Maintworld Magazine 3-4/2022

3-4/2022 maintworld.com 

maintenance & asset management 

The Future of 

Work - Yuval 

Noah Harari 

p 12 

Virtual Reality 

in Global 

Maintenance 

Training 

p 35 

Reducing 

Emissions 

from Source 

Points p 8

EDITORIAL 

NETWORKING IS GOOD 

After a long period of COVID-19 restrictions, the networking world is 

approaching a normal situation. This issue of Maintworld magazine is 

distributed at Ecomondo, the green technology expo in Italy. We have also 

seen several other events and fairs organized in almost normal circumstances 

all over Europe. The statistics from event organizers show that the number of visitors 

at fairs in 2022 has dropped about 30%-40% from the “normal” figures. Organizers 

assume that the event industry will be back to traditional business figures in five years. 

The big thing for EFNMS is the upcoming Euromaintenance event in Rotterdam, 

the Netherlands, which will take place between 17-19th of April 2023 (https://www. 

euromaintenance.net/). There has been a long break after Euromaintenance 2018, 

which was held in Antwerp, Belgium. Euromaintenance 2023 in Rotterdam will again 

bring the top players in the maintenance industry together – again with excellent 

conference content and combined with the Maintenance NEXT exhibition. 

As we know, there are dark clouds in the sky concerning the situation in Europe – 

we can all see the rising energy prices and the uncertainty of international business. 

The interest in improving energy efficiency is rising, and professional maintenance is 

an effective part of energy efficiency and a circular economy. Most probably during the 

coming winter, we will see and develop new, innovative ways to save energy and get the 

most out of the materials and tools we are using. To ensure and support this, we must 

further improve cooperation between countries and business organizations. 

On a personal level, this means that we must be patient and tolerate a few negative 

things. At the same time, we must get back on track with external activities. In Finland’s 

military history, we have a saying that goes “do not lie down under fire” – stand up and 

continue. We have seen that people and organizations are not very determined and 

focus-oriented in a new situation. Now more than ever, we need to be fast and focused 

on improving things, make new innovations, and be open to new ideas and contacts. 

Global and European-level networking is needed, and it is vital for companies and 

personal development. To get the most out of networking, we need to understand with 

whom and for what we need to connect. To help this kind of thinking, EFNMS has 

been working with an EFNMS-survey, which will be launched in mid-November 2022. 

The results of this survey will be reported during the Euromaintenance 2023 event 

in Rotterdam. Those answering the survey will get a survey-report after the survey 

is finalized in mid-March 2023. More information is coming later via the EFNMS 

webpage and other media. 

Hope to see you at the latest in Rotterdam in April 2023! 

Now more than 

ever, we need 

to be focused 

on improving 

things and 

being open 

to new ideas 

and contacts. 

Jaakko Tennilä 

Executive Director / Board member 

Finnish maintenance society, Promaint / EFNMS, European Federation of National Maintenance Societies 

Issued by Promaint (Finnish Maintenance Society), Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki, Finland, tel. +358 29 007 4570 Publisher Omnipress Oy, Väritehtaankatu 8, 

4. kerros, 01300 Vantaa, tel. +358 20 6100, omnipress.fi Editor-in-chief Juha Peltonen, tel. +358 50 554 6426, juha.peltonen@media.fi Producer Mia Heiskanen, 

tel. +358 40 615 5058, mia.heiskanen@media.fi Advertisements Tanja Lukkarinen, Customer Manager, tel. +358 40 529 3628, tanja.lukkarinen@media.fi 

Layout Menu Meedia, www.menuk.ee Subscriptions and change of address members toimisto@kunnossapito.fi, non-members tilaajapalvelu@media.fi 

Printed by Reusner, www.reusner.ee Frequency 4 issues per year, ISSN L 1798-7024, ISSN 1798-7024 (print), ISSN 1799-8670 (online).

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Automation is not 

a one-off event but 

a cascade of disuption. 

12 

AI 

and robotics will change 

almost every profession, says 

the best-selling author Yuval 

Noah Harari 

2 Editorial 

8 

Reducing emissions 

from source points 

12 

What Will the Future of Work 

Be Like? 

18 

22 

Condition monitoring 

secures transition to carbonneutral 

energy 

Avoid the Dangers of 

Failing Steam Traps 

24 

26 

28 

32 

35 

Why Is Industry 5.0 

A Good Thing 

For Manufacturing 

Testing through digital glasses 

Air Quality - a breathtaking 

challenge 

Steps to Create a Reliable 

Manufacturing Culture 

An elevator that transports 

to virtual reality 

28 

Monitoring air pollutant 

emissions is in sharp 

focus for a range of 

industries. 

4 maintworld 3-4/2022

In this 

issue 

3-4/2022 

36 

= 

40 

42 

46 

49 

Energy Cyber Security in the Nordics 

EFNMS - Finnish Maintenance Society, 

Promaint 

Automation of Mobile Machines 

Call for Maintenance Development 

Work and safety development 

at the nuclear power plant 

46 

In 

the future, mobile machines 

will be electrified 

and highly automated. 

3-4/2022 maintworld 5

In Short 

World Economy Study predicts by 2025, 

digital technologies will create over 

12 million more jobs than they eliminate. 

New career pathways 

A study by MIT and Boston University found that the negative impact of automation on the job 

market can be offset by new tasks as “all technologies create productivity effects that contribute 

to labor demand.” This is corroborated by a World Economic Forum study that predicts by 2025, 

digital technologies will create at least 12 million more jobs than they eliminate, as people with 

the right skills will be needed to program, maintain and repair them. 

THESE EMERGING, specialized roles also provide 

workers with safer and more fulfilling career 

pathways as automation and robotics have not 

resulted in any mass workforce reductions among 

factory floor workers. Instead, these workers have 

been redeployed or transferred to serve other 

production needs or upskilled to perform specialized 

roles. It is not uncommon to convert assembly 

operators and testers to line-compliance auditors or 

robotics technicians. By filling the jobs created by 

automation, employers can level the playing field 

for people with disabilities and other disadvantages. 

For example, the use of robotics can eliminate the 

“ability to lift” requirement, making a job more 

accessible. 

DISCOVER 

The World Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future 

of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning brings together 

global stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of transparent and 

inclusive AI, so the technology can be deployed in a safe, ethical and 

responsible way. 

• The Forum created a toolkit for human resources to promote 

positive and ethical human-centred use of AI for organizations, 

workers and society. 

• The Forum’s Empowering AI Leadership: AI C-Suite 

Toolkit provides practical tools to help companies better 

understand the ethical and business impact of their AI 

investment. The Model AI Governance Framework features 

responsible practices of leading companies from different 

sectors that organizations can adopt in a similar manner. 

www.weforum.org/platforms/shaping-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning 

www.weforum.org/projects/human-centred-artificial-intelligence-for-human-resources 

Swedish Steel Prize 2023 - Call for entries 

APPLICATIONS ARE BEING ACCEPTED for the 

Swedish Steel Prize 2023 – the steel industry’s 

most prestigious international award – now 

for the 21st time celebrating innovative steel 

solutions. 

The Swedish Steel Prize recognizes those who 

fully utilize the potential of steel to improve not 

only their business or industry, but also society. 

“The Swedish Steel Prize is a celebration of 

innovation and good engineering,” explains Eva 

Petursson, Chair of the Swedish Steel Prize Jury 

and Head of SSAB’s Research and Innovation. “We 

are looking for solutions that push the limits of 

steel and with a sustainable or digital twist.” 

The Swedish Steel Prize is open to any 

individual, company or institution and is awarded 

to the method or product that best displays how 

the properties of the chosen grade of steel has 

contributed to a significant innovation. 

For the full rules, to read about previous 

finalists and to apply, applicants can go to www. 

steelprize.com/apply. All applications must be 

received before the deadline of January 18, 2023 

for consideration. 


2027 

The 

Global Logistics Automation Market size was 

estimated at USD 54.57 billion in 2021, USD 59.91 billion 

in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 9.95 % to reach 

USD 96.47 billion by 2027. 

Save 

the dates 

for 2023 

DATE DESIGN 

Automation and Test in Europe 

Conference and Exhibition 

Antwerpen, Belgium 

17. - 19.4.2023 

EUROMAINTENANCE 

CONGRESS AND EUROMAINTE- 

NANCE NEXT FAIR 

Industrial Maintenance and Asset 

Management European Congress 

Rotterdam, Netherlands 

17 - 19.4.2023 

ABB expands condition 

monitoring with 

Samotics partnership 

ABB AND SAMOTICS, a leading provider of electrical signature analysis technology, 

have entered a strategic partnership to provide enhanced condition monitoring services 

by delivering greater insight into machine health and energy efficiency. 

ABB will integrate Samotics’ plug-and-play monitoring solution known as SAM4 into 

its digital portfolio. The technology is complementary to the ABB Ability Condition 

Monitoring service for powertrains, a sensor-based solution that analyses the health 

and performance of rotating equipment. Samotics’ SAM4 technology will expand ABB’s 

application of asset health monitoring for motor-driven industrial equipment as it does 

not rely on mounting sensors in the field. 

ABB and Samotics say developing a system that uses both datasets will provide 

industrial operators with a more detailed view of asset health so that they can make 

better decisions to optimize maintenance, boost reliability and reduce downtime. ABB 

plans to roll out Samotics technology to customers before the end of 2022 as part of its 

growing service portfolio for rotating equipment. 

MAINTENANCE DORTMUND 

International Industrial 

Maintenance Exhibition 

Dortmund, Germany 

24. - 26.5.2023 

SIMIEX 

International Industrial 

Maintenance Exhibition 

Porto, Portugal 31.5 – 3.6.2023 

MAINTEC 

Maintec is the UK's premier event 

for the maintenance engineering 

and asset management community 

Birmingham, UK 6. - 8.7.2023 

MANUFACTURING 

EXPO ASEAN’S 

Leading Machinery and 

Technology Event for 

Manufacturing and 

Supporting Industries 

Bangkok, Thailand 21. - 24.6.2023 

We estimate the size of the Enterprise 

Automation market at just shy of $10 

billion in 2022, with a forecast 5-year CAGR 

of approximately 14.8%. 

Enterprise Automation Market Analysis: 2022-26 by Alan Pelz-Sharpe, 

Matt Mullen, and Dan Lucarini, Deep Analysis. 


OIL&GAS 

Reducing emissions 

from source points - 

necessary than ever 

The occurrence of unwanted 

emissions is a headache for the 

process industry because of the 

loss of raw materials, safety risks 

and environmental damage. 

TEXT: WOUTER OUDE GROOTHUIS 

IMAGES: COLIN ZEGERS ITIS BV, SHUTTERSTOCK 


OIL&GAS 

Examples of stem seal leakage - Source: ITIS 

In order to reduce such emissions, it is important 

to develop a valve testing system 

that allows the most common stem seals to 

be tested and compared. 

POTENTIAL LEAKS usually occur at so-called 

source points: seals either in or between pipes and/ 

or vessels. Valves are an example of this. A valve 

consists of an upper part and a valve body with an 

orifice. By means of a spindle, a valve is manually or 

mechanically moved to position 'open' and 'position 

closed', respectively This means that the product 

flow is proportional to the size of the valve opening. 

