

packs another 1,000 packages. 

This is an example of predictive 

maintenance. As we can see, predictive 

maintenance notifies the maintenance 

personnel in advance and before there is 

a risk of damage to maintenance work. 

It provides a time window to schedule 

a maintenance activity at a convenient 

timeframe, making the whole process 

more adapted to the specific use of the 

equipment. Predictive maintenance has 

the actual equipment status at its core. 

This happens using a combination 

of sensors, operational characteristics 

and metrics. These characteristics are 

categorized and based on prediction algorithms, 

the manufacturer’s guidelines. 

Faults that begin to manifest are detected 

early on and the company is given 

enough time to plan the maintenance. 

This allows engineers to fix the damage 

before it even occurs. 

Vibration sensors that 

measure engine motion and 

detect mechanical errors 

Vibration analysis is one of the most 

common predictive maintenance techniques 

for rotating equipment. Through


the use of appropriate instruments, the 

condition of the equipment is monitored 

and potential internal errors are determined, 

measured and quantified for 

each component. In that way, a critical 

failure can be avoided while extending 

the life cycle of mechanical equipment. 

Vibration analysis can cover a wide 

range of industrial equipment such as 

motors, gearboxes, agitators, compressors, 

pumps, fans, blowers, bearings, 

grinders, hammers or presses. Any rotary 

equipment can be monitored using 

vibration analysis: 

• Detection and monitoring of bearing 

wear 

• Imbalance and axis misalignment 

• Detection and avoidance of resonance 

• Pinpoint mechanical damage to 

joints, bearings etc. 

• Identify other malfunctions such 

as: poor lubrication, soft foot, broken 

rotor, pump cavitation 

Replacing just a single part reduces 

the cost of maintenance, the work required 

for repair and most importantly, 

the necessary production halt time. 

Quite often, unplanned shutdown time 

can cost thousands of euros per hour, 

while a planned maintenance approach 

can take into account critical downtime 

and schedule repairs in non-productive 

times. 

Current analyzers monitor 

the status of the electrical 

components of the system 

Motor Current Signature Analysis — 

MCSA — is a technology that is used to 

dynamically analyze and estimate the 

operation of an electrically-powered 

drive. It helps evaluate the state of stator 

/ rotor windings, static and dynamic 

eccentricity of the engine gap, the condition 

of the drive system (whether direct, 

via belts or gearboxes) and the condition 

of the bearings. 

Ultrasonic sensors, which are 

used for leak detection and 

inspection of mechanical and 

electrical components 

Valves and valve stems 

Valve operation and inspection for 

leaks or blockages can be carried out 

with precision while the valve is still in 

operation. Properly functioning valves 

are relatively quiet while leaking valves 

produce a turbulent flow as the fluid 

moves from the high-pressure side to 

the low-pressure side. Due to the high 

sensitivity and wide range of ultrasound 

frequency selection, all valves, even in 

noisy environments, can be tested with 

precision. Similarly, valve stems can be 

easily tested for any leaks. 

Pressure / vacuum leaks. When 

any gas (air, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.) goes 

through a leak hole, it generates a turbulent 

flow with audibly detectable high 

frequency parts. By scanning the area, 

the sound of a possible leak can be heard 

as a sound (with the help of headphones) 

or noted on the screen / counter. The 

closer the instrument is to the leak, the 

stronger the sound and the better the 

reading. 

Steam Trap Inspection. The largest 

steam traps manufacturers recommend 

ultrasonic inspection as one of the most 

reliable methods of detecting faults. By 

converting ultrasounds into acoustic frequencies, 

operators can listen through


the headphones and see the exact condition 

of a steam trap on a screen / meter 

while it is in operation. Additionally, 

possible blowing, over dimensioning or 

obstruction can be easily detected. 

Rotary compressor valves. Ultrasonic 

analysis has become so safe and 

successful that many engine-analyzer 

tooling companies now offer instruments 

with an ultrasonic input port. 

Bearing Inspection / Monitoring. 

Checking a bearing is easy. With just a 

test point and minimal training, users 

can learn to test bearings within minutes. 

Check for over-lubrication. Add 

lubricant until the ultrasound meter 

reaches the desired level. Excessive 

lubrication is one of the most common 

causes of bearing failure. 

