The past year has certainly been a time of great political and economic uncertainty. The unravelling of our membership of the EU has started but, as yet, we know neither the timescale nor, of course, just how bloody or otherwise the severing process will be. Unsettled times, generally, are not good for industry. However, in this year's BCAS report for AirUser, Vanda Jones, the Society's executive director, says that while there is no doubt industry is feeling the impact of uncertainty, a look at recent statistics shows that the economy has not shown the overall downward trend that some would have us believe.

In her BCAS report, and in a separate article 'Benefits of a Trade Association', Vanda emphasises the importance of a trade association in times of significant change – offering industry-specific training, technical advice, upholding standards, and providing a united voice to help influence a changing political climate.

A trade association, of course, will try to answer members' queries. AirUser asked Vanda to outline and answer a few of the questions BCAS is most frequently asked. She explains that compliance with standards and legislation seems to be the most popular theme, with questions concerning responsibility for the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations for a leased or hired compressed air system, the legality of Jubilee clips, and air receiver CE-marking. 

Energy efficiency, as always, is the focus of several of the articles in AirUser. This year, Keith Findlay at Gardner Denver outlines the benefits of energy audits and discusses the improved efficiencies they can bring. In her article 'Adapting to the Circular Economy', Marion Beaver, technical officer at BCAS, explains that while the compressed air industry has had an excellent record of minimising energy through design and servicing, a step change is needed – the EU commission is pushing industry towards resource efficiency and the circular economy. Marion looks at what this means for the compressed air industry.

Andy Jones of Mattei focuses on finding the true life cycle cost of a compressor. He explains that many companies looking to invest in an air compressor rely on zero hour data sheets verified by the Compressed Air and Gas Institute. However, he explains that efficiency levels change over the life cycle of a unit and while two companies may have the same zero-hour performance, life cycle costs may vary considerably.

While energy efficiency and health and safety remain key topics, joining them in the spotlight now is Industry 4.0. In his article looking at connected compressors and Industry 4.0, Stef Lievens of Atlas Copco Compressors UK, says it is remote condition monitoring that provides the most tangible evidence of a fledgling IoT technology that is already having an impact in the compressed air industry. He believes there is great scope for further adoption and opportunities for the IoT to enhance best practice in compressed air operations and cites a couple of examples where remote data monitoring programmes have picked up warnings from compressed air equipment, allowing early intervention by a service engineer and averting possible downtime.

While Lievens clearly sees the benefits and opportunities afforded by Industry 4.0, it appears that not everyone is so sure. In this year's BCAS report, Vanda Jones comments that one of the questions in a recent BCAS survey to users of compressed air concerned Industry 4.0 and its importance to the respondent's business. Less than a quarter (24%) of respondents stated that it was very important at the moment. The view from BCAS, however, is that the current trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies can only be a help in terms of energy efficiency and maintenance-before-failure, and their associated benefits.

It's certainly an interesting and challenging time for anyone involved in industry. We hope this issue of AirUser will prove a useful reference tool – both for sourcing equipment and services and for helping you run your compressed air systems as safely, reliably and energy efficiently as possible.

We are grateful to those who have found the time to contribute articles to AirUser and, in particular, our thanks go to Vanda Jones and Marion Beaver at BCAS for their input.

It won't be long before we start the initial planning of next year's guide, so if there are any different topics you would like to see included, please get in touch.

Val Kealey

Editor

[email protected]