An estimated 60% of unwanted emissions are 

due to valves, and are mainly caused by decreasing 

by loss of compression. A compressible stem seal 

seals when a certain surface pressure is applied 

to it by means of a gland bush. The stem seal is 

thereby pressed radially but deflects in an axial direction, 

and this movement causes it to seal. 

So the question is, why does this compression 

rate decrease? 

To answer this, endurance tests were carried 

out by ITIS in Goes The Netherlands. Director 

Colin Zegers explains the choice for that specific 

location. 

“We have test bunkers here in which, among 

other things, valves and sealing materials can be 

tested for leaks. This testing is done using the socalled 

sniffer-pressure method in accordance with 

internationally recognised standards.” 

A compression stem packing of the valve could 

contain five or six rings of gaskets, all of which are 

60% 

10% 15% 

normally fitted and pressed on at the same time. 

The top gasket ring then appears to perform its 

sealing role well, but the same is not true, or is less 

true, for the remaining rings. 

“The idea is that each ring is basically compressed 

by 30% before the next one is installed. 

That way you get an optimal distribution of forces 

across rings. If you only pre-compress some of the 

rings, which is obviously a lot faster, then they have 

to do all the work; the rest is just 'padding'. The less 

the precompression, the harder the packing rings 

5% 

10% 

Valves Tanks Relief Valves Flanges Pumps 

Figure: Sources of 

fugitive emissions in 

the process industry 

(source: European 

Sealing Association) 


OIL&GAS 

have to be tightened, and then, due to deformation 

of the rings, at some point it has to stop”, Zegers 

explains. 

THE TESTS are always conducted under the 

same pressure and temperature conditions. The 

stem seals are assembled in the same way and 

tightened with the same force. By placing special 

pressure sensors on the valve, the force required 

to tighten gasket pusher bolts can be measured, 

ensuring optimal sealing action. 

“By mounting so-called smart positioners 

on the control valves, it becomes possible to 

measure the number and size of the valve movements, 

often in combination with the pressures 

and temperatures of the process. To make the 

whole thing even 'smarter', insofar as possible, 

sensors for measuring and predicting emissions 

are linked to the positioners already in place.” 

It has been established empirically that the 

force of tightening the gland bush, the type of 

stem seal and the number of turns are interrelated. 

Furthermore, a gasket is found to relax 

immediately after tightening - decrease in prepressure 

- resulting in loss of bolt tension. This 

has a negative impact on the leak proofing of the 

valve. Several factors influence this. 

“Consider the make and type of stem seal, 

alignment, tolerances, roughness and temperature. 

After relaxation, the axial force is too low, 

the upper ring is tightened, but cannot tolerate 

this and deforms, resulting in a (partial) drop in 

surface pressure and leakage reoccurs. The reason 

for this relaxation has not been established 

at this time; further research will have to be 

done into this.” 

WHEN CHOOSING a particular brand and type of 

stem seal, factors such as pressure, temperature, 

type of gasket material in relation to the product 

and the maximum allowable leakage value must 

all be considered. The tests carried out show that 

dynamic valve seals leak under certain conditions, 

despite the fact that the process conditions specified 

by the manufacturer are met. 

Often, such values are not or not sufficiently 

substantiated by independent tests. What also does 

not help is the fact that there is as yet no standard or 

regulation for stem seals. In his role as team leader 

of the project, Zegers is currently writing a standard 

procedure for the best stem seal testing method. 

The aim is to standardise as much as possible 

per stem seal type and material, the method of 

assembly and the required compression. It is also 

important to unambiguously standardise the 

relationship between the force of tightening the 

pusher, the type of gasket and the number of tightening 

torques, so that everyone starts working in a 

uniform way and the results of those findings are 

interchangeable. 

“Currently, the claims made by manufacturers 

of stem seals are uncommitted and not verified 

against a standard. Fortunately, the ESA and 

many other stakeholders agree we need standardisation. 

In this way test reports 

will lead into increased 

product responsibility,” 

Zegers says. 

FUGITIVE EMISSIONS are the totality 

of unwanted and often irregular 

emissions of gases and/or vapours from 

equipment operating at overpressure. 

This contributes to environmental 

pollution and climate change as a function 

of the "global warming potential" of the 

substances involved. Scientific sources 

estimate that in the United States alone, 

125,000 tonnes are unintentionally 

released into the atmosphere every year. 

Fugitive Emission is basically the loss of 

useful resources. Thus, it makes sense 

from both a circular and purely 

economic point of view to minimise 

these emissions. This is done through 

good plant installation and 

maintenance practices. 


OIL&GAS 

Interreg project Circular Maintenance 

IN THIS PROJECT, several public and private partners are working together, led by the (Dutch) 

Knowledge and Innovation Centre Maintenance Process Industry (KicMPi) and the Belgian Maintenance 

Association (BEMAS), to reduce the material footprint of the process industry in the 

south of the Netherlands and Flanders, while at the same time achieving economic benefits. The 

project is supported by Interreg Flanders-Netherlands, a European program that finances crossborder 

projects for smart, green and inclusive growth. It is funded from the European Regional 

Development Fund (ERDF). 

The project has been delayed because of corona but more significantly because of its complexity. 

"As the project ends at the end of this year, we are looking into whether we can continue 

the studies and if so, in what way. Given the many thousands of tonnes of fugitive emissions 

annually, this is by no means an unnecessary luxury," says Zegers. 

A scanning system that tracks on-site valves that start showing leakage behaviour in the 

near future would therefore be ideal. In that regard, Zegers has good news. 

"Currently, a prototype test system is being built and tested in-house at ITIS as a kind of 

spin-off from the Interreg project. Unfortunately, due to the patent applications, I cannot and 

may not say more about that at the moment." 

The Interreg project officially ends on 31 December 2022. During the closing event on 15 

November, the results achieved will be shown and preliminary conclusions shared. To learn 

more visit www.circulaironderhoud.eu. 


MANAGEMENT 

What Will the 

Future of Work 

Be Like? 


MANAGEMENT 

TEXT: MIA HEISKANEN 

PHOTOS: NORDIC BUSINESS FORUM 

AI and robotics will change almost 

every profession, the historian, 

philosopher and best-selling author 

Yuval Noah Harari told the Nordic 

Business Forum audience in Helsinki. 


MANAGEMENT 

Harari was one of the most anticipated 

speakers in NBF Helsinki 

and he started his speech by reminding 

of one important fact 

about the job market in 2050—nobody 

knows what it’s going to be 

like. The only thing we can be certain of is that it will 

be completely different from what we know today. 

“Many jobs of today will disappear by 2050. 

The big question is, what will this do to the job 

market and human society?” 

PEOPLE ARE NERVOUS, BUT THE FEAR OF AUTO- 

MATION IS NOTHING NEW. Harari reminded the 

audience that automation has been around 

since the start of the industrial revolution. The 

challenge with it has never been the complete 

disappearance of jobs but rather adapting to 

the new jobs and the job market. Humans had 

a hard time learning how to adapt to the power 

of the steam engine and electricity. In the past, 

we’ve seen that when old jobs go, new jobs are 

created, and the same thing is likely to happen 

in the future. The fact is though that the technologies 

driving innovation today, such as AI, 

robotics, and bioengineering, are even more 

powerful. 

“We can not afford any more failed experiments. 

If we don’t get it right this time, the 

result will be a complete annihilation of humankind.” 

To get it right, the key question is what humans 

will be doing in 2050 and what kinds of 

jobs and tasks will be taken over by computers 

and robots? Harari reminded the audience 

that this question is not a theoretical question 

about the future but a very practical question 

about today. The key is to stay relevant. 

Harari told that 

nobody knows what 

the job market will be 

like in 2050. 


MANAGEMENT 

TO STAY RELEVANT IN THE 21ST CENTURY will 

require new skills and new attitudes like 

unlearning, relearning and processing information. 

According to Harari it means people 

need the ability to unlearn previous skills and 

approaches. The most important skill of the 

21st century will not be specific skills such as 

learning code, but the ability to master new 

skills and to move from one profession to another 

throughout our lives. We will also need 

to learn how to tell the difference between reliable 

and unreliable information. 

For thousands of years, the model was linear. 

First you learn, then you work. This model 

is now becoming irrelevant. As more and more 

activities move online, people in their sixties 

and seventies will still need to adapt. With 

virtual reality VR, they may even need to learn 

Automation has 

been around since 

the start of the industrial 

revolution. 

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, 

philosopher, author, and lecturer 

at the Department of History 

at the Hebrew University of 

Jerusalem. As a writer, his bestknown 

works include Sapiens: 

A Brief History of Humankind, 

Homo Deus: A Brief History of 

Tomorrow, and 21 Lessons for 

the 21st Century. 


MANAGEMENT 

how to walk and talk again in the VR world. As 

more jobs move into VR, those who can’t learn 

these skills will be left behind. 

“We’ll have big changes by 2025, bigger 

changes by 2035 and an even bigger revolution 

in 2045. Old jobs will disappear, new jobs 

will emerge, but the new jobs too will quickly 

change and vanish. People will have to retrain 

and reinvent themselves not just once but 

again and again and this will create psychological 

pressure.” 

The jobs which will be done by computers 

will depend on what humans want them to do. 

Do we want them to be more intelligent than 

us? If that’s the case, is it enough for computers 

to gain intelligence to take on certain tasks 

– such as driverless cars? Or do we want empathy, 

relationship or friendship? If so, that’s 

not possible to automate. What we want is not 

someone who can solve problems for us, but 

someone who can feel things. 

Harari pointed out that AI does not have 

any emotions of its own, but it can learn to 

recognize these patterns in human beings. 

Computers may outperform people in recognizing 

human emotions because they don’t 

have any emotions of their own. 

AS COMPUTERS BECOME MORE INTELLIGENT, 

some people are naturally raising the question 

of consciousness. On this, he is skeptical. 

“We shouldn’t confuse intelligence with consciousness. 

Contrary to what we see in science fiction 

films, there is no reason to think that as computers 

gain intelligence they will gain consciousness.” 

Consciousness is the ability to feel emotions. 

Intelligence is the ability to solve problems. 

Over the past half-century, we have seen 

a dramatic increase in computer intelligence. 

At the same time, we’ve seen precisely zero 

change in computer consciousness. Harari 

reminded the audience that there might be 

Nordic Business Forum 

gathered over 7,000 

business leaders from 

50 countries to Helsinki 

in September. 


MANAGEMENT 

Challenge the assumptions of today 

When it comes to automation, society has made assumptions that can be 

shown to be untrue. Harari raised some interesting points. 

WE TEND TO APPRECIATE INTELLECTUAL SKILLS RATHER THAN 

MANUAL SKILLS. In reality, it is intellectual professions such as doctors 

that are better suited for automation than for example nurses. 

AI CAN’T REPLACE HUMANS IN JOBS THAT NEED EMOTIONAL INTEL- 

LIGENCE. When it comes to identifying human emotions, computers may 

be better than humans. Understanding if someone is angry is about processing 

information from e.g. body language and expression. At its heart, 

this is the process of data processing which is one thing that AI excels at. 