General Mechanical Inspection. 

Pumps, motors, compressors, gears and 

gearboxes; all types of equipment can be 

inspected. Since the instrument operates 

in a short wave, high-frequency environment, 

problems such as cavitation 

in pumps, compressor valve leakage or 

loss of missing gear teeth can be heard 

and properly isolated. 

Inspection of electrical installations. 

Electric arc and corona discharge 

produce ultrasound. These electrical 

discharges can be quickly detected by 

scanning the area. The signal sounds as 

a blowing sound. Inspections can be carried 

out on switches, distribution bars, 

transformers, circuit breakers, insulators 

and other electrical components. 

Application extensions 

The question is: why is preventative 

maintenance the standard, when predictive 

maintenance has such positive 

results? The main reason is the initial 

installation cost, which has been high 

until recently compared to preventative 

maintenance. 

However, predictive maintenance offers 

significant cost savings by reducing 

not only the downtime of the production 

line, but also the cost of other components 

and spare parts. According to the 

Roland Berge study for the oil and gas 

industry, investing in a predictive maintenance 

has up to 10 times return on investment. 

These results, combined with 

the reduction of the cost of sensors and 

the increase in computational power, 

make predictive maintenance an affordable 

and necessary tool for an industrial 

unit, helping in increasing its capabilities 

and opening new ways to control 

and monitor equipment. 

With the use of multiple sensors and 

the development of advanced portable 

and permanent systems, maintenance 

can be highly reliable. Additionally, one 

can easily and quickly measure points 

of interest, even with multiple different 

sensors at the same time. Moreover, different 

types of measurements give more 

accurate results and help to identify the 

problems more accurately and assess the 

asset status. 

Progress does not stop there though. 

The capabilities of cloud-based systems 

and the network availability offer immediate 

data storage and integration with 

production software tools. 

Using these methods, the mistakes 

and omissions of the past in the import 

of data are eliminated. In addition, one 

can access the status of the plant from 

everywhere and make decisions about 

maintenance and operation. Permanent 

systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) 

allow repetitive, accurate and complete 

measurements in inaccessible or remote 

locations at any time and without the 

need for physical access. 

The above, when implemented on a 

software platform that is flexible and 

safe, can bring results that are not imaginable 

when compared to the usual 

maintenance and inspection practices 

available today. 

In summary, the combination of diagnostic 

methods yields greater credibility 

to facilities, while the use of the Internet 

and new technologies offers ease and 

speed in decision-making. 

Predictive maintenance is an attractive 

option and in the majority of cases 

it is an investment worth making, and 

which brings results. 


LOUISVILLE, KY | OCTOBER 7-10, 2019 

27TH ANNUAL 

CONFERENCE 

Don't miss SMRP's LOUISVILLE, premier KY | OCTOBER event 7-10, 2019 

for maintenance, reliability and 

asset management professionals. 

Four days of track sessions, workshops, panel 

discussions, facility tours, and a new Innovation Lab! 

REGISTER AT 

27TH ANNUAL 

smrpconference.org 

CONFERENCE

CONDITION MONITORING 

Smart Resources in 

Condition Monitoring 

Generally, there are two options 

for measuring condition 

monitoring – to perform measurements 

and analyses with 

your resources or buy them 

from a service provider. Both 

have their advantages and 

challenges, but are there any 

other alternatives? 

Text: Teemu Ritvanen, Managing 

Director MLT Machine & Laser 

Technology Oy, Finland 

CONDITION MONITORING based on vibration 

measurement has for decades been 

a proven and effective way to ensure 

high machinery up-time rate and to 

avoid unexpected downtime. Measurements 

are made either with fixed online 

systems or by route measurement with 

portable analysers. Fixed online systems 

are the most effective and secure way to 

make condition monitoring of critical 

machines. Figure 1 shows the vibration 

trend generated by the online system, 

alarm limits, and spectrum analysis. Economically, 

online systems are a significant 

investment: they cannot therefore 

be installed on all important machines. 

With a portable vibration collector and 

route measurements, you can flexibly 

measure the desired machine pool, and 

select the measurement frequency according 

to the priority and condition of 

the machines and the available resources. 

