Unlocking dormant data improve maintenance decision-making

MANUFACTURING ORGANISATIONS are well aware of the rationale for moving from a reactive maintenance strategy towards a preventative approach, and there is much information available about the benefits and capabilities of the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) in helping organisations achieve this. 

But with terms like Big Data, IIoT and digital transformation presenting a daunting prospect of cost, complexity and a significant strain on resource, it’s easy to see how firms that should be switched on are getting turned off.

The key is to start small and build via a modular approach. There is already a myriad of data within any plant control system to facilitate better decisions. It just needs to be unlocked. Liberating this dormant data will help operations and maintenance teams gain control, increase uptime and improve Operational Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Better data, not Big Data

Before thinking about adding devices and sensors that can collect more and more data, it’s worth considering what already exists and the parameters that provide an indicator of good health or potential failure; these could be elements like current increase or fluctuation. Identifying what is normal and abnormal is a starting point for monitoring asset health and provides the base readings for what warrants deeper investigation.

More often, there is low-hanging fruit that can help with creating insights, and the key is to bring that into one place - which could be a cloud-based solution - where insights can be analysed in an at-a-glance dashboard. This real-time view of asset health means engineering and operations teams can leverage it to make better, faster and more precise decisions.

In choosing one asset at a time and prioritising business critical assets that could cause significant downtime if there was a failure or stoppage for unplanned maintenance, engineers can test and prove the case for IIoT adoption. Existing process data needs to be unlocked and where there are data gaps, additional condition monitoring sensors can be installed.

Many of the emerging technologies can be retro-fitted to provide more information on asset health. IO-link is an embedded technology that can be added to existing sensors to enhance status information. IO-Link is invisible to the machine, with information captured via a gateway, negating any extensive reworking of existing equipment. It can also be fed into a CMMS or OEE tool, providing an additional data set.

Using Edge computing to unlock previously inaccessible data

The technology behind the unlocking of data is ‘Edge’ – a local network on which IIoT connected devices communicate and which forms a link to cloud services or just the onsite intranet. IT is the term covering the infrastructure and network for the computing, data storage and internet connectivity infrastructure – normally Ethernet; while OT is the Operational Technology comprising the industrial control systems, field buses and device-specific protocols that industrial process control uses.

The edge controller acts as a bridge between the OT - capturing data from sensors or within closed PLC networks – and processing it for use within cloud-based dashboards or condition monitoring services. As edge controllers are an open OS device, they allow engineers to use a choice of software solutions. The key benefit of an edge controller is to access data that is hidden or locked away: data yielding insights that can significantly enrich the decision-making process.

For any plant engineer, this additional rich data facilitates the more targeted deployment of time and resources. Where to implement oil analysis or do further vibration and thermal checks can be more accurately pinpointed, because the performance data from the process or machine is indicating where those changes in elements, like current or speed, are occurring.

For businesses of all sizes, moving up the maintenance maturity pyramid and considering IIoT implementation as part of the maintenance strategy is no longer a nice-to-have, but a real necessity for survival in a rapidly evolving and competitive landscape.

Greg Sharp is an industry sector manager for RS UK and Ireland

For more information: 

www.rs-industria.com

Tel: +44 (0)333 2470235