Automation is not 

a one-off event but 

a cascade of disuption. 

several different roads leading to super-intelligence, 

and only some of the roads lead to 

consciousness. 

HARARI CHALLENGED THE WAY WE PERCEIVE 

WORK ROLES IN RELATION TO AUTOMATION. 

Some of the skills that we cherish as unique human 

abilities may actually be automated rather 

easily, whereas other skills that we tend to look 

down on may be far more difficult to automate. 

Take weddings, for example. On a technical level, 

the job of a priest can be automated much easier 

than anything else. All that is needed is to repeat 

the text and print out a certificate. So why, 

Harari asked, do we think car drivers should be 

worried, but priests are safe? 

Another example comes from health care. According 

to Harari it is easier to automate the job of 

a doctor than the job of a nurse. 

“Doctors mainly gather medical data, analyze 

it, provide a diagnosis, and recommend a treatment. 

It means the work is mainly about gathering 

data and finding patterns in that data. Pattern 

recognition and finding patterns is exactly 

what AI is doing better than human beings. In 

contrast, it is much more difficult to automate 

the jobs of a nurse who place bandages on injured 

people or give injections to a crying child. 

AI is very far from gaining the motor and social 

skills necessary to perform such tasks.” 

According to Harari AI is nowhere near its 

full potential and that is also true for human 

beings. “For every euro and minute we spend 

developing AI, we should spend at least a euro 

and a minute on exploring and developing our 

own minds.” 

All this requires a lot of mental flexibility, 

but the big question is: do we have what it 

takes to survive in the 21st century? Coping 

with the future of work, Harari believes, will 

be difficult in many ways. 

“It is stressful to reinvent yourself. If you’re a 

truck driver who has been replaced by a computer, 

how do you reinvent yourself with any other 

job which has not been automated”, he asked. 

EVEN IF YOU CAN ADJUST, it might not be a 

long-term solution because the job market will 

continue to change. Harari pointed out that 

the automation is not a one-off event. It will 

be a ‘cascade of ever bigger disruption’. 

To thrive in the new world, Harari argued 

that we will have to unleash the untapped potential 

of humankind. Preparing for the future 

starts with education today. 

“Consider a six-year-old girl, who starts her 

first grade in school, she will be 34 in 2050. 

What should we teach her today that she will 

have the necessary skills for the future job 

market,” Harari concluded. 


ENERGY 

Reliable condition monitoring 

secures transition to carbonneutral 

energy at Oulun 

Energia's biopower plant 

Oulun Energia’s Laanila 

power plant relies on Valmet’s 

condition monitoring, which is 

an integral element of the DNA 

distributed control system. 

TEXT: JUKKA NORTIO IMAGES: VALMET 

The City of Oulu in Finland aims 

to become carbon neutral by 

2035. This is why the local energy 

company Oulun Energia 

shares the same goal. While 

relinquishing fossil fuels, the 

company will also gradually reduce the use of 

peat as a source of energy. It will be replaced 

with wood pulp and non-recyclable waste 

fractions. 

The collaboration with 

Valmet’s professionals 

is seamless”, says 

Tim Onnela (right), 

who is responsible 

for machine condition 

monitoring at Oulun 

Energia. Tommi 

Karsikas (left) is 

Valmet’s Senior 

application specialist. 


ENERGY 

THE LAANILA BIOPOWER PLANT, which was 

opened for commercial use in 2020, plays an important 

role on the path towards carbon neutrality. 

Its operations are characterized by optimal 

fuel flexibility and the utilization of various side 

streams. 

The plant serves the energy needs of the 

growing city of Oulu. The power plant’s production 

capacity is 75 megawatts of electricity 

and 175 megawatts of district heat. If necessary, 

process steam can be supplied to the industrial 

facilities in the nearby Laanila area. 

The Laanila plant utilizes a Valmet multifuel 

boiler, flue gas treatment plant and plantwide 

DNA automation system. A Valmet CFB 

Boiler system, which features circulating fluidized 

bed technology, is used as the boiler. The 

solution’s fuel flexibility is very high. The boiler 

at Laanila can burn wood residuals, wood 

chips, sawdust, stump chips and peat as well as 

solid recovery fuel (SRF) received from Oulun 

Our goal was to equip 

our modern power 

plant with a condition 

monitoring system that would 

be as functional, reliable and 

versatile as possible. 

VIBRATION CONDITION MONITORING is a key 

element of the safe and efficient operations of 

an energy plant. The maintenance of the Laanila 

plant is assisted by Valmet DNA condition 

monitoring, which is included in the Valmet 

DNA automation system. 

“In the procurement phase, our goal was to 

equip our modern power plant with a condition 

monitoring system that would be as functional, 

reliable and versatile as possible. Valmet’s 

condition monitoring was the best fit for us, 

since it is part of the plant’s automation system. 

It is important to ensure seamless information 

flow within the system,” says Tim Onnela, who 

is in charge of condition monitoring at Oulun 

Energia. 

One important criterion in the purchase 

was to ensure that plant operators can smoothly 

use the condition monitoring system alongside 

the automation system in day-to-day work 

activities. The condition monitoring notifies 

operators of any deviations and predicts failure 

situations so that problems can be addressed 

before they cause major damage. 

Valmet prepared for the commissioning of 

the condition monitoring system by drawing 

up a condition monitoring plan for Oulun 

Energia. This involved planning automatic online 

measurements, scheduling periodic route 

measurements and applying them to the full 

scope of the condition monitoring solution. 

The commissioning also entailed defining the 

alarm limits for the measurements. 

Machine condition 

information is displayed 

in the same 

user interface as the 

process automation. 

Energia’s Rusko waste sorting plant. 

In the commissioning phase, the fuel mixture 

comprised 70 percent biomass, 15 percent 

SRF and the same amount of peat. As the plant 

gradually phases out peat, the share of SRF will 

increase to 30 percent. 

Thanks to Valmet’s flue gas cleaning system, 

the plant meets even the strictest emission 

requirements. The flue gas condenser included 

in the cleaning system generates 55 megawatts 

of district heat, which improves that plant’s 

energy efficiency and district heat capacity. 

The plant’s operation is controlled and monitored 

by Valmet DNA. It is an automation, 

safety and information management system, 

which also includes applications for emission 

monitoring and calculating the power plant’s 

key figures. The automation system and Valmet 

Industrial Internet applications optimize 

the plant’s operations in real time. 


ENERGY 

“The more critical measurements are now covered 

by the online condition monitoring, and the 

less critical ones will be measured with a portable 

analyzer. Online measurements are carried out 

multiple times a day, while the interval between 

manual measurements can be as long as four 

weeks,” Onnela says. 

The commissioning of the extensive plantwide 

condition monitoring system surprised Onnela 

in a good way. One reason behind the success was 

Valmet’s expert staff. Some of them were already 

familiar to Onnela, so working with them was 

effortless. 

“The collaboration with Valmet’s professionals 

is seamless. If any changes have been needed, the issues 

have been addressed immediately. Having support 

close at hand is important to us,” Onnela says. 

“The cooperation with Oulun Energia has been 

a good experience for many reasons, such as the 

company’s in-depth condition monitoring expertise 

and equipment-related knowledge. Oulun Energia 

also sees condition monitoring as an important part 

of a modern power plant’s operations that serves 

both those maintaining and operating the plant. 

The staff are also enthusiastic and willing to develop 

new solutions for demanding locations with 

Valmet. The collaboration has been extremely 

fruitful,” Valmet Automation’s Senior Application 

Specialist Tommi Karsikas says. 

THE COOPERATION has been pushed forward by 

piloting new technologies. Among the most interesting 

ones was testing Valmet WVS-100 and 

WMM-100 wireless vibration sensors with the 

feed screws of the boilers. It would have been 

very difficult and costly to install fixed sensors. 

The wireless sensors were tested for a period 

of six months. Encouraged by the good experiences, 

their use was extended, bringing the 

plant’s total number of wireless sensors to more 

than 100, equaling the number of fixed sensors. 

“The quality of Valmet’s wireless sensors is 

excellent, and they are fast to deploy,” Onnela 

says in praise of the products. 

Wireless Valmet WVS- 

100 vibration sensors 

are used for moving 

machines such as silo 

discharger motors 

and gearboxes. Wired 

RVT-120 sensors are 

used for the feedwater 

pump and other stationary 

machines. 


ENERGY 

That being said, it is unwise to install wireless 

sensors in every location, since they have 

batteries that require periodic recharging. 

Fixed wired sensors are favored for more critical 

points, such as blowers and large pumps. 

THE COMMON TASKS of condition monitoring 

include entering bearing data in the system 

and tuning the alarm limits in the context 

of process change related to a change in the 

raw material mixture, for example. Valmet’s 

condition monitoring system makes these 

measures simple. 

“Valmet DNA condition monitoring saves 

a lot of effort since you do not need to carry 

out all measurements manually. Another 

benefit is the system’s ability to take the 

rotation speed of devices controlled with frequency 

converters into account. The system 

retrieves the speed data from the automation 

system before measurement,” Onnela explains. 

The condition monitoring system has 

already saved the Laanila plant from significant 

trouble by detecting a fault in the 

bearing of a district heating pump motor 

bearing. If allowed to exacerbate, the issue 

could have led to severe equipment failure 

and costly repairs. This, too, demonstrated 

the importance of daily automatic measurements. 

Since the Laanila plant has found the condition 

monitoring system to be an excellent 

tool, its deployment is also being planned at 

the Toppila power plant and Laanila eco power 

plant. 

Oulun Energia power 

plants in figures 

LAANILA BIOPOWER PLANT 

Completed in 2020 

Fuel power 215 megawatts 

Electrical power 70 megawatts 

District heat power 175 megawatts 

LAANILA ECO POWER PLANT 



TOPPILA POWER PLANT 




District heat power 170 megawatts 

TOPPILA SOLAR POWER PLANT 


Power 270 kilowatts 

MERIKOSKI HYDROPOWER PLANT 



Smooth 

commissioning 

through cooperation. 


MAINTENANCE TECHNIQUES 

TEXT: PETER BOON – PRODUCT SPECIALIST AT UE SYSTEMS EUROPE 

IMAGES: UE SYSTEMS EUROPE 

Avoid the Dangers of 

Failing Steam Traps 

Failing steam traps and valves can mean serious 

trouble for your machines and equipment. 

During water hammering, 

moving fluids experience 

a sudden and powerful 

change in momentum, 

either changing 

direction or completely 

stopping, causing a high-pressure shockwave 

that spreads through a piping system, 

wreaking havoc on subsequent systems. 

This shockwave produces a banging 

or knocking sound that can be heard immediately 

after the shutoff takes place. 

This sudden change in direction or 

complete stop occurs when an open steam 

trap or valve is abruptly closed. When the 

valve is closed, the water no longer has 

an open route to take, and it either slams 

mercilessly into the valve or reverses direction 

and flows back into the pump. 

The Effects 

While it may not seem like much of a 

threat on the surface, as the water travels 

through the piping, it continues to build 

up momentum, and when this force is 

suddenly halted, it creates pressure spikes 

that can reach an excess of 10 times the 

operating pressure of the system. 