To do the work by yourself or 

buy it as a service 

If condition monitoring is carried out by 

the company’s vibration expert, investment 

in measuring equipment is required 

along with in-depth training, and 

years of experience in analysing vibrations. 

Today’s requirements include various 

types of training and level tests based 

on classification and standards. However, 

even the best courses or certifica- 


tions are useless if the most important 

feature of the vibration expert is missing, 

i.e., genuine interest and enthusiasm in 

details of vibrations and challenges. In 

today’s streamlined organization, there 

is a risk that the expensive measurement 

equipment only collects dust on a shelf 

because the vibration expert leaves the 

company or retires. In this case, training 

or recruiting of a new expert is required 

that is once again a separate process. 

The alternative is to turn to one of 

several service providers of various skill 

levels in the market. When using an 

external measurement company, the 

so-called auditing measurements are a 

common practice. In this case, routing 

measurements and analyses are generally 

performed four times a year. These 

few measurements are not sufficient for 

condition monitoring based on trends 

and alarm limits, as machines can break 

down between measurements. Besides, 

so few measurements require more 

measuring points, versatile measurements, 

and in-depth vibration analysis 

to ensure that the machine’s condition 

can be verified. As a result, the amount of 

work to be analysed is relatively high. 

The recommended measurement 

interval for route measurement in an 

alarm limit monitoring is four weeks so 

that changes in the vibration behaviour 

of the machine are detected in time. 

Measurement easy - 

analysing difficult? 

It is quick and easy to perform route 

measurement with modern vibration 

analysers. The pre-programmed measurement 

path contains the necessary 

settings and information: which machine 

and the location, which direction to 

measure and the selected measurement 

settings. The most common way is to use 

an accelerometer with a magnetic fastening, 

but in this case, you should take 

into account the risks of user-related 

measurement errors: 

1. Inadvertently measuring the 

wrong machine / wrong measuring 

point / in the wrong direction 

2. The sensor magnet is poorly positioned 

mounted on the machine 

surface, resulting in poor measurement 

data

CONDITION MONITORING 

3. Measurement is performed at a 

different point than before – poor 

repeatability 

For analysing the results, it is essential 

that the measured data is reliable and reproducible. 

Otherwise, false conclusions 

can be made, or damages are not detected 

in time. 

Generally, measurements are performed 

by a trained vibration expert who 

also performs the analyses, conclusions, 

and reports. If there are many machines to 

be monitored, they will not always be able 

to measure them often enough, let alone 

analyse them properly. The option is to use 

an external service provider, but a large 

workload significantly increases the costs, 

and therefore, it is not an attractive option. 

What are the options? 

Smart way to divide the 

resources 

The solution to the above problems is an 

intelligent division of labour and reliable 

measurements. Normal route measurements 

carried out once a month can be 

performed by factory operators or maintenance 

personnel. That is a cost-effective 

option because more of the limited working 

time of the vibration expert is reserved 

for analysis and reporting of results. Once 

a month route measurement also allows 

the trending of measurement data 

and alarm monitoring (Figure 2). On the 

measurement route, the number of measurements 

is optimized, so that a single 

measurement cycle is not too laborious or 

time-consuming. 

How to ensure the reliability 

of the measurement? 

Some of the measurement device manufacturers 

have coded measuring connectors 

(Figure 3) installed on the machines 

being monitored. The measuring device 

automatically identifies the measurement 

point, and there is no possibility of incorrect 

measurement. When the measuring 

sensor connects firmly to the measurement 

nipple (for example, by a spring 

lock), the signal transmission is assured, 

and the result is always the same regardless 

of who takes the measurement. Trend 

monitoring is reliable when the measurement 

result is not user dependent. 

Smart division of resources and close 

cooperation ensure a cost-effective solution 

for machine condition monitoring, 

and thanks to its flexibility it is suitable 

for many industries and changing situations. 

Fig.1. Vibration trending and Spectrum of bearing failure 

from Online System. 

Fig2. Vibration trend and FFT and waveform -data from route measurement. 

Fig.3. Measurement nipple with code ring and vibration sensor 

with spring-locking system 


INDUSTRIAL INTERNET 

Industrial 

Internet 

Enabling More 

Strategic Maintenance 

Service Business 

Condition-based maintenance and related service 

business is a potential domain for industrial internet 

applications. By using sensors to monitor 

their equipment and processes, companies can 

collect asset-related data and utilize information 

technology and analytics to predict 

maintenance needs. 

