PRODUCTS & PRACTICES
Folding gantry makes quick work of bridge inspections
Access machinery rental business Height for Hire has taken delivery of a
truck tted with a underbridge Moog MBI 110-1,2/S unit to allow survey and
construction teams to work beneath bridges without the need for sca olding.
The underbridge unit is said to be quicker to set up than traditional methods.
Kongsberg Maritime watches ship health
Kongsberg Maritime
has introduced ‘Health
Management’ to its vessel
insight portfolio of applications
that allows ship owners to
monitor on-board equipment
via one uni ed interface
and predict failures through
early detection of abnormal
behaviour.
Due for launch in August,
the application will initially
support Bergen engines,
Kongsberg Maritime’s lowpressure
hydraulic winches,
and rotating machinery.
Health Management is said
to help customers to mitigate
the capital and operational
risks associated with the failure
or unplanned maintenance of
critical machinery.
Jan Chirkowski, VP of
analytics and eet operations
at Kongsberg Maritime,
explains: “By continually
appraising machinery
condition, Health Management
allows customers to spot the
early onset of a failure and
continue operation with the
a ected equipment under
observation. Maintenance
needs can be planned
in advance when most
convenient for the customer,
spare parts ordered, and
vessel downtime scheduled
as necessary. Any downtime
is minimised, and the vessel is
returned to operation as swiftly
as possible. The net result is to
maximise pro tability.”
The company says that the
system extends equipment
lifetime through early
identi cation of abnormal
wear or suboptimal operation;
in some cases, this may allow
servicing to be performed only
when needed.
Open Autonomy
solution for mining
Wenco International Mining
Systems (a subsidiary company
of Hitachi Construction
Machinery) and Oxbotica
have signed a Memorandum
of Understanding to develop
an ‘Open Autonomy’ solution
for mining. Initial trials are
underway, and the companies
are actively recruiting mining
partners with appropriate
testing grounds.
The system will look
to provide customers with
flexibility and efficiency
in autonomous mining
deployment, allowing them
to operate any open standardbased
vehicle and integrate it
into existing fleets.
Wenco and Oxbotica
both support an open and
interoperable ecosystem of
partners that integrate solutions
alongside existing mine
infrastructure. Both companies
believe this provides customers
with greater flexibility and
control for integrating new
solutions while also reducing
associated risks and costs.
This approach is also said
to avoid ‘vendor lock-in’ and
offers customers the freedom to
choose preferred technologies,
independent of their primary
industrial systems. Furthermore,
it enables autonomy suppliers
that may be new to mining
to integrate with customers’
existing operations, according
to the two companies.
This latest advancement
builds on the vision of Open
Autonomy that was publicly
announced by Wenco and
Hitachi Construction Machinery
at the Canadian Institute
of Mining, Metallurgy and
Petroleum (CIM) Convention in
Montreal in May 2019.
Proseal launches production
analysis platform Tray sealing specialist Proseal
has launched an automated
platform that captures and
analyses machine data with the
aim of improving the e ciency
and performance of the entire
production line.
The new Proseal ProVision
system is said to enable
companies to maximise
the bene ts of Industry 4.0
and the fully automated
factory. The web-based
analysis platform has been
developed for Proseal’s GTe
and GTs range of tray sealing
tools can be used to generate
can be monitored to identify
machines to help identify
reports that inspect machine
root causes of problems.
and understand the causes
data and compare historical
The system can be viewed
of downtime and other
performance analysis over
on any web-enabled device,
ine ciencies, to maximise the
any given time. This helps to
including a PC, smartphone
production capacity of the
identify any line ine ciencies
and smart TV, and a Live View
tray sealer and increase overall
and pinpoint factors that may
function allows real time
equipment e ectiveness.
a ect productivity.
and remote performance
Furthermore, reporting
Additionally, data patterns
monitoring.
90 www.operationsengineer.org.uk Autumn 2020
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