Water hammer requires swift and immediate 

action to prevent damage; failing 

to take action can have serious repercussions, 

including: 

• Pump and flow system damage: 

Recurring water hammer and the 

resulting force that it generates can 

cause considerable damage to other 

parts of the entire system, including 

pumps, steam traps, and valves. 

• Leaks: Over time, water hammer can 

damage and degrade the integrity of 

parts such as fittings and joints, leading 

to leaks. 

• Risk of Accidents: The resulting 

ruptured pipelines caused by water 

hammer can pose a serious threat 

22 maintworld 3-4/2022 

to the health and safety of your 

employees. Uncontrolled leaks 

increase the risk of slips, falls, 

and electrocution. 

• Unscheduled Downtime: 

Water hammer and 

its damaging effects can 

lead to costly repairs and 

equipment replacement. 

Prevention & Inspection 

Several other effective measures for 

preventing water hammer include: 

• Flushing old systems 

• Reducing the operating pressure 

• Adding pressure reducers and regulators 

in the supply line 

• Investing in air chambers for piping 

systems 

• Installing silent check valves to reduce 

the pressure 

Investments can also be made into acquiring 

inspection instruments: ultrasound 

is usually the most suited technology 

to inspect steam traps & valves, as 

these instruments can be used in any type 

of steam traps and inspection can be carried 

on while the system is in operation. 

Inspecting steam traps and valves with 

ultrasound is a simple method that can 

help quickly identify failing or defective 

steam traps and valves.

COLUMN 

Why Is Industry 5.0 

A Good Thing 

For Manufacturing 

Industry 5.0 is the term for the next step in the evolution of industrial processes. 

Industry 4.0 is poised to eke out the maximum efficiency and productivity possible 

for industries. The next stage is to introduce a human element to the production, 

which was not at all a factor in any of the previous industrial epochs. 

Industry 5.0 will put people at the center of operations. This includes customers, 

employees, and other individual stakeholders. In the drive for efficiency, the 

previous industrial epochs focused on production techniques and processes. 

People were not much of a concern in such a dynamic. With production efficiency 

peaking with Industry 4.0, the human element is pivotal in moving the 

industry forward. 

Customers did not have the luxury of purchasing personalized goods at affordable 

prices with standardized production. Industry 5.0 will change the paradigm 

by bringing affordable yet personalized products to customers. Improving 

customer experience in the product purchase journey and post-purchase will 

also be central for industry 5.0. 

The changes in industry 5.0 will create a space where manufacturing workers 

can be creative to better the customer experience. Industry 5.0 focuses on individuals 

by moving away from standardized products to custom solutions. Each 

item produced will differ from the previous one to accommodate individual 

preferences. Manufacturing and operations need to be dynamic to facilitate this 

change. 

Industry 3.0 and 4.0 dealt with the automation of production processes 

where the products and processes were standardized. With industry 5.0, 

manufacturers have to move to a whole new level of automation where neither 

products nor processes need not be standardized. These changes reflect a whole 

range of manufacturing processes from automating demand estimation to automating 

maintenance activities. 

Two technologies will be vital: 3D printing and collaborative robots. In due 

course of time, the cost of 3D printing technology will come down with technical 

improvements. This will make it accessible to a wide range of manufacturers 

and consumers. 

Collaborative robots or cobots are the other major technology critical for industry 

5.0. Most industrial robots of the current generation are geared towards 

automation and better efficiency. Collaborative robots have different purposes. 

They are designed to support human activities in manufacturing facilities. Cobots 

will take on the more physically intensive and mundane tasks. This gives 

employees the chance to indulge in more creative work to facilitate the custom 

requirements of consumers. 

Industry 5.0 will also place an increased focus on sustainability in manufacturing. 

The leaders in manufacturing realize the harm caused by the manufacturing 

industry to the environment. Sustainable manufacturing practices like 

the use of renewable sources of energy, carbon capture, use of sustainable materials 

will be increasingly relied on. The adoption of sustainable manufacturing 

is again putting humans and their well-being at the center of manufacturing 

activities. 

About the Author 

BRYAN CHRISTIANSEN is the 

founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. 

Limble is a mobile CMMS software 

that takes the stress and chaos 

out of maintenance by helping 

managers organize, automate, 

and streamline their maintenance 

operations. 


YOUR PARTNER IN 

ULTRASOUND 

INSTRUMENTS 

Leak Detection 

Bearing Condition Monitoring 

Bearing Lubrication 

Steam Traps & Valves 

Electrical Inspection 

TRAINING 

CAT & CAT II Ultrasound Training 

Onsite Implementation Training 

Application Specific Training 

CONTINUOUS SUPPORT 

Free support & license-free software 

Online Courses 

Free access to our Learning Center 

(webinars, articles, tutorials) 

UE SYSTEMS 

www.uesystems.com 

info@uesystems.com 

CONTACT US FOR AN 

ONSITE DEMONSTRATION

ADVERTORIAL 

Simon Lemin with 

VR-Glasses. 

On-site inspection of 

plants and components is a 

challenge in pandemic times. 

Smart glasses can make it 

easier to check plants and 

components remotely. 

Plant and component 

testing through 

digital glasses 

TEXT AND IMAGES: TÜV SÜD 

The global market for inspection, 

repair, and maintenance (IRM) will 

grow from nearly $43 billion in 2022 

to more than $73 billion by 2029. This 

is the conclusion of an analysis by Fortune 

Business Insights, a global market research 

and consulting services company. And this 

is despite pandemic-related restrictions. To 

meet this need, operators and manufacturers 

are increasingly using remote inspections and 

smart glasses. 

The intelligent data glasses are used in 

the development, maintenance, troubleshooting, 

and training of technical systems 

and equipment. In this process, an on-site inspector 

with smart glasses is in contact with 

remote experts via the Internet. They follow 

the inspection step by step on a computer 

screen and guide the inspector. This not only 

CHRISTOPH GATZEN 

Head of Instrumentation, Control and Electrical Division 

Head of Inspection Body “Energietechnik” 

TÜV SÜD Energietechnik GmbH Baden-Württemberg 

SIMON LEMIN 

Director of Industry Service Division 

TÜV SÜD Greater China 

ensures compliance with pandemic-related 

walk-through bans. Companies also save on 

travel time and costs, and it is easier to involve 

experts from a wide range of disciplines. 

They are available online at shorter notice, so 

downtimes are reduced. It is also a plus for climate 

protection. 

TÜV SÜD uses the technology for production 

monitoring, acceptance testing, site 

acceptance testing, and training and fur- 


ADVERTORIAL 

TÜV SÜD Inspector during visual inspection of the oil pressure 

adjustment of an emergency power generator. 

ther education. The HMT-1 model from the US 

manufacturer RealWear is used, equipped with 

the SHARE app from the German software 

manufacturer oculavis GmbH. In addition to the 

visual connection, all experts involved also exchange 

tutorials, manuals, or circuit diagrams. 

The wearer is guided via a movable screen on 

the edge of the glasses and forwards videos 

and photos in turn - in real time. If necessary, 

the experts review the material again. 

The data glasses are robust and durable 

and can also be used in noisy machine rooms 

or damp or dusty industrial halls - even under 

protective glasses and helmets or hearing protection. 

They can also be connected to a hearing 

protector. The microphone can be muted, or 

noise cancellation can be activated. To enable 

the wearer to use both hands for inspection, the 

glasses offer a voice-controlled user interface. 

All this reduces occupational risks for employees. 

Smart glasses require a fast and stable internet 

with a recommended bandwidth of 4Mbit/s 

(up/down). All inspection data must be stored 

under high security requirements in accordance 

with the General Data Protection Regulation 

(GDPR). TÜV SÜD uses its own servers for this 

“Operators and 

manufacturers are 

increasingly using remote 

inspections and smart 

glasses.” 

TÜV SÜD Inspector observing mechanical integrity of fastening bolts. 

TÜV SÜD 

Inspector 

using VR- 

Glasses in 

combination 

with PSA. 

purpose, which are certified in accordance with 

the international standard ISO/IEC 27001 - Information 

Security Management. Before a RI 

is initiated, the customer must allow video and 

audio transmission. On site, a data protection 

officer should be involved for approval, and privacy 

measures such as face blurring should be 

defined. 

TÜV SÜD was commissioned by a Chinese 

manufacturer to assess the quality of its valves 

for use in nuclear and thermal power plants. 

Due to travel restrictions, only employees of 

TÜV SÜD Greater China were present on site. 

Via smart glasses, they called in electrical engineers, 

mechanical engineering experts, and 

specialists in nondestructive testing and leak 

tightness as well as seam welding. The team 

succeeded in successfully assessing the valves 

within the tight time frame. This saved the company 

seven round-trip intercontinental flights of 

11 hours each, as well as 20 tons of CO2. 

Smart glasses make it easier to check plants 

and components remotely – on site, one expert 

is enough, remotely, a multidisciplinary team 

can easily be integrated. Prerequisites include a 

stable network connection and high data protection 

requirements. 


MONITORING 

Air quality - 

Nothing is more fundamental 

to life than air quality. In a 

lifetime, about 300 million 

liters of air pass through the 

average person’s lungs. If that person 

walks along a busy city street today, he 

will inhale around 20 million particles 

with each lungful. 

Scientists were aware of the impact 

of air pollution as far back as the seva 

breathtaking 

challenge 

TEXT: MARK NAPLES UMICORE COATINGS SERVICES 

IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK 

Air quality is in sharp 

focus for a range of 

industries. Monitoring 

air pollutant emissions 

is essential for many 

reasons. 

enteenth century. Now, as more of us 

live in cities, we are closer than ever to 

pollution sources, and their detrimental 

impact on the environment and our 

health has reached a crisis point. 

Toxic air is now a significant environmental 

risk for every sector. As its 

impact has seeped into everyday life, 

it is no longer just a concern for heavy 

industry. It affects commuters, vehicles, 


MONITORING 

and equipment too, so it is unsurprising 

that governments around the world are 

introducing increasingly strict legislation 

on tackling air pollution to protect 

their citizens. 

AIR QUALITY HAS BECOME A LEGISLA- 

TIVE CONCERN, bringing the issue into 

sharp focus for a range of industries. 

The most damaging but best-understood 

pollutants are tiny particles of 

black carbon, nitrates, sulfates, ammonia, 

or mineral dust. Often produced 

by power plants and heavy industries, 

these pollutants can, in effect, cannibalize 

the equipment and workers used in 

these industries. 

It is now generally understood that 

these particles will not only damage 

the lungs but enter the bloodstream. 

From there, they can increase the risk 

of a wide number of health conditions, 

meaning businesses have a moral imperative 

to monitor the air quality on 

their sites and protect the people who 

work there. 

Uncontrolled air quality can lead 

to other, more immediate health risks. 

Some environments may see high 

concentrations of toxic gases, such as 

carbon monoxide, in the air, which pose 

a more immediate risk to work safety. 

Other pollutants may present an explosion 

risk or cause corrosion to equipment 

which presents a significant risk 

of asset damage in addition to health 

and safety concerns. 

Between the increased risk to workers, 

machinery, and other assets, and 

the rapidly shifting legislative landscape, 

the business case for improving 

air quality is now open-and-shut. 

Before this can happen, however, the 

state of the air must be more closely 

monitored. 