Text: Miia Martinsuo, Tampere University 



CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE can 

increase resource efficiency and optimize 

manufacturing processes. With real-time 

monitoring, industrial internet 

can promote high-quality maintenance 

services and related customer benefits. 

However, focusing merely on single 

pieces of equipment and their maintenance 

is insufficient, if we think about 

companies’ needs to improve the use 

and efficiency of their (or their customers’) 

entire installed base of equipment. 

The most significant benefits of the 

industrial internet lie in maintenance 

service business, when the use of the 

entire installed base of equipment is 

optimized. What if you could receive and 

use real-time data and analytics about 

the state, performance, and problems 

of all equipment at a factory site or at 

all sites in a certain business region? At 

their performance regularly. In this way, 

industrial internet could be perceived as 

an excellent mechanism for follow-up 

and control, as well as a means to drive 

strategic development in a manufacturing 

facility. 

One challenge with the early-phase 

experiments of the industrial internet 

deals with the non-strategic position of 

maintenance in the operations of manufacturing 

firms. Another challenge is 

the sensitivity and confidentiality of the 

industrial data. If a manufacturing firm 

conducts its own maintenance operations, 

managers may find it difficult to 

justify the investments into industrial 

internet applications, because maintenance 

is mistakenly considered as nonstrategic. 

Should a firm experiment with 

industrial internet at all, if they know 

that the full-scale implementation will 

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IOT WILL ENABLE A MORE CENTRAL 

POSITION FOR MAINTENANCE IN THE STRATEGIES OF 

MANUFACTURING FIRMS. 

its best, industrial internet can make 

maintenance services very strategic: 

they can be a vehicle for implementing a 

company strategy, through ensuring the 

achievement of goals regarding production 

volumes, quality and service levels. 

While many companies are experimenting 

with the use of industrial internet 

applications at the level of the installed 

base of equipment, the strategic nature 

of such applications is not yet, thoroughly 

understood. 

Connecting Strategic 

Objectives with Data from the 

Installed Base of Equipment 

Industrial data may deal with the condition, 

use, state and errors of a certain 

piece of equipment. At the level of a production 

facility, this data can and should 

be brought to the level of entire processes 

and converted to inform about the 

condition, use, state and errors of those 

processes. Such information can be very 

useful for assessing the capacity, utilization, 

volumes and lead times of the processes. 

This information, in fact, is very 

strategic, because it deals directly with 

the efficiency and effectiveness of the 

processes. Companies set measurable 

objectives for these issues and follow up 

require significant investments? Should 

millions be invested, if maintenance 

is “only” a support function and can 

operate quite well even without those 

investments? If, on the other hand, the 

manufacturing firm has outsourced or 

sources maintenance operations from a 

partner firm because such services are 

considered as non-strategic, they face 

the risks dealing with contractually governed 

boundaries between firms, also in 

the industrial internet applications. Can 

the maintenance partners be given access 

to equipment data that can basically 

reveal production volumes and other 

performance information, directly associated 

with strategy? Can the partners 

be trusted? 

Toward More Strategic 

Maintenance Services in the 

Industrial Internet 

When designing and experimenting with 

industrial internet applications, manufacturing 

firms need to face and respond 

to questions about the position of maintenance 

in their business. How strategic 

is maintenance for us? How should we 

invest in developing maintenance operations? 

Shall we do maintenance ourselves, 

or procure it from external sup- 



pliers? How can we develop and enhance 

trust in the supplier relationships? It is 

very possible that industrial internet will 

enable a more central position for maintenance 

in the strategies of manufacturing 

firms, if the firms realize the connections 

between equipment data, related 

maintenance services, and the strategic 

production objectives. This understanding 

can create various new possibilities 

to sharpen the strategic profile of the 

firm and to initiate new start-up firms to 

offer maintenance services. 

In-House Strategic Maintenance 

as an Option. If maintenance 

is perceived as a strategic function of a 

manufacturing firm, it can no longer be 

treated as merely repair, maintenance, 

spare parts and installation operations. 

