SEW-Eurodrive has launched what it calls its Complete
Drive Management (CDM) service that integrates
maintenance and servicing of industrial drives with an
online databank

The CDM databank provides a
complete overview of all the drive
technology within a factory, or group
of factories, including all the installed drives
and those held in storage. A user can see at a
glance the condition of each drive, access its
service history and schedule maintenance by
an SEW-Eurodrive engineer.

The system is designed to streamline,
simplify and increase the efficiency of a
plant’s drive technology maintenance regime
and SEW-Eurodrive says that it can reduce
downtime, cut unnecessary stock, identify
potential problems in advance and target
older drive technology that could be replaced
to improve energy efficiency.

The data is organised in an easy-to-use
hierarchical system. After logging on through
a secure DriveGate portal, a user is presented
with an interface that makes it simple to
navigate around all the drive systems
installed on plant and equipment, as well as
those in storage.

For example, where a company has two
factories and a warehouse, a maintenance
engineer could log on and select either
Factory 1, Factory 2 or the warehouse. This
would open a list of all the plant and
equipment using drive technology at that
site. It could show, for example, a list of all
the production lines, a packaging facility and
the stores.

Clicking on one of the production lines
would take the user to a list of all the drive
technology installed on that line. Each unit is
given its own CDM tag with a unique code,
so there’s no need for crawling around in
cramped spaces with a torch to read a drive’s
nameplate. The databank provides the name
and location of all the drive components,
including any units that have not been
manufactured by SEWEurodrive.

Selecting any one of the
components in the list will
present all the relevant
documentation and information relating to
that unit. This includes a 3D CAD drawing
of the product in the exact orientation it is
installed on the line, a photo of the installed
drive and all documentation, such as
operating and installation instructions.

All the technical details are listed for each
drive, including those that were not
manufactured by SEW-Eurodrive. This
information is comprehensive, with over 40
different fields including data on everything
from input and output speeds to the
permitted surrounding temperature.

At this level CDM also lists each drive’s
service history and any future planned
maintenance events. Users can send a
message to SEW-Eurodrive with queries or
requests about the drive, without the need to
supply any product codes or reference
numbers.

A message could simply read: ‘Order of
on-site inspection for 7 June 2011 at 2pm,’
and SEW-Eurodrive’s engineers would arrive
on the specified day, at the specified time, to
inspect the unit. The inspection would be
booked in as a future maintenance event so
the user would know that the request had
been acknowledged and booked in.

Additionally, condition monitoring such as
vibration analysis and oil age monitoring can
be linked with the databank.

With a complete inventory of all drive
technology at a given site users are able to
target older units that could be replaced with
high efficiency motors, helical bevel
gearboxes, or the latest technology
MOVIGEAR, to increase energy efficiency.

An unexpected benefit of CDM came
when one user had a problem with a failed
drive unit. Using the detailed search function
engineers were able to identify an identical
drive on a palletiser that wasn’t in use. The
drive from the palletiser was used to replace
the failed drive, enabling production to be
restarted very quickly.

SEW-Eurodrive’s UK service manager,
Karl Rigg, says: “Because CDM is an interface
it’s a bit like having SEW-Eurodrive in the
factory all the time as part of the user’s
maintenance team. And, in a sense, that’s
what it is. It’s all about raising the bar,
delivering excellence, minimising the total
cost of ownership and increasing uptime for
customers.”