MONITORING EMISSIONS from stationary 

sources of pollution, such as power 

stations, manufacturing plants, and 

other industrial facilities, is essential 

for a whole host of reasons. Industry 

accounts for over 24 % of global greenhouse 

gas emissions, so ascertaining the 

concentration of various gasses emitted 

and subsequently allowing relevant 

authorities to check whether the site 

is complying with its legal obligations 

remains essential. For example, efforts 

to reduce methane emissions could 

yield a rapid decline in the rate of global 

warming. 

Leakage and venting from the energy 

sector remain significant sources 

of harmful emissions, but our gas detection 

filters continue to contribute 

to a real-world solution. The science is 

unequivocal: we are going in the wrong 

direction. 

A considerable portion of climate 

change or global warming can be attributed 

to our reliance on industrial 

activities. It has been claimed that factories 

are to blame for up to two-thirds 

of the pollution that has caused climate 

change. 

24 % of global 

greenhouse gas 

emissions are caused 

by industry. 

Did you know? 

POINT GAS DETECTORS have a 

single detector location requiring the 

gas cloud to interact with the sensor. 

POINT DETECTOR TYPES include 

catalytic, electrochemical, solid state, 

and infrared (IR). An IR detector consists 

of one or more infrared sources. 

THE PROBLEM REQUIRES determined 

political engagement and action at a 

local and national level, but action is 

required to ensure it remains a priority. 

Thanks to campaigns, the growing 

availability of low-cost air-quality monitors 

and increased awareness of local 

air quality could help to change that. 

Proper communication with the 

business community has also been 

sorely lacking. Market leaders want information 

on how and what they can do 

about it. Any new air quality information 

system needs to be based on what 

people are exposed to in their localities, 

including real-time variations. 

Industrial plant owners who must 

abide by specific regulatory frameworks 

invest in measuring equipment to report 

what and how much is coming out 

of the stack. 

IN THE MARKET FOR MEASURING EMIS- 

SIONS, there are many measuring technologies. 

The logical first step toward 

resolving this air crisis would be to 

make much more real-time air quality 

data available to the public and increase 

air quality data transparency, as well 

as initiatives to educate people on the 

long-term consequences of breathing 

in polluted air. People can take various 

precautions to safeguard themselves 

and others if they know the severity of 

the pollution they are inhaling. 

THERE ARE TWO BROAD CATEGORIES 

OF GAS DETECTORS: point detectors and 

area detectors. IR gas detectors compare 

the amount of light at a specific 

wavelength where Hydrocarbon molecules 

absorb light (the sample) with 

light at a wavelength where no absorption 

occurs (the reference). When the 

light passes through a hydrocarbon gas, 

the intensity at the sample wavelength 

will drop, while the intensity at the reference 

wavelength will be unaffected. 

The ratio of the two signals is proportional 

to the gas concentration. 

An IR detector consists of one or 

more infrared sources, one or more 

infrared detectors and precision optical 

filters to separate the sample and reference 

wavelengths from the background 

light. It also requires a light path open 

to the atmosphere so gas can diffuse 

into the light beam. 

Due to the dependence of the absorbance 

on the wavenumber, different 

gas components can be distinguished 

using the absorption spectrum. 

Gas detection systems have been 

deployed extensively in the process 

industry to detect and mitigate gas 

releases and minimize their potential 

consequences. Detection mechanisms 

differ between chemicals, and consideration 

must be given to selecting the 

right technology for each application, 

along with practical installation, commissioning, 

and maintenance considerations. 

MOST CURRENT APPLICATIONS trigger 

an alarm for the operator based on high 

readings from gas detectors. However, 

with the industry push to incorporate 

safety gas sensors into shutdown systems, 

the need to design, calibrate and 

commission these sensors correctly to 

reduce nuisance trips is increasingly 

essential. 


TRAINING 

Steps to Create a Reliable 

Manufacturing Culture 

TEXT: CHRISTER IDHAMMAR IDCON INC 


What is reliability and 

how to measure it? First 

you have to agree on what 

reliability is, the benefits 

of improving it, and how it 

will be measured. 

In highly automated manufacturing, 

the first focus is often on 

equipment reliability. This is 

because if equipment is operating 

without any problems, you are 

making your product. If it is not, 

you are not making any product. 

TO CREATE A RELIABLE MANUFACTUR- 

ING CULTURE, you must agree to work in 

a close partnership between Operations 

and Maintenance, including stores and 

engineering. This should start with a 

common manufacturing mission that 

clearly expresses this. Then you need to 

design and implement all work management 

processes with the agreed upon 

mission statement as a guideline. 

A manufacturing mission statement 

between Operations and Maintenance 

should be worked out between the parties 

and could be: 

“In an equal partnership between Operations 

and Maintenance we shall safely 

deliver continuously improved manufacturing 

reliability.” 

The maintenance organization’s mission 

statement would then be: 



deliver continuously improved equipment 

reliability.” 

The operation organization’s mission 

statement would then be: 



deliver continuously improved operating 

process reliability.” 


The product of 

maintenance 

is not service, it is 

reliable equipment. 

This will express a culture change from 

Operations and Maintenance working 

in silos to growing into equal partners. 

As a consequence, lost production shall 

not be recorded by each department 

because it often leads to a blame game. 

Instead, triggers are set to select what 

to do Root Cause Problem Elimination 

(RCPE) on. In this process you do not 

ask who; instead, you ask why. This is just 

one of many changes you need to make 

to accomplish a reliable manufacturing 

culture. 

It also changes the common view that 

the maintenance organization delivers 

service to the Operations organization. 

Instead, the maintenance organization 

delivers equipment reliability. That makes 

sense because the product of maintenance 

is not service, it is reliable equipment. 

YOU MUST AGREE on common lagging

TRAINING 

towards the common lagging indicators. 

For the Maintenance organization, 

these could include Average 

Vibration Level Trend, Preventive 

Maintenance Compliance, % Planned 

Work, % Schedule Compliance and 

more. 

THE MAJOR BENEFITS include safety 

and increased throughput of quality 

volume products. Studies by IDCON 

and other organizations including 

BEMAS in Belgium and University 

of Dayton show that there is a strong 

correlation between safety and reactive 

maintenance. 

The example below shows that 

companies that reported 64% reactive 

maintenance had an OSHA 

Recordable Incident Rate (RIR) of 

4.36 while companies reporting 9% 

reactive maintenance had an OSHA 

RIR of 0.11. 

Reactive Maintenance 

Causes More Safety 

Incidents 

IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND 

the value of improved OMR. In addition 

to being a safety and physical asset, 

it also benefits the revenue side 

of the Maintenance organization. 

Creating an OMR-driven organization 

does not require much capital 

work. Necessary investments include 

education, training, and outside support 

to help you do better with what 

you already have. 

Outside support is needed. Many 

organizations are in a gridlock and 

need an outside neutral coach to get it 

done within a reasonable time frame. 

You need to estimate the value of 

an improved OMR as an input to the 

business case you will develop and 

present it to decision makers. We advise 

to not estimate too much. Even 

if the potential to increase OMR is 

7%, instead show the value of 1% improved 

OMR. 

When you agree on the mission and 

the necessity to improve OMR, some 

suggested steps include: 

• Educate, train, and explain the 

benefits and what the future will 

look like. 

• Assess how good you are and how 

good you can become. 

• Develop an action plan for the 

next five years. 

• Appoint a coach that can not only 

teach, but who can also provide 

On-the-Job training/coaching 

with key people such as managers, 

Planners and Frontline Leaders. 

The solution is to develop a clear and 

simple priority guide. Keep it simple 

and use only two priorities: Job must 

be done now; latest date completed. 

Define together what constitutes 

emergencies and how long different 

situations can be in the backlog. 

or results indicators. Often, the Maintenance 

organization is measured by 

budget and costs while Operations is 

measured by produced quality volume. 

Instead, your common lagging indicators 

should be: 

1. SAFETY 

2. OVERALL MANUFACTURING 

RELIABILITY 

3. MANUFACTURING COST PER UNIT 

Reactive 

Maintenance 

OSHA Recordable 

Incident Rate 

(per 200,00 hrs) 

Top 25% Middle 50% Bottom 25% 

9% 30% 64% 

0.11 1.16 4.36 

Each department can have their own 

leading indicators to drive performance 

There is a correlation between safety and reactive maintenance. 


TRAINING 

How to get started 

Step 1. Educate and inform 

It is important to first agree on 

the right things to do, and after 

that decide how you are going 

to take each step on your journey 

towards a reliable culture. 

Therefore, you should focus on 

the right things to do and to get 

feedback and agreement on these 

things. It is easier to get agreement 

on the right things to do 

then how to do them in detail. 

Step 2. CBP Current 

Best Practices Assessment 

It is likely that many employees 

already know what to do, but you 

need to get an objective view to find 

the gaps between how good your 

organization is and how good it can 

become. 

Before you start a journey, it is 

necessary to know where you are 

when you start and where you are 

going. All of our successful initiatives 

have included a Current Best 

Practices (CBP) assessment followed 

by developing, documenting 

and communicating the implementation 

plan. This is done together 

with owners that are assigned to 

each improvement subject that has 

been identified during the CBP assessment. 

Step 3. Implement 

There are seldom any surprises 

as to what needs to be done. The 

CPB assessment serves as the 

tool to educate, increase awareness, 

and bring the organization 

together in a reliable culture. Improvements 

will not be sustainable 

unless the CBP assessment is 

repeated every 12 to 18 months. 

These reassessments drive the 

improvement work and keep it 

alive. If repeated safety assessments 

are not done, safety will 

not improve—it will decline. 

The most common reliability 

and maintenance processes that are 

identified to improve upon are: 

• Preventive Maintenance content 

and execution. Content is 

not right or up to date and consequently 

not executed. 

• Work Management, where prioritization, 

description of work, 

Planning and Scheduling are 

weak. 

• The Bill of Material is very incomplete 

causing difficulty to 

plan efficiently and makes inventory 

of spares impossible to do 

right. 

• Roles of Planners, Frontline 

Leaders, Operations-Maintenance 

Coordinators and Reliability 

Engineers are unclear and not 

followed. 

Success requires: 

• Long-term, consistent, visible, and 

caring leadership. Too many initiatives 

are started and not finished 

About the Author 

CHRISTER IDHAMMAR is an 

expert within Reliability and 

Maintenance. He started his 

career in the Swedish merchant 

marine where he started developing 

fundamentals of his Results 

Oriented Reliability and Maintenance 

Management concept. He 

founded IDCON INC in Raleigh 

North Carolina, USA 1985. IDCON 

is now a TRM company. 

before they are changed or 

replaced. Leadership needs to 

include the plant manager. 

• The right people to drive the 

change. Include the frontline 

organization. 

• Well-developed and documented 

and followed processes. 

• Repeated assessments to drive 

and sustain improvement. 

In this article, we define reliability 

as the ability of a manufacturing 

process line, or equipment, to perform 

up to its designed capacity. 

Overall Manufacturing Reliability 

(OMR) or Overall Production Reliability 

(OPR) means that it covers 

both Operations and Maintenance. 