Offering predictive, condition-based 

maintenance based on actual processlevel 

use and status data will imply better 

readiness for using the installed base of 

equipment. This can mean practically 

even higher capacity or utilization rates 

in the manufacturing processes. With 

better capacity or utilization rates, a 

firm can avoid or delay new equipment 

investments. With higher efficiency, the 

firm can expand their customer base 

and increase their volume goals, or redirect 

their resource use. Furthermore, 


the firm may consider expanding the 

customer base for their maintenance 

services, outside of their own facilities. 

The capabilities for industrial internet 

applications can even create new service 

business with new customers, open up 

new business areas, and enable strategic 

reorientation for the firm. With the move 

towards services, the firm may need new 

business models, new pricing logics and 

customer relationships and, possibly, 

withdrawal from some old businesses. 

Sourced Maintenance as an Option. 

If the firm adopts a partnership 

approach, the manufacturing firm can 

delegate its maintenance to external 

suppliers. It can either outsource the 

maintenance operations and industrial 

internet solution development to these 

suppliers, or establish strong relationships 

with such partners to co-develop 

the solutions together. It is possible that 

extant maintenance service supplier 

firms are not yet, fully equipped with all 

the competences concerning industrial 

internet, information systems, analytics, 

and maintenance services, or that 

they are not yet, operating on a global 

scale. Therefore, manufacturing firms 

may need to support the suppliers’ capability 

development or encourage the 

creation of new start-up firms to offer 

such services. Activating joint research 

may be useful in promoting both actors’ 

strategic development and growth. With 

external suppliers, the manufacturing 

firms can also redirect their strategies 

and establish such reward mechanisms 

that link maintenance costs to service 

performance or other mutual benefits. 

Besides technical investments, there 

will be a need to develop new business 

logics, ways of operating, and even a new 

collaboration culture in the partnership, 

so that mutual benefits can be achieved. 

The issues concerning trust and sensitivity 

in data sharing can be solved through 

contractual mechanisms and tight cooperation. 

Conclusions 

The commercial use of industrial internet 

applications in manufacturing firms’ 

maintenance operations will require 

much more than just technical development. 

Adopting industrial internet 

into maintenance services must be seen 

as a strategic development task where 

changes take place in the firm’s market 

position, business model, and business 

relationships. Achieving the expected 

benefits will require comprehensive 

understanding about the connections between 

equipment data and a firm’s strategic 

objectives. As characterized above, 

industrial data can in fact communicate 

strategic information about production 

performance and, thereby, guide production 

control and development. On the 

other hand, it may require re-organizing 

a firm’s own operations and setting up 

new business relationships. 

Progress in implementing industrial 

internet applications in maintenance 

has been fairly slow. This may reflect the 

complexity and large scope of the maintenance 

system as well as companies’ 

risk awareness and caution when facing 

the new information-centric world. 

While modern information technology 

evolves fast, its system-wide implementation 

would require continuity, 

complete reliability and broad diffusion 

across the industry. Only time will tell 

if firms will perceive maintenance in a 

more strategic light in the future. It is 

possible that some first-movers in implementing 

industrial internet applications 

and making maintenance more strategic 

can gain competitive advantage in the 

digitally-enhanced business environment. 

This bravery will, however, demand 

proactive risk management.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

Erosion in Wind 

Turbine Blades Solved 

with the Help of AI 

The erosion of materials used in wind turbine 

blades caused by harsh weather conditions is a 

problem that applies to the whole wind energy 

sector. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland’s 

antiAGE project has found a functional solution to 

the material problem with the help of artificial intelligence 

and 3D printing. 

THE EROSION OF WIND turbine blade 

material is a surprisingly costly problem, 

which no one had been able to solve 

before. 

- The blade material erodes due to 

the effect of rain, hailstones and sand 

dust, which significantly reduces the 

service life of wind turbines. Accelerated 

replacement of turbines becomes expensive: 

up to 2–4 percent of the value of all 

wind-generated power is lost as a result 

of this problem, says Principal Scientist 

Anssi Laukkanen from VTT. 

- It is a question of a classic problem 

within this particular industry that costs 

billions of euros and brings additional 

costs to all wind energy. As wind turbine 

sizes increase and wind farms are placed 

out on the sea in increasingly demanding 

conditions, the significance of the 

problem becomes emphasised, says 

Laukkanen. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) finds 

an optimal solution 

In its antiAGE project, VTT modelled 

the material problem and set out to solve 

it virtually. This is the first time that AI 

was used for developing a material solution 

in this scale. 

