Condition monitoring (CM) is the process of continuously monitoring a specific condition in machinery (such as vibration, temperature, etc.) to detect changes that may indicate a developing fault. Implementing condition monitoring allows manufacturing enterprises to take preventive measures to avoid further failure and subsequent unplanned downtime.
Condition monitoring is used on a variety of equipment, including auxiliary systems, rotating machinery, and parts such as compressors, motors, pumps and presses. Traditional condition monitoring relied heavily on vibration analysis, but more modern, innovative techniques use sensors to measure various parameters in real-time and can send an alert when a change is detected. Undoubtedly, it is imperative for manufacturing enterprises to invest in condition monitoring of industrial equipment. Let’s find out what a Saviant’s IoT consulting team has to say.
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Importance of investing in Conditioning Monitoring of Industrial Equipment
As previously mentioned, condition monitoring has advantages for maintenance scheduling, operating costs, downtime reduction, and safety. It enables manufacturers to predict whether an asset will fail, what will cause the failure, and when the failure will occur. This allows them to plan maintenance ahead of time, avoiding unplanned downtime and allowing repairs to be scheduled for a suitable time in a production schedule.
As a result, the benefits of condition monitoring include:
1. Prevent Unplanned Downtime
Avoiding unplanned downtime has a number of advantages in the industrial environment. By eliminating unplanned downtimes, you can avoid unplanned production delays, which can result in a loss of reputation if orders are not completed on time and the need to pay overtime to finish a job. Furthermore, there is no need to pay for an emergency maintenance call out, which is more expensive than scheduled maintenance.
2. Safeguard Your Other Assets
A machine failure can cause damage to other systems, exacerbating the issue and increasing repair or replacement costs. As a result, there will be no need to purchase and store large quantities of replacement assets or parts in the event of an unanticipated failure. Instead, you will be notified of the need to replace a part and will be able to order it in time for scheduled maintenance.
3. Reduce Unnecessary Maintenance to Increase ROI
The use of condition monitoring as part of a predictive maintenance program can boost the ROI of mechanical assets. Preventive maintenance programs are established at regular intervals (e.g., annually) or after a predetermined number of operating hours, regardless of whether maintenance is required or not. By only scheduling repairs when they are needed, condition monitoring allows you to eliminate unnecessary maintenance and downtime. This means you can get more work out of each machine, lowering your total cost of ownership and increasing your equipment’s ROI.
4. More Efficient Upkeep
Condition monitoring makes maintenance more efficient by indicating where a fault may exist. This means that maintenance engineers won’t have to double-check working components while looking for a problem. This not only saves time and allows you to complete your maintenance more quickly, but it also saves you the cost of paying a maintenance engineer for wasted time.
5. Increased Security
Checking and repairing machines before they break protects employee safety and promotes safer workplace practices. Condition monitoring allows owners to plan maintenance before a failure occurs, which could endanger nearby employees.
6. Increased Asset Efficiency
Condition monitoring can also improve the efficiency of assets. Having a record of which parts are running poorly allows you to focus efficiency improvement efforts on those specific parts, thereby improving your equipment’s overall capabilities.
Why is it significant?
Condition monitoring is a tried-and-true effective maintenance tool used by an increasing number of industries. Condition monitoring systems provide significant financial, operational, and safety benefits.
While condition monitoring solutions may require some investment, these costs are repaid by avoiding costly unplanned downtimes due to machine failure and eliminating unnecessary maintenance costs associated with scheduling maintenance based on operating hours rather than the actual condition.
Condition monitoring, when combined with connected systems, enables users to make the most of planned maintenance downtime by servicing multiple machines and addressing all problems at the same time.
Proactive condition monitoring is also important for safety because effective monitoring and maintenance of machinery prevent accidents.
How does IIoT Help in the Monitoring of Industrial Equipment Condition?
The production process is critical in manufacturing industries for keeping the enterprise business moving forward. The equipment/assets used in the production cycle are critical to investments, safe manufacturing, optimizing production efficiency, maintaining scheduled downtime, and lowering unplanned downtimes/machine breakdowns. Investigate how IIoT can assist!
Sensor-Based Monitoring
IIoT improves equipment condition monitoring by transforming it into “Smart equipment.” With the help of industry-specific sensors, equipment is monitored in real-time with each movement (pressure, temperature, proximity, vibration, movement detection sensors, etc.).
Predictive maintenance
The IIoT predictive maintenance tool enables industry equipment condition monitoring. Once real-time data is captured and transmitted to the cloud, it is filtered and converted by advanced algorithms into readable, critical equipment condition information for managers.
Connected Equipment And Units
IIoT technology connects AI tools, robots, bots, and other automation equipment across industries. As a result, the entire enterprise’s operation becomes automated, leaving no room for manual maintenance errors that could potentially increase risks and halt processes across the enterprise.
The Digital Twin Is Yet Another Advantage Of IIoT
Before actual devices and processes are built and modified, digital twins virtually replicate physical devices that can be used for simulations. This paves the way for improved industrial planning, monitoring, and maintenance. This way, before any change in the production system of procedures, equipment work efficiency and maintenance schedules are charted out.
To successfully develop such robust condition monitoring solutions using Industrial IoT, Digital Twins, AI-ML, etc., manufacturing enterprises need expertise and technology know-how.
At Saviant, our industrial IoT consulting and implementation framework assists instrument engineering and machine manufacturers in developing real-time industrial IoT solutions that leverage cloud and edge computing.
We enable them to reimagine their industry solutions, moving away from simply installing data-emitting hardware for their enterprise clients and toward truly providing intelligence-as-a-service from operations. We assist our clients’ product and technology teams in developing customized solutions that:
- Connect industrial equipment to the cloud in a secure manner.
- Add advanced analytics capabilities quickly and easily
- Increase intelligence at the edge or in the cloud.
- Make digital twin capabilities available.
For more information, get in touch with Saviant.