TRAINING 

An elevator that 

transports to 

virtual reality 

TEXT: MATTI KERÄNEN 

IMAGES: KONE 

Kone has been training 

maintenance field workers 

in VR environments since 

2017. Now the company is 

transferring the product 

development of elevators 

and escalators to virtual 

environments. 

The elevator company Kone has 

started its transition to the 

metaverse. Kone has recently 

harnessed VR environments 

for the product development of 

elevators and escalators, as well as for the 

innovation of maintenance procedures, 

maintenance documentation, and risk 

management. 

The results are promising. “Almost 

100 Kone employees have participated 

in testing the applications before implementation. 

What is particularly gratifying 

is that, based on feedback, people feel 

that they are able to get their work done 

better with the help of VR applications,” 

says Kone's specialist Sanni Siltanen. 

Sanni Siltanen worked as Kone's 

product development specialist until 

September 2022. She joined DIMECC 

Oy on October 5, 2022. 


TRAINING 

There is cooperation in Kone’s maintenance 

development, especially between the branches 

in Finland, India, and China. The planning of 

product development, maintenance procedures, 

and maintenance documentation in a virtual 

environment enables a new kind of cooperation 

between Kone's branches in different parts of 

the world. 

“All parties get to see the real-scale model of 

the elevator or escalator in virtual reality. This 

adds enormous value. Previously, this would have 

required flying people to the physical prototype.” 

VR TECHNOLOGY HAS DEVELOPED rapidly in 

recent years. For example, the quality and price 

of VR glasses are starting to reach a reasonable 

level from an investment perspective. 

“VR glasses reached a sufficient technical 

level a few years ago. VR does not completely 

replace traditional teaching methods, but for 

example in the training of field workers, such as 

installation and maintenance, it has proved to be 

a good solution,” Siltanen says. 

Designing in a 

virtual environment 

considerably reduces the 

need for prototypes. It 

saves time and money. 

Siltanen emphasizes that, like all new technology, 

the introduction of VR applications must 

be carefully planned so that it genuinely generates 

added value. 

“It is important to remember that VR technology 

is used by people who have a job to do. The maintenance 

developer's goal is to think of the best possible 

maintenance procedure. The goal of technical documentation 

is to make instructions that serve the field 

worker. The job of risk management, on the other 

hand, is to check the documentation and consider its 

possible risks.” 

“So, it is necessary to consider whether the VR 

environment serves the task. There is the threat that 

introducing new technology will only increase work, 

Siltanen reminds.” 

When maintenance procedures for a new elevator 

model are in development, three to five experts participate 

in the VR environment. 

“Three people are already quite many when we 

are operating in a virtual elevator shaft. The spaces 

become cramped quickly. Not all workers should be 

in a VR environment, but rather, for example, the 

maintenance procedure will be reviewed in a VR environment 

in Hyvinkää and monitored through a video 

connection from India,” says Siltanen. 

Virtual cooperation between Kone's different 

branches has shown that VR environments make it 

The introduction of 

VR applications must 

be carefully planned 

so that it genuinely 

generates added 

value. 

easier to document maintenance instructions for 

Kone's elevators and escalators. 

The planning of maintenance instructions will be 

quicker when every expert has access to a shared environment 

regardless of time and place. 

“All kinds of communication become more effective 

when the work is done in a shared environment. 

There is no need for so many exchanged e-mails, cell 

phone photos, or notebook notes that are sent back 

and forth,” Siltanen says. 

At the same time, the person working on the final 

version of the maintenance documentation receives 

illustrative instructions, for example, on using pictures 

in instructions. 

“In a VR environment, we can record a video or 

picture of changing a component. We have experimented 

with a model in which the pictures taken in 

the VR environment serve as a model for the person 

who illustrates the documentation. In the future, 

images can be transferred from the VR environment 

directly to the eventual instructions,” Siltanen says. 

In product development, changes in the need for 

new elevators and escalators are noticed more easily 

in the virtual world than before. It speeds up product 

development and saves money. 

“Product design that is done in a virtual environment 

considerably reduces the need for prototypes. 


TRAINING 

It saves time and money and improves the installation 

and maintainability of elevators and escalators,” Siltanen 

says. 

In elevator product development and the planning 

of maintenance procedures, numerous factors related 

to spatial visualization and work positions need to be 

solved: will the hatch open in the space reserved for it, 

will the tool fit in the desired space, and can the maintenance 

worker’s hand reach to support the component 

that they are changing while turning the screw at the 

same time. 

In the past, it was only possible to prove this by 

building a real-scale prototype since the visualization 

of the space and dimensions may remain incomplete in 

the CAD model. 

DESIGNING IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT is a more 

experiential way of designing new products than traditional 

CAD modeling 

“Typically, in 3D model-based design, a certain space 

remains too tight, although the intention was for the 

tool and hand to fit through it. These have previously 

only been noticeable in the physical prototype. Now the 

VR environment makes it possible to take the user into 

consideration in a completely new way,” Siltanen says. 

“Instead of designers looking at 3D models on a 

computer screen, they get the real-scale experience of 

the device and the space reserved for it. So, VR increases 

the designer's certainty about the functionality of the 

solutions,” Siltanen continues. 

Kone developed ways of utilizing VR applications in 

cooperation with the University of Tampere in the HU- 

MOR project (HUMan Optimized x Reality). 

5 facts about VR 

observed by Kone 

1. RESEARCH, product development, and the 

development of maintenance documentation 

are quicker when cooperation between different 

branches of a globally operating company 

becomes easier in VR environments. 

2. WHEN THE WORK is done in a modeled and 

real-scale environment, needs for change are 

detected faster than in CAD design. 

3. SIGNIFICANTLY reduces the need for physical 

prototypes, which saves time and money. 

4. THE MAINTAINABILITY and installation of 

the elevators will improve 

5. MAINTENANCE DOCUMENTATION will be of 

higher quality. Instructions are produced faster 

than before. 


TRAINING 

Interaction at the 

center of everything 

New technology-mediated 

cooperation is still based 

on human interaction. 

Whether it is an augmented 

reality (AR) or a virtual 

reality (VR) application, its benefits are 

only revealed when the digital environment 

enables better ways to work than 

the physical world. 

Human interaction is a key subject of 

study in the entire industrial metaverse. 

However, there is still plenty of work to 

be done in order to improve the interaction 

in the very basic features. 

“Many VR environments do not yet 

enable genuine collaboration and interaction 

or the modification of objects in 

that environment. In order to get the 

most out of a virtual environment, it 

must enable, for example, reading documents 

and text editing,” says Markku 

Turunen, professor of interactive technology 

at the University of Tampere. 

“We are researching, among others, 

different text input solutions based on 

speech recognition, and what kind of 


tools are needed for a VR environment 

to enable collaboration,” Turunen continues. 

VR environments are currently at 

their peak in development work in 

which the goal is, for example, to study 

how a person operates in a physical 

environment or with machines and devices. 

Research in virtual reality enables 

a new way of monitoring and analyzing 

a person performing various tasks. 

“The ability of the virtual environment 

to record people's activities is 

one of the most significant possibilities 

Many VR 

environments 

do not yet enable 

genuine collaboration 

and interaction or 

the modification 

of objects in that 

environment. 

of new technology. For example, human 

movements and the direction of 

their gazes can be recorded precisely 

and analyzed afterward in completely 

new ways,” Turunen estimates. 

Physiological measurements are also 

often combined with the research. 

“Typically, for example, heart rate 

variability is monitored, which can 

be used to deduce when a person was 

nervous and when they were calm. Information 

from virtual reality offers a 

rich source for data analysis,” Turunen 

estimates. 

Augmented reality and virtual reality 

applications are the first step toward 

the industrial metaverse. The next big 

leap will be the digital world’s seamless 

connection to the physical world. 

“This will happen through digital 

twins. That is, through genuine digital 

twins in which the physical world affects 

the digital one and vice versa. This 

is still very rare today, but it will be the 

next big leap in the development of the 

industrial metaverse,” Turunen says.

ENERGY 

Energy 

Cyber Security 

in the Nordics 

The Nordic countries 

provide a unique 

environment for research. 

TEXT: PETRA BERG I PETRA.BERG@UWASA.FI 

Impact 

Most of us have 

seen concepts 

such as trolling, 

blackouts and 

cyberattacks 

regularly pop 

up in the news. The digitalization of 

many key societal functions brings 

along new challenges, directly related 

to societal security. This requires new 

skills for governments, companies, as 

well as individuals on how to manage 

the technical, social and cyber dimensions. 

This makes the system vulnerable 

to new kinds of threats. Future grids 

will be more interactive with all levels 

of users, and even smart homes might 

be used for sabotaging the grid in such 

systems. 

This is why Nordic Energy Research, 

together with the Nordic 

Transmission System Operators 

(TSOs), developed the Nordgrid 

program initiative, calling for intersciences 

collaboration on a Nordic 

level on this topic. 

Thanks to mutual trust between 

the Nordic countries, the region 

provides a unique environment for 

research of critical areas of national 

security, such as critical infrastructure 

and national defence. 

R 

E 

D 

I 

S 

E 

T 

Prosumer 

EVs 

TSO 

DSO 

Industry 

Smart cities 

Attacks 

• ICT 

• Behaviour 

• Power grid 

Figure : Illustration of the REDISET project 

The REDISET-project (Resilient Digital Sustainable Energy Transition) is a newly started, 

inter-Nordic collaboration with partners from Finland, Sweden and Norway. Here, the 

aim is to provide social-cyber-technical knowledge to support the sustainable rollout of a 

future, digital electricity system. The specific focus is on providing more understanding of 

the variables and threats to the Nordic energy system to support the transmission system 

operators in constructing a secure and resilient future energy system. 


ENERGY 

THE REDISET CONSORTIUM ALLOWS 

FOR DIALOGUE and practices that would 

be difficult elsewhere in Europe. The 

total budget of the project is 1.6 million 

euros. Country-specific coordination 

takes place through Business Finland in 

Finland, where the project is also part of 

its Smart Energy program, the Swedish 

Energy Agency in Sweden, and Statnett 

in Norway. 

The REDISET consortium comprises 

TSOs (Fingrid, Svenska Kraftnät and 

Statnett), Distribution System Operators 

(DSOs) and research institutions in 

the Nordic countries. Together, they will 

be responsible for implementing new 

energy strategies that emphasise electrification, 

closer cooperation and digitalisation. 

A similar Nordic consortium 

hasn’t been formed before. 

FOUR RESEARCH INSTITUTES ARE 

RESPONSIBLE for the scientific contribution. 

The main coordinator is the KTH 

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) led 

by professor Sonja Berlijn. The VEBIC 

research and innovation platform of 

the University of Vaasa, led by Director 

Suvi Karirinne and Assistant Professor 

Petra Berg, heads the Finnish interdisciplinary 

research team. The Norwegian 

Defense Research Establishment (FFI) 

and The Norwegian SmartGrid Center, 

comprises the Norwegian research team 

and is coordinated by senior researcher 

Karina Barnholt Klepper (FFI). 

The project also includes business 

partners like Gambit Oy in Vaasa and 

other need owners, who will contribute 

to the project by participating in the scientific 

and technical reference group. 

THE PARTNER COMPOSITION and interdisciplinarity 

of the project introduces 

a “positive challenge” on how to 

bring together and synthesise different 

fields of expertise. Therefore, many 

interactive workshops and collaboration 

between the work packages are 

planned. 