In principle, it is possible to find an 

unlimited number of different variations 

for the material used in wind turbine 

blades composed of the same material 

components but differing slightly from 

one another. Of all these alternatives, 

one would need to find the one that is 

best suited for this particular purpose 

and meets its operational requirements. 

- Human perceptive skills are insufficient 

to visualise all the dimensions 

related to the optimisation of material 

solutions. AI, on the other hand, is capable 

of unravelling very complicated 

cause-and-effect relationships, simulating 

solutions and going through an infinite 

number of alternatives to find the 

one that works best in relation to the requirements 

set”, Laukkanen points out. 

3D printing brings flexibility 

to manufacturing 

In principle, using AI, it would be possible 

to find a tailored material solution 

optimised for a specific purpose for 

every component of any single product. 

However, manufacturing of such highly 

tailored materials would be difficult if 

traditional manufacturing techniques 

were used. 

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, 

offers an opportunity to produce the 

BY 2030 WIND POWER 

WILL GROW TO A MAJOR 

GENERATION TECHNOLOGY, 

EXPECTED TO PRODUCE 

AROUND 15 % OF GLOBAL 

ELECTRICITY. 


ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

desired material in any shape without 

unreasonable costs. When applied like 

this, 3D printing will do exactly what it is 

supposed to do. 

Cooperation with wind 

turbine manufacturers to 

begin next year 

The results of the antiAGE project exceeded 

expectations. Through a design 

process using virtual testing and machine 

learning, VTT was able to develop 

an optimised solution to a very difficult 

material problem in less than a year: a 

highly durable material that hardens 

when exposed to mechanical stress. 

- When we published the news about 

our solution, wind turbine manufacturers 

became immediately interested in 

it. We are now negotiating details with 

commercial operators, Laukkanen reports. 

VTT said is also applying for additional 

funding for the project, since there are 

plenty of targets for optimised material 

solutions in other sectors of industry as 

well. The more complex the product, the 

more expensive it is to develop materials 

suited for a specific purpose, and 

the more difficult it is in general to find 

material solutions that perform well. AI 

allows such problems to be addressed 

with efficiency. 


MARITIME INDUSTRY 

Shipowners on the 

Baltic Sea are Highly 

Environmentally Aware 

Sulphur and nitrogen emissions of ships are well under control in the Baltic Sea. 

One of the most important short-term goals of the industry is to promote the 

development and adoption of fossil-free 



IN THE SHORT TERM, Finland’s ship owners 

aim to promote the development 

and adoption of fossil-free fuels to help 

combat climate change. In regard to carbon 

dioxide emissions, all of the parties 

involved must work together. Alongside 

ship owners, efforts will be required of 

fuel manufacturers, as well as the country’s 

ports and cities. 

For example, the CO2 concentrations 

of fossil fuels can be reduced by mixing 

them with bio-components such as 

waste and residues. Finnish oil refining 

and marketing company Neste Oyj has 

begun a Renewable Marine Fuel programme, 

and the company’s marine fuels 

are a good solution to reduce sulphur 

emissions and meet the tightening regulations 

without having to make investments 

or modifications to the vessels. 

Finland’s ports are also working to 

improve factors such as shore power for 

ships. The Carbon-Neutral Port 2035 

programme, which kicked off in 2017, is 

based around the Carbon-Neutral Helsinki 

2035 project. The target of carbonneutrality 

by 2035 – meaning zero emissions 

– refers to the emissions caused by 

the Port of Helsinki’s own operations. At 

the same time, it also seeks to influence 

the emissions of other entities operating 

in the port area. 

- Because our operations only account 

for a fraction of the total emissions 

in the area, we need to use various 

incentives to get our stakeholders, such 

as port operators, shipping companies 

and logistics and transportation operators 

in the port area – to reduce their environmental 

emissions, Andreas Slotte, 

Head of Sustainable Development at the 

Port of Helsinki, said in an interview. 

Within its own operations, the Port 

of Helsinki is making brisk progress 

towards its objective of zero emissions 

by 2035. The energy efficiency of the 

Port’s buildings has been boosted over 

the course of several years thanks to 

measures such as new lighting solutions. 