The project introduces socio-cultural 

and socio-technical perspectives 

to a highly technology-focused topic. 

Understanding the social and cultural 

implications will be emphasised in 

the future as energy sources become 

increasingly multiplied and variable, 

energy systems complex, energy interdependencies 

and flexibility needs increase. 

Thus, it is expected that energy 

system decision-making must move 

from a national to transnational level, 

while it still needs to maintain regional 

and municipal interests. 

ONE IMPORTANT AIM is also to provide 

an understanding of the effects 

of future energy system solutions on 

gender equality and diversity. New 

solutions need to be considered and 

work for the entire population, being 

sustainable for humans, wildlife and 

environment. This baseline relates to 

the consortium's core group connection 

to the Nordic Energy Equality 

Network (NEEN), which promotes 

gender equality and diversity in the 

Nordic countries. 

The REDISET project output can 

help decision makers in identifying 

risks and taking a holistic approach 

to informed decisions. 

Interested? Go to uwasa.fi

EFNMS 

TEXT: TARJA RANNISTO 

IMAGES: JAAKKO TENNILÄ PHOTO ÄÄNEKOSKI PAPER MILL 

PHOTOS, PHOTO CREDIT: METSÄ GROUP 

Finnish Maintenance 

Society, Promaint 

aims to raise the image 

of the maintenance 

The Finnish Maintenance Society, Promaint 

works hard to bring maintenance into the 

minds of people and the society. 


EFNMS 

Jaakko Tennilä, Executive Director 

of Promaint, graduated with 

a Master's degree in electrical 

engineering. After graduating, Tennilä 

found his way into maintenance in the 

Veitsiluoto Paper Mill in the northern part 

of Finland in the mid 80’s. Since then, his 

career has been closely tight to the management 

level of industrial maintenance 

services and projects. 

– In the early stages of my career, maintenance 

was quite a traditional type of field. 

Factories had their own large maintenance 

departments, where the work was mainly 

reparation maintenance. Earlier on, in the 

70's, factories still had factory service departments 

with extensive responsibilities; 

from gate control to occupational health 

care and maintenance of the technical side, 

Tennilä recalls. 

During the following decade, the competitive 

situation began to intensify in the 

industry in general. In addition to that, society 

and economic 

markets were shaken 

more widely, which 

gradually led to the 

outsourcing of maintenance 

services. 

– The driving factor 

for outsourcing 

was the rationalization of the business. The 

process industry, for example, sought costeffectiveness 

by transferring the services 

of internal maintenance units to external 

service networks. 

In the 21st century the situation 

changed again and, according to Tennilä, 

the maintenance industry started to 

seek technical and production efficiency 

through different types of new operating 

models. The challenges faced by the 

service providers increased and new 

operators entered the paper industry, as 

in other sectors. At the same time, equipment 

suppliers started to produce their 

own maintenance service alongside service 

networks. 

THE MARKET CRASH that began in the US in 

2008 created an increasingly new need to 

develop efficiency. The field of the industry 

was fragmented and there were many different 

ways to operate. In the paper industry, 

for example, production had been driven 

down and uniform practices were still being 

sought after 2010. 

– In the energy industry, there is still a 

lot of outsourcing of maintenance work. 

Through service agreements, companies in 

various sectors acquired special expertise or 

resources for larger projects from external 

service providers. On the other hand, outsourced 

maintenance work has also been 

reclaimed in the process industry, and services 

are thus carried out through our own 

companies, Tennilä says. 

AT THE MOMENT, THE BIGGEST ISSUE in 

maintenance is technological advances – 

most of all the new digital solutions. There 

are many new and different types of software 

solutions and more are being developed all 

the time. Tennilä sees not only advantages 

but also challenges in the situation. Therefore, 

there is a is a strong need for Promaint 

to raise the awareness of the maintenance, 

as the digitalization and the transformation 

of work affect the attractiveness of the sector 

within the labor market. 

– Abundant supply and rapid development 

are not necessarily a good thing, as 

new systems may be incompatible with existing 

systems. Exploitation of new features 

may be incomplete 

and may cause uncertainty 

in use. 

According to 

Tennilä, another 

trend is the fact that 

maintenance tasks 

are transferred to 

production line operators. 

– For example, if the line stops at the factory, 

the personnel can take auxiliary maintenance 

measures, he says. 

The maintenance sector is a big employer 

in Finland. Promaint estimates that the 

sector employs close to 200,000 people in 

all industries in total. 

Digitalization 

amends the job 

description. 

PREVIOUSLY, THE MAINTENANCE SECTOR 

employed mainly mechanical workers, 

but now the work is increasingly automation 

and information technology. According 

to Tennilä, the number of employees in 

basic maintenance has therefore decreased 

clearly and there is no change of direction 

in sight. However, concerns are raised about 

the difficulty of acquiring new basic technology 

experts. 

– In Finland, the degree of automation 

in industry has traditionally been high, 

but basic technology does not disappear 

even though technology is developing. 

That's why the concern is starting to be 

about the new workforce, as the basics experts 

drop out. 

– Basic work is often perceived as dirty, 

heavy and challenging. As an industry, 

we are trying to emphasize that maintenance 

is a versatile activity and offers an 


EFNMS 

opportunity to learn new things and develop 

within the field and advance careerwise. 

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH has been carried 

out that shows countries spend around 9 % of 

their GDP on various maintenance tasks. In Finland 

that amount is EUR 23-25 billion per year. 

According to Tennilä, the share of industrial 

maintenance is estimated at around 3.5-4 billion 

and the share of property maintenance is 

approximately 8 billion a year. 

The amount of money spent on maintenance 

is insufficient, as unfinished maintenance work 

is a major problem in the structures of society, 

both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. 

– According to public assessment, there is 

approximately EUR 35-50 billion worth of maintenance 

work waiting to be done in roads, real 

estate and elsewhere. This is visible to consumers 

as mold in schools, buildings in demolition 

condition, and a poor road network, Tennilä 

points out. 

Most alarming is the old water supply 

network, which outside the major cities is 

repaired yearly by only a minor portion of 

installed network. For consumers, a network 

in such a poor condition may cause problems 

in the quality of water purity. In the case of 

industry, there are no precise estimates of the 

amount of maintenance debt. But it can be 

estimated that after 2008 the amount spent on 

industrial structures has been insufficient. It 

is also not reasonable to replace unperformed 

maintenance work with massive investments, 

but by developing technologies and skills. 

However, the challenge is to value the maintenance 

industry. 

– Someone has to keep the structures in order, 

even if it's not always a tempting job. When 

it comes to distributing public development 

money, it is difficult for the sector to come out. 

Looks like we are always at the end of the queue, 

says Tennilä, insisting that the maintenance sector 

should be given the value it deserves. 

THE FINNISH MAINTENANCE ASSOCIATION 

SPREADS the word about the field, for example 

through magazines and publications. Tennilä 

says that Promaint does cooperation with the 

educational institutions and aims to start school 

tours again to inform the students about the 

field and its employment possibilities. The association 

is also present on fairs. 

– We aim to influence in activities that 

touch the sector and connect people interested 

in the field. Our members are active in 

events and building networks through which 

we have the opportunity to influence the industry, 

Tennilä says. 

The most important task of the Finnish Maintenance 

Society is to keep the industry in the 

consciousness of people and decision makers. 

Promaint is also active internationally and a 

member of the European Federation of National 

Maintenance Societies (EFNMS). There is a lot 

of co-operation within the EFNMS member network, 

for example in the development of industry 

standards and training. 

Promaint celebrates its 50th 

anniversary during 2022 

The founding meeting of the factory service association was held on 

January 28, 1972. In the following 50 years, the association's name has 

been updated a couple of times. 

“The association has gone through many adventures and experiments 

over the decades, left a lasting mark on our industry and influenced 

the development of operations in the form of publications, training and 

events. However, as the most important achievement, we want to highlight 

the network of experts that we have been able to create nationally 

and internationally. We have gained the energy to carry out our own 

mission from this network, which has already grown up in part, and is 

even out of date in part. The festive year 2022 is packed full of different 

events”, says JAAKKO TENNILÄ, the Executive Director of Promaint. 


P 

The foundational elements of maintenance & reliability management 

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management programs is changing faster than ever. 

The Grain combines its expertise in industrial asset management 

and data science to enhance the performance and reliability of your 

assets by building customized, accessible and scalable AI solutions. 

F 

It is our mission to facilitate day-to-day work of maintenance 

practitioners, reliability engineers and operators. 

We embed the power of advanced analytics to accelerate the process 

of learning by combining signal data, maintenance logs or any other 

operating context information to predict the asset behavior, add 

new insights enabling you to prepare the right actions at the right 

time. We believe that blending artificial and human intelligence is 

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Welcome to the age of prescriptive maintenance. 

Want to be part of it? 

Find out more on www.thegrain.pro/innovators or call +32 3 376 33 50 

Industrial AI applications

AUTOMATION 

TEXT: EETU HEIKKILÄ, HELENA KORTELAINEN AND JESSE TERVO, VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD. , 

MATTI VILKKO, JOUKO LAITINEN AND KARI T. KOSKINEN, TAMPERE UNIVERSITY 


Electrification and 

Automation of 

Mobile Machines 

Call for Maintenance 

Development 

Machine suppliers are 

looking for ways to replace 

fossil fuel power sources. 

In the future, mobile machines 

will be electrified 

and highly automated. 

Electrification is expected 

to reduce the need for 

maintenance. However, 

modelling and simulation 

are needed, as well as more 

information on field experience 

to avoid pitfalls and understand 

the benefits throughout the value chain. 

The value chains in modern society 

involve mobile work machines. Such 

value chains include, for instance, 

mining and construction, forestry, 

material handling, and port operations. 

These value chains also face the 

global demands for sustainability, and 

machinery suppliers are challenged to 


AUTOMATION 

contribute to their customers´ efforts to 

decarbonize their operations. Replacing 

fossil-fuel-based power sources with 

electrical ones seems to offer a solution 

for this. Further solutions are provided 

by digital technology and sensors that 

will enable automatic and autonomous 

functions and change work procedures 

and value creation mechanisms. 

Electrification 

and automation 

impact the maintenance 

domain. 

tonomous machinery. In some machine 

types, electrified machines have already 

been commonplace for years, but the increasing 

capabilities of battery-electric 

machines enable increased flexibility 

of operations when compared to cablesupplied 

electric machines or previous 

machine generations. The increased 

flexibility offers new opportunities for 

optimization of operations and provides 

the basis for developing autonomous 

operations. 

Finland aims to be the best place 

for developing mobile machines 

through efficient and effective collaboration 

between industry and research. 

The SIX cluster contributes to 

the achievement of company-specific 

and sector-wide ‘digital green’ goals. 

In our SIX cluster project the focus is 

in autonomous operations, electrifica- 

LIGHT VEHICLES LIKE CARS are the 

forerunners of electricity in mobility. 

Similar development is also expected to 

take place for mobile machines (MM). 

However, MMs can be configured for 

several purposes during the work cycle, 

and it carries a tool or an end effector 

which requires power at the same or 

even higher level than the drivetrain. 