Renewable forms of energy, such as solar 

power, now account for a greater proportion 

of the total. For example, the electricity 

consumption at Vuosaari cargo 

harbour has decreased to less than half 

of the amount recorded in 2009 – the 

year when the harbour was taken into 

use. 

A range of incentives are commonly 

used in the Baltic Sea area to encourage 

discharge of wastes at harbours. Each of 

the Port of Helsinki’s quays is equipped 

to allow for direct discharge of waste water 

into the sewer network, from where 

it is transported directly to HSY for processing. 

A separate charge is not levied 

for discharging waste waters providing 

an incentive for ship owners to discharge 

their waste water to be processed on 

shore. 

- In 2016 we also implemented a new 

price incentive: a 20% discount on solid 

and oily waste charges if waste water is 

also discharged at the harbour. In 2016 

nearly 90 percent of international cruise 

ships discharged waste water at the Port 

of Helsinki’s quays. 

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME 

SHIPPING ACCOUNTS FOR 

2.7 PERCENT OF ANNUAL 

GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS 

EMISSIONS. 

Tallink Silja aims to 

reduce emissions 

By 2050, Finland aims to reduce the 

absolute greenhouse gas emissions from 

seafaring by 50 percent in comparison 

with 2008. Fossil-free seafaring should 

be a reality by the end of the century. 

Firstly, Tallink Silja intends to fit 

its ships with shore power capabilities, 

as well as batteries for hybrid operation. 

Batteries can help to reduce the 

use of auxiliary engines while the ship 

performs port operations. Secondly, 

Tallink Group is already operating the 

M/S Megastar, a next-generation vessel 

running on LNG. In addition, a letter of 

intent has been signed on the construction 

of a new, environmentally friendly 

ship. Thirdly, the waste heat output by 

the ship’s engines is recovered and used 

for the ship’s various functions. 

Tallink and Silja Line ships use a 

real-time fuel monitoring system, which 

enables the passage of the ship to be optimized, 

thereby reducing fuel consumption 

and emissions. 

Digital technology is being put to use. 

For example, the Silja Serenade ship, 

which operates the route between Helsinki 

and Stockholm, is involved in Business 

Finland’s INTENS project, which 

aims to improve the energy efficiency of 

ships and reduce their emissions. 

The EU’s LeanShips project also seeks 

to improve energy efficiency, and Victoria 

I, which operates the route between 

Tallinn and Stockholm, is involved in 

this project. 

Tallink Group is already operating 

the M/S Megastar, a next-generation 

vessel running on LNG. In addition, the 

shipping company has recently signed 

a contract on the construction of a new, 

environmentally friendly ship. 

Viking Line considers 

LNG a good alternative 

Like others, Viking Line, a Finnish passenger 

shipping company, has made 

substantial investments in the energy efficiency 

of its ships and in cleaner fuels. 

According to Ulf Hagström, Senior Vice 

President of Marine Operations & Newbuilds, 

LNG is a good option for the fuel 

of the future on the Baltic Sea – but it is 

just one of many. 

Viking Line’s M/S Grace, which entered 

service in 2013, gained fame as the 




world’s first LNG-powered passenger 

vessel and, since then, the ship has bunkered 

gas more than 1,000 times. Viking 

has a supply agreement with AGA Gas Ab, 

which refuels the ship with its bunkering 

vessels as it sails the route between 

Turku, Mariehamn and Stockholm. 

- We have had very good experiences 

with LNG at sea. LNG could easily become 

one of the future marine fuels on 

the Baltic Sea. However, there are other 

energy solutions. We are also considering 

hybrid solutions, batteries, biogas, 

ethanol and, of course, rotor sails, which 

we have trialled, Hagström explains. 

The M/S Viking Grace uses Norsepower’s 

rotor sails, which were fitted 

about one year ago. In Hagström’s opinion, 

it is still too soon to say anything definitive 

about the savings available with 

rotor sails. 

The M/S Viking Grace uses Norsepower’s 

rotor sails. The company’s new 

flagship, now under construction in 

China, will be fitted with LNG solutions 

as well as rotor sails. 