MM is often a part of a work process, 

and its operation has to be adjusted to 

the workflow. An interesting question 

then is how to align the recharging and 

maintenance needs of the machinery 

with the operational and performance 

criteria. 

Electrification is also a key enabler 

in the transformation towards increasingly 

automated and eventually aution 

and in data-intensive lifecycle 

services. 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES in general have 

fewer moving parts, do not need oil and 

filter changes and have regenerative 

braking systems that reduce the wear 

and tear components. Grosso et al. 

(2021) have estimated that the maintenance 

cost for electric vehicles is at 

least 30% lower than that of conventional 

vehicles. However, the literature 

also provides examples on increasing 

maintenance costs of novel machine 

types that are often more complex to 

operate and maintain compared to the 

previous machine generations (Hane 

Hagström, 2021). There is limited 

literature on how electrification and 

automation will transform the maintenance 

of MM fleets. For example, 

there are optimal charging profiles for 

electric vehicles, which could affect 

maintenance planning if the owner 

wants to maximize battery life. A swappable 

battery structure would reduce 

the downtime caused by recharging, 

but the same outcome might also be 

achievable with more efficient batteries 

and faster recharging solutions. 

In addition to electrification, the 

development towards higher levels of 

automation changes the practices for 

how the machines will be maintained. 

Access of maintenance workers to areas 

where automated machines operate 

may be restricted, making it important 

to predictively optimize maintenance 

work to avoid disturbances to the operations. 

An increasing level of autonomy 

also requires the use of technology that 

enables sufficient situational awareness, 

including sensors, data processing 

and connectivity - all of which need to 

be considered in maintenance planning. 

These new technologies will also require 

new skills from the maintenance 

personnel. System level management of 

maintenance activities is needed to ensure 

that not only the machines but also 

the supporting infrastructure perform 

reliably. 

ELECTRIFICATION AND AUTOMATION 

will also impact the maintenance needs 

of MMs, and novel maintenance strategies 

have to be developed. The close 

collaboration with the partners in the 

SIX cluster offered the possibility to 

discuss the industrial state of the art 

as well as future needs and common 


AUTOMATION 

Figure The roadmap towards efficient electrified and autonomous fleet maintenance. 

visions of participants. Participatory 

methods like World Café rely on collaborative 

action and one of its strengths 

is its creation of an opportunity to share 

lived experiences and to create dialogue. 

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, remote 

collaboration tools were applied 

in our World Café workshop. In the 

workshop, views on life cycle service 

business, availability performance, 

scheduling of machine operation and 

traffic, and IT architecture to support 

the operation in the field were collected. 

The outcome was summarized 

in a roadmap (Figure 1). 

SOME COMPANIES HAVE ALREADY 

ELECTRIFIED their machines and implemented 

swappable battery technology 

in their MMs. Electrification 

introduces novel needs for real-time 

data collection (e.g. status and health 

of the battery) and for modelling and 

Autonomous 

operations 

require information 

sharing. 

forecasting (e.g. lifetime expectation 

of the batteries). Autonomous operations 

call for real-time location data 

and information on the environment, 

surroundings, and safety. Electrification 

is expected to reduce maintenance: 

the components are expected 

to be service free, but this expectation 

needs to be proven in the field. 

However, more information is needed 

to understand the failure modes and 

ageing behaviour. 

Autonomous operations also require 

efficient information sharing 

between different actors, e.g. in port 

terminal operations, and collaborative 

scheduling between the organisations 

responsible for operations, 

services and maintenance. In some 

cases, it could also be possible to carry 

out minor maintenance or service 

tasks during the recharging. The benefits 

arise on the system level - and 

success is possible only if the issues 

dealing with the data ownership can 

be solved. 

An autonomous mobile work 

machine needs an automated MROsystem 

(maintenance, repair, and 

operations) which will enable MM 

fleet to be managed automatically or 

autonomously and to be optimized 

to production process demands. This 

will include consumable and spare 

and wear part usage prediction and 

fleet maintenance, maintenance timing 

based on machine condition and 

production planning. 

REFERENCES 

Grosso, M. et al. (2021) How will vehicle automation and electrification affect the automotive maintenance, repair sector?, 

Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Volume 12. 

Hane Hagström M. et al. (2020) Evaluating the effectiveness of machine acquisitions and design by the impact on maintenance cost – a case study, 

IFAC-PapersOnLine, Volume 53, Issue 3, pp. 25-30. 


SAFETY 

Nuclear power plant 

maintenance benefits from 

participatory development 

of work and safety 

TEXT: ANNA-MARIA TEPERI, ARJA ALA-LAURINAHO, 

ILKKA ASIKAINEN, VUOKKO PURO 

IMAGES: FINNISH INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 

How can work in nuclear power plants 

be developed so that human activity 

is a stronger part of safety work? The 

solution can be found in modeling and 

inclusive work development. 

The safe, smooth operation of nuclear power plants 

requires competent maintenance. Maintenance provides 

situational awareness; it enables the personnel 

responsible for the operation of the plant to see the 

“big picture” of the plant’s technical status. Maintenance 

ensures that the plant's numerous electrical, automation 

and mechanical systems and its components and equipment 

work as planned. It repairs faults, performs servicing tasks in 


SAFETY 

accordance with the annual plan and 

larger tasks during annual outages. 

Maintenance also compiles the lessons 

learnt from previous maintenance 

shutdowns. 

NUCLEAR POWER OPERATIONS apply 

strict, systematic safety practices and 

methods and adhere to guidelines, all of 

which are the result of decades of work 

and lessons learnt. The functionality of 

safety management systems is regularly 

assessed, and safety culture evaluated. 

The nuclear power operations are 

highly technology oriented. In recent 

decades, the safety work in nuclear 

power plants has increasingly focused 

on the role of people in safety, too. The 

nuclear sector is facing changes such 

as aging personnel and technology, the 

modernization of equipment, and new 

ways of organizing work in its power 

plants. The technology-oriented, regulatory 

environment sets conditions for 

the development of work and safety. It 

also creates challenges for developing 

systematic ways of evaluating and developing 

work so that personnel can be 

considered part of safety improvement. 

Safety research and the experience of 

different industries has taught us that 

many decision-making situations are so 

complex that they cannot be solved by 

only one person. To resolve problematic 

situations, the views of many different 

entities and a wide range of experts are 

needed. 

Especially in large organizations, it is 

often the case that the ideas or plans of 

the neighboring unit are not known, or 

that views or operating methods differ. 

There may be challenges in terms of coordination 

and the flow of information, 

also between different levels of organization. 

Operational staff may feel that 

the middle or senior management do 

not understand their everyday activities, 

or top management may wonder 

why changes are not taken on. Views 

cannot always be verified in everyday 

situations, or procedures are not always 

sufficiently collaboratively refined. 

NEW WAYS OF ENGAGING AND MOTI- 

VATING STAFF and of developing skills 

and working practices are needed. Systematic 

practices and skills to develop 

work and safety in an inclusive manner 

are important. Participatory development 

is already used in the nuclear sector 

to jointly process the results of safety 

culture or job satisfaction surveys or to 

plan changes in work. However, sometimes 

the cooperation between different 

departments or hierarchical levels needs 

more in-depth development. It is particularly 

useful to access tacit knowledge, 

in-depth knowledge of processes brought 

about by experience, the various factors 

affecting operational events, and ways in 

which to solve disruptions or faults. Tacit 

knowledge is knowledge that is difficult 

to put into words. In decision-making 

situations, it is highly beneficial to exemplify 

this kind of information and make it 

more concrete and visible through joint 

discussions. 

THE FINNISH INSTITUTE OF OCCUPA- 

TIONAL HEALTH HAS EXAMINED whether 

modeling work processes is an effective 

way of improving maintenance work 

in a nuclear power plant in an inclusive 

manner. Its research project modeled 

three work processes: repair- 

ing faults, planning modifications, and 

component and system health reporting. 

This process involved people from different 

maintenance units and organizational 

levels. Operational personnel (assemblers), 

engineers, line management 

representatives, and occupational safety 

and health staff participated in a total of 

six workshops in 2019–2021. The workshops 

provided coaching in the method, 

and the groups were facilitated in using 

it. This joint work produced many development 

proposals, which were passed 

on for the organization to implement. 

They concerned increasing the common 

understanding through, for example, 

functioning guidelines, the physical work 

environment, and clarifying meeting 

practices. 


SAFETY 

The results were positive. Modeling 

the work processes strengthened the 

personnel's shared understanding of 

the everyday work tasks and what areas 

require improvement. People were able 

to voice their own intuitions and even 

weak doubts about the goals or arrangements 

of work. For example, it emerged 

that the objectives or importance of 

some key work processes had been 

obscured. It was important for the actors 

that the objectives were discussed 

openly. Addressing the strengths and 

successes of cooperation was particularly 

useful, which also made it easier to 

raise more controversial issues. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY requires 

openness, joint resolution of challenges, 

and clarification of complex or vague issues. 

The results show that participatory 

development methods can be a means of 

moving the culture of action in a more 

positive and solution-based direction. 

Participatory development methods 

can complement traditional safety 

practices and support the recognition 

and handling of weak signals to promote 

more proactive safety management. 

It is advisable to use participatory 

methods to reduce disruption, 

improve the quality and fluency of 

work, or promote cooperation and 

the flow of information. Especially in 

safety-critical areas, it is important 

to ensure that staff have a common 

understanding of work processes and 

their impacts on each other. This need 

is emphasized in change situations: for 

example, in organizational reforms / 

re-organization or when a new technical 

device is introduced. 

Joint development can be experienced 

as laborious and time-consuming, 

but its value is reflected in 

reduced friction in cooperation, and 

in being able to raise issues more constructively. 

Human Factors 

is embedded in 

nuclear industry 

safety management 

PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT 

is a key approach in the science 

and practice of human factors 

(HF). The application of HF 

in safety practices is mandatory 

in the nuclear power industry. It 

is required by both the International 

Atomic Energy Association 

(IAEA) and national authorities. 

HF strives to improve the performance 

and safety of the systems 

and the well-being of the 

personnel. The starting point is 

to understand people's capacity 

and limitations, the variety in 

human performance, and to utilize 

this knowledge in the design and 

development of work, equipment, 

and work environments, as well as 

in leadership and organizational 

development. 

THE AWARENESS OF HF’S 

IMPACT ON SAFETY has 

increased, and the use of the term 

has become clearer and more 

common. It is important to understand 

the topic in a holistic and 

solution-oriented manner. HF is a 

broader issue than mere individual 

performance or human activity 

under special observation or control. 

The goal is that organizational 

factors and technology create 

the conditions for people to succeed 

in their work. For this to be 

possible, we must first understand 

the characteristics associated with 

human activity, then find the best 

practices to support human activity 

at the workplace. 

An essential aim of HF is to understand 

the background factors that 

influence the realization of safety: 

How is work best organized, 

led, and managed? 

How is safety assured during 

changes? How are everyday 

operations understood? 

What helps people succeed in 

daily work? Are there specific 

concerns about work ability or 

safety? 

What hinders people from 

succeeding in everyday work 

tasks? 


The Uptimization Experts. 



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Maintworld Magazine 3-4/2022

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