The new flagship will also have sails 

The ship owner’s managers have decided 

to incorporate LNG and rotor sails 

into Viking Line’s future plans. The company 

currently has a new flagship under 

construction in China, and the new 

vessel will be fitted with LNG solutions, 

as well as two Norsepower rotor sails. 

The new-build, which has not yet been 

named, will begin operating the route 

between Turku, Åland and Stockholm in 

early 2021. 

The new vessel will be larger than Viking 

Grace but, despite this, calculations 

have shown that it will consume ten percent 

less fuel. The energy efficiency of 

the flagship will be world-class. 

Ulf Hagström says that Viking is always 

considering other energy solutions, 

such as biofuels, ethanol, fuel cells and 

batteries. 

- The problem with biofuels is one of 

availability, so they are not a short-term 

volume solution for seafaring. Ships need 

such enormous volumes of biogas and 

there is simply not enough of this fuel 

available, he says, adding that hybrid solutions 

for energy generation will play an 

important part in the future of shipping. 

- As batteries develop, fully electric 

ships may become widespread on suitably 

short routes. Some experience has been 

gained in this area in places such as Norway. 

Nonetheless, I have greater belief in 

hybrid solutions, such as combining electricity 

with different fuels, he says. 

On the M/S Finlandia, microbes unblock 

pipes 

Eckerö Line’s M/S Finlandia is the 

only ship sailing between Helsinki and 

Tallinn under the Finnish flag. Seafaring 

is one of the most heavily regulated sectors, 

so shipping companies are subject 

to a large number of directives and laws 

related to safety and the environment. 

Eckerö Line’s goal is to minimize its 

burden on the environment. To achieve 

this, the shipping company is developing 

new procedures for handling the emissions 

and waste products from ships. 

To this end, M/S Finlandia began 

working with ProtectPipe, a company 

in the microbiotechnology sector, in 

summer 2018. Eckerö Line is seeking to 

replace chemicals with environmentally 

friendly solutions. ProtectPipe’s microbial 

solution fits the bill exactly – a natural 

alternative to conventional sewage 

chemicals. 

The kitchens aboard the M/S Finlandia 

began using ProtectPipe’s biological 

floor wash, BioFloor, which contains living 

microbial strains that eat the grease 

and other organic waste that is stuck to 

the floor. 

The floor is first rinsed, and then the 

microbial solution is spread evenly over 

it. At the end of the process, the floor is 

dried using a squeegee, so the solution 

ends up in all of the floor drains. The 

microbes feed on the organic waste that 

builds up in pipes, forming a biofilm on 

the interior surface, thereby preventing 

new material from sticking to the pipe 

and causing blockages. 

Read more on the topic at https:// 

fmc-yearbook.com/ (Finnish Marine 

Cluster Yearbook 2019) 

CARBON EMISSIONS FAQ 

ACCORDING TO a recent report of an 

IMO expert working group, international 

maritime shipping accounts for 

2.7 percent of annual global greenhouse 

gas emissions 

A ton of goods can be shipped 

from the Port of Melbourne, Australia 

to the Port of Long Beach, U.S.A, a 

distance of 12,770 kilometres (7,935 

miles) while generating fewer CO2 

emissions than are generated when 

transporting the same cargo in the 

U.S. by truck from Dallas to Long 

Beach, a distance of 2,307 kilometres 

(1,442 miles). 

The wine industry recently found 

that a bottle of French wine served 

in a New York restaurant will have 

a lower carbon transportation footprint 

than a bottle of California wine 

served in that restaurant. 

A whitepaper released for the 

Transport Intelligence Europe Conference 

states that researchers conducting 

an evaluation for the World 

Economic Forum “found that the 

entire container voyage from China to 

Europe is equalled in CO2 emissions 

by about 200 kilometres of longhaul 

trucking in Europe. So, for most 

freight, which is slow moving, there is 

not really a green benefit to moving 

production to Europe.” 

The size and global nature of the 

shipping industry makes it important 

for the industry to continuously work 

to reduce its environmental impact. 

There is evidence that the industry 

has already made significant progress. 

A recent study by Lloyd’s Register 

found that the fuel efficiency of 

container ships (4500 TEU capacity) 

has improved 35 percent between 

1985 and 2008. 

Source: http://www.worldshipping.org

Maintworld 